On a day that was perfect for Cross Country, Colts Neck senior Craig Forys continued a perfect Cross Country season with a Course Record setting victory at the NJ State Meet of Champions at venerable Holmdel Park.
Unlike last week\'s Group Meet where the buzz was the record attempt, fans today were talking about the potential of a showdown of sorts between Forys, the current distance king of NJ, and the exciting soph, Doug Smith of Gill-St. Bernards. Smith who last week broke the soph CR set by, correct, Craig Forys had said in post race comments that he was looking forward to a head to head meeting with the Michigan bound defending Champ.
Running in a small pack through the first mile (5:15), Forys eventually dropped the opposition, going through the 2 mi. mark in 10:10 and emerged from the woods looking well in control and finished up in 15:15. 4, which will round up to 15:16 to best DiJoseph\'s rounded mark of 15:17.
Following Forys out of the woods was a game but clearly tested Smith. Right behind \"The Chief\" came Matt Ciambriello of Old Bridge and Tom Poland of Delbarton. Ciambriello was able to overtake Smith and take second in 15:46. Smith held off Poland by 1 second in 15:47 (soph CR)with the Delbarton senior 4th in 15:48. Christian Gonzalez of Franklin continued his impressive season in 5th (15:55) with sixth place going to Jackson\'s Kris Carle (16:00).
Carle led the Jags of Jackson Memorial to their 1st MOC team title, scoring 67 points to pre-race favorite Don Bosco\'s 135. Haddonfield took bronze with 162 points to edge 4th place Ridge (164 pts).
Rounding out the individual top 10 were Brian Leung of West Windsor-Plainsboro S. (16:01), John Fennekohl of Ocean City (16:03), James Grimes of Chatham (16:05) and Andrew Hanko of Trinity Christian (16:07).
Following Ridge in the team race were CBA in 5th (181), Old Bridge (192), Ridgewood (202),Haddon Twp. (222), Cherokee (243) and Shawnee (252)