NJ #3 Ridge won its second straight girls title, Hillsborough won a great three-way team battle to reclaim the boys title and Nikki Vanasse of Pingry and Patrick Bayeux of Ridge won the individual titles at Thursday's Somerset County Championships at Pleasant Valley Park in Bernards Township.
In the girls race, Ridge dominated as expected with a 1-5 compression of just 22 seconds, an average of 19:30 and the Red Devils had six runners in the top 16 on the way to a 36-87 victory over runner-up Pingry.
Ridge, which went 3-4-8-10-11, was led by junior Amanda Passman, third in 19:19, and defending champion Caitlin Haggard, a senior who was fourth in 19:20.
Next up for Ridge, the 2-time defending Meet of Champions winner, is a showdown with NJ #1 North Hunterdon at the Skyland Conference Championships next Thursday at Natirar Park in Gladstone.
Vanasse, who was third as a freshman last year, ran away with the individual championship with a winning time of 18:45, 30 seconds ahead of runner-up Chloe Wong of Hillsborough and 10 seconds faster than Vanasse ran on this course last year.
On the boys side, Hillsborough, second to Montgomery last year, avenged that loss and recaptured its title with a 64-72 victory over Montgomery. Ridge was third, also with 72 points, and Pingry was fourth with 87.
Hillsborough, which averaged 16:57, put four runners ahead of Montgomery's No. 2 runner on its way to its fifth victory in the past seven years. Hillsborough, which went 5-8-11-12-28, was led by junior Ryan Mitchell, fifth in 16:41.
Bayeux, continued his breakout senior season in the boys race with his winning time of 16:00, the fastest 5K of his career. Bayeux won the race by 20 seconds over Somerville junior John McGovern, second in 16:20.
Boys Top Finishers - Full Results
| 1 | Patrick Bayeux | 12 | Ridge HS | 16:00.00 | 1 | ||
| 2 | John McGovern | 11 | Somerville HS | 16:20.00 | 2 | ||
| 3 | James Glockenmeier | 11 | Ridge HS | 16:28.00 | 3 | ||
| 4 | Harry Gould | 12 | Montgomery HS | 16:33.00 | 4 | ||
| 5 | Ryan Mitchell | 11 | Hillsborough HS | 16:41.00 | 5 | ||
| 6 | Kush Dani | 12 | Bridgewater-Raritan HS | 16:42.00 | 6 | ||
| 7 | Stuart Gruters | 12 | Bernards HS | 16:44.00 | 7 | ||
| 8 | Owen Szabo | 12 | Hillsborough HS | 16:46.00 | 8 | ||
| 9 | Henry Wood | 9 | Pingry School | 16:51.00 | 9 | ||
| 10 | Ryan Smith | 11 | North Plainfield HS | 16:58.00 | 10 | ||
| 1 | Hillsborough HS | 64 | 5+8+11+12+28 (38+44) | --:-- 1-5 Split | 16:57 Avg | ||
| 2 | Montgomery HS | 72 | 4+14+16+18+20 (21+36) | --:-- 1-5 Split | 17:00 Avg | ||
| 3 | Ridge HS | 72 | 1+3+15+26+27 (32+34) | --:-- 1-5 Split | 16:50 Avg | ||
Girls Top Finishers - Full Results
| 1 | Nicole Vanasse | 10 | Pingry School | 18:45.00 | ||
| 2 | Chloe Wong | 12 | Hillsborough HS | 19:15.00 | ||
| 3 | Amanda Passman | 11 | Ridge HS | 19:19.00 | ||
| 4 | Caitlin Haggard | 12 | Ridge HS | 19:20.00 | ||
| 5 | Catherine Lanahan | 10 | Hillsborough HS | 19:21.00 | ||
| 6 | Kinga Niewiadomski | 11 | Bridgewater-Raritan HS | 19:23.00 | ||
| 7 | Laura Baeyens | 10 | Watchung Hills Reg. HS | 19:29.00 | ||
| 8 | Kaitlyn Van Baalen | 12 | Ridge HS | 19:36.00 | ||
| 9 | Katelyn Prothero | 12 | Somerville HS | 19:36.00 | ||
| 10 | Tatum Peskin | 10 | Ridge HS | 19:37.00 | ||
| 1 | Ridge HS | 36 | 3+4+8+10+11 (16) | --:-- 1-5 Split | 19:30 Avg | ||
| 2 | Pingry School | 87 | 1+14+15+19+38 (39+53) | --:-- 1-5 Split | 20:10 Avg | ||
| 3 | Hillsborough HS | 105 | 2+5+21+36+41 (45+51) | --:-- 1-5 Split | 20:29 Avg | ||