On a day more suited to early August than early October, the Shore Coaches Invitational still produced its share of outstanding performances at both team and individual levels.
The most impressive individual performances of the day were put on by sophomore Chelsea Ley of Kingsway, frosh Joe Rosa of WW-P North and WW-P So. sr, Brian Leung.
Racing to an 18:24 win in the “B” race, Ley was not only the fasted girl of the day and the only one to go below 19:00. Joe Rosa, who with his twin brother James, will keep WW-P North near the top for the next few years, put a scare in the Freshman CR held by Craig Forys. In winning the “C” Race in 16:24, Rosa came within 9 seconds of the record. In the “B” Race Brian Leung stamped himself as a threat in the late season with a powerful 15:52. Leung’s margin of victory was a whopping 68 seconds.
All three runs qualified for my races of the day. Imagine the “What Ifs” if it weren’t so damn hot!
Race Summaries
“C” Division
As the day heated up, so did the racing. The Girls "C" race kicked off the aftrnoon varsity session and jr. Melanie Thompson of Voorhees and her teammates turned in great races as Thompson went 19:02 for the fastest time of the day up to that point. She was followed across the line by Laura Vigilante of Mendham (19:44) Brianna Rodgers (Moorestown / 19:53).
The Voorhees team took the race with only 24 point (1-4-5-6-8) and a team average of 20:02. Mooerstown was second with 68 pts, putting their 5 scoring runners in the top 25
On the boys side, Joe Rosa turned in his monster race here as he led the WW-P Knights to 2nd behind a very good Millburn team led by Myles Udland who trailed Rosa by only 7 seconds. Mike Franklin of Mendham took 3rd in 16:35.
Millburn took the team title with 48 points and the fastest 5 man average of the day. After WW-P No. in 2nd, Mendham took bronze with 89 points
“B” Division
As Melanie Thompson was probably warming down after her great race, Chelsea Ley took the stage and turned in the #16 all time performance on the Holmdel layout. She was followed by 2 girls having very good seasons in their own right, sr. Lauren Penny of Roxbury (19:07) and Randolph frosh Joelle Amaral (19:26)
With balanced scoring, Ridge took the team win with 114 pts. Montgomery took 2nd (122 pts) and Roxbury got 3rd with 137 points.
Brian Leung motored to the most impressive run of the day as he ran his 15:52 in the last varsity race of the day with the heat still oppressive. Ocean City jr. Brett Johnson was 2nd in 17:00 with Shawnee soph. David Forward in third with a time of 17:02
Leung's victory led the WW-P So. Pirates (102 pts.) to the win over Ridge (129 pts.) and Lacey Twp. (132 pts.)
“A” Division
Southern Regional's Jillian Smith continued her successful rookie XC season with the win here. Running 19:24, Smith took the race by 14 secs. Alison Weeks, a senior from Cherokee was 2nd (19:38) and Rashmi Singh of Hunterdon Central ran 19:46 for 3rd.
The team title went to Lenape with 97 points. They were followed by Howell (147 pts) and Southern Reg. (156 pts.}
Andrew Brodeur turned in the days #3 time (16:10) with the win here. The Brick Memorial senior took the race by 17 seconds over Travis Mahoney of Old Bridge (16:27) and Austin Santillo (16:38) of Jackson Memorial.
With their 5 scorers in the top 20, CBA continued its successful season with the "A" win. Vin Ferrer led the winners with a 7th place finish. Scoring 65 points, the Colts had the #4 team average (17:14). Always tough Cherokee took 2nd with 96 pts and Old Bridge finished 3rd with 123 pts.
“F” Division
Phil Wood (Jr. / Pennington School) In his first race ever at Holmdel, Wood goes 16:22 to win by 31 seconds over David Oster of Verona. Patrick O’Boyle of Mater Dei takes 3rd in 16:54. Pennsville, with 63 pts., takes the team race over Verona (81 pts.)
Liz Campbell (Sr. / Mt. St. Mary’s) wins in 19:34 over Jenna Peacock of OLMA (19: 59) and Pingry’s Olivia Tarantino (20:03) Villa Walsh with their top 5 in the top 20 wins the team title (69 pts) with Pingry 2nd (98 pts)
“E” Division
Josh Black (Jr. / Haddon Heights) takes a close one with a 3 second win over Jon Vitez of Haddonfield 16:21 to 16:24. Black’s teammate Mickey Borsellino followed Vitez in 3rd (16:48). With 5 in the first 15, Haddonfield took the win with 38 points over Haddon Heights (89 pts.). Haddonfield’s 5 man average (17:08) was the 3rd fastest of the day.
Julia Mark (Jr. / Delaware Valley) with a time of 19:43 beats the Haddonfield duo of Marielle Hall (19:57) and Mia Spinelli (20:04).The 2-3 finishes led Haddonfield to the team win with 46 pts., to easily best Pope John XXIII (96 pts)
“D” Division
In the last Varsity race of the morning, Dan Stiles (Sr. / Somerville) powered to the days 2nd fastest time (16:02) over an ever improving Kevin McDonnell of Camden Catholic (16:21). Sean Pohorence of Morris Hills took 3rd in 16:26 to lead Morris Hills to the team win. The Knights scored 45 pts to dominate the division. Somerville took 2nd with 141 points.. The Morris Hills 5 man average of 17:07 was the second fastest of the day.
Clare Buck (Jr. / Hopewell Valley) with a time of (19:19) was the class of the field as she won by 51 seconds over runner up Krissa Loretto (20:10). Kearsley Olcott of Summit took 3rd in 20:12. Six seconds separated places 2 thru 6 in this race.
Loretto led a 2-5-7-9-14 Monsignor Donovan parade to the team title with 37 points to Red Bank Catholic’s 94.
Elite (18:00 & Under) Boys 5 Runner Avgs.
School 5 Runner Avg Total Time Millburn 17:03.0 1:25:15 Morris Hills 17:06.2 1:25:31 Haddonfield 17:07.2 1:25:36 CBA 17:14.0 1:26:10 WW-P No. 17:18.6 1:26:33 Cherokee 17:20.8 1:26:44 Old Bridge 17:27.4 1:27:17 Mendham 17:27.6 1:27:18 WW-P So. 17:28.8 1:27:24 Jackson Mem. 17:31.2 1:27:36 Haddon Heights 17:31.2 1:27:36 Moorestown 17:40.2 1:28:21 Somerville 17:43.8 1:28:39 Pennsville 17:46.8 1:28:54 Hunterdon Central 17:48.4 1:29:02 Bridgewater-Raritan 17:49.6 1:29:08 Lacey Twp 17:51.8 1:29:19 Pope John XXIII 17:54.0 1:29:30 Mainland 17:55.8 1:29:39 Ridge 17:56.2 1:29:41 Verona 17:58.4 1:29:52 Shawnee 17:58.6 1:29:53