Individual Race
Craig Corti of Wallkill Valley won his third XC Group 1 state title last Saturday with room to spare at 15:40, that also happened to be the leading time of the meet. Last year he placed 7th at the Meet of Champions running 15:44 and he has already lowered that time.
Looking at the rest of the field taking home the gold won't be that easy though. He'll be taking on the likes of Blaise Ferro and Nikhil Pulimood, as well as a rematch with Luke Petela, and many more.
Blaise Ferro of CBA is only a junior but runs like a senior, with confidence cool and collected, he cruised into the Non-Public A state title at 15:51 placing him in fourth for 2014 times ran at Holmdel this year. The two ahead of him? Nikhil Pulimood of West Windsor Plainsboro South who won the Group 4 title with a great personal course best of 15:44, 15 seconds faster than his previous time, is ranked second. Luke Petela is ranked third representing the Group 1 state champions Haddon Twp, he placed second in that race to Corti running 15:49. Closing the top five at Holmdel heading in is Aaron Groff a junior from Cherry Hill East. Here is the whole Holmdel list for 2014.
These five listed above are the main race for first place. Ferro and Corti are my main picks when battling for that top spot. Corti is on fire and leads the way based on Group times but these two have ran the same meet two earlier times this season. I ran the Compare Athlete Feature between the two. At the Reebok Manhattan Invite Ferro had the faster time running 12:21 for the 4000m course compared to Corti's 12:32. Ferro also bested Corti at the Bowdoin Classic where he ran 16:10 vs 16:20.
My prediction:
When it comes down to it I think Corti will put up a major fight down to the final stretch but I also feel that Ferro has too many seconds ready to drop for him to handle. In Ferro's Group interview he even stated he was running relaxed for the win. Ferro wins while aiming for that Holmdel 15:20s life, if not then 15:30s for sure. Corti comes through in second running 15:30s for a new personal course best. Nikhil Pulimood third in the 15:30s, Luke Petela fourth low 15:40s and Aaron Groff right behind him.
Some of the other top individuals coming in, Matt Grossman the standout sophomore from Millburn, Shawn Hutchison of Bishop Eustace, Sean MacPherson of Sterling, Leland Jones of Summit, Chris Negri of Watchung Hills, Tim Bason WWP South, William and Colin Daly of River Dell, Dominick Munson of Timber Creek, Patrick Sullivan of Don Bosco Prep, Conor Murphy of Allentown and even more! All these guys are ready for personal Holmdel bests this weekend.
Team Race
The team race is not what we thought it was, Don Bosco pushed Christian Brothers Academy to extra runners during their Non-Public A race (watch the whole thing here). CBA came out in front thanks to their sixth man Thomas Dengler running 16:40, it was an event that will put confidence in Don Bosco to push and and a fire in the bellies of CBA to get faster. Should make for a great race.
Here are the top five teams according to the Merged Group Results. Voorhees is just on the outside with 369 points, Summit 377.
My Prediction:
CBA will come running hot and the higher talent level in the race makes that one card I have Blaise Ferro predicted to win even more important. Christian Brothers edges out Don Bosco who will make another great run at them but fall short. Cherry Hill East comes in third.
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