For Mark Shelley, getting the best out of his Princeton High boys’ cross country team this fall is about marshaling his resources.

“We have been battling some injuries over the last few weeks,” said PHS head coach Shelley, whose squad took fifth of 17 teams in the Boys Varsity A race last Saturday in the Fall Classic at Thompson Park as senior Jacob Rist placed 28th individually followed by junior Aidan Donahue in 31st and senior James Cao in 34th.

“We have not run our top guys in the middle-of-the-week meets in the last few weeks. We can’t do seven races in three and a half weeks and be good in November.”

In order to be very good, PHS will need senior star Rist to be at full speed. “Jacob has been dealing with some leg tightness; he  had some achilles tendinitis problems and he hasn’t done all of our workouts,” said Shelley, noting that sophomore star Alex Roth has been sidelined the last few weeks.

“Rist is a great senior leader, he knows running and he understands his body. He is still one of our two or three best runners but he isn’t running where he can. He ran 17:15 at Thompson Park and he can be in the 16:00s.”

One of Rist’s classmates, Karl Bjorkman, has been running well for the Little Tigers.

“Karl came into the school last year as a rising junior, he has really taken off this season in terms of his times,” said Shelley.

“He is a great leader, he is coachable, and second to none in terms of work ethic.”

Shelley is getting good work from his sophomores, led by Jonathan Petrozzini and Patrick O’Connell.

“We have a real strong and deep sophomore class,” asserted Shelley. “When someone on the team runs under 19:00 they are invited to run intervals. We have 22 kids running intervals now and I would say almost half are sophomores.”

The Little Tigers also boast some freshmen who are making an impact. “Two of the freshmen are doing well,” said Shelley.

“Nick Delaney has been in our top 5 and Alex Ackerman has been in the low 17:40s, he was our fifth runner on Saturday. Jackson Donahue is another 9th grader and he is going to be solid. It is really exciting to see freshman breaking into the lineup and doing well in big races.”

The older Donahue, junior Aidan, has been doing well this fall. “I have been very pleased with Aidan, last year he got down on himself at times,” said Shelley.

“This year he is running the way he should. He is outleaning people at the line and that is a good thing to see from a runner. He keeps impressing us and moving up the ladder.”

It is good for PHS to have Cao back in action. “James is a fifth-year senior and was cleared by the NJSIAA to run last Monday,” said Shelley. “It is only his third year of running. He was third overall for us at Thompson Park. He is a great kid and the kids love him.”

Shelley is hoping that his team can produce a great finish this fall. “Our focus is ultimately the divisional, county, sectional, and group meets,” noted Shelley.

“Part of doing well is getting better on a weekly basis, another part of it is getting healthy. The key is to have Jacob getting his times down to where they have been and getting Alex Roth back so we have a big three of those two and James Cao. Then guys who have been running second and third can be fourth and fifth. That gives us the depth to do well.”