New Jersey flexed its distance running dominance on Saturday when the Garden State captured five of the 12 varsity titles at the prestigious Brown Invitational at Goddard Park in Rhode Island.
Ronald Kigen of St. Benedict's was one of three individual winners from N.J. as the junior blasted the fastest time of the day with his winning time of 15:21 in the boys Championship Division. That's two seconds faster than Kigen ran last year when he finished third. Led by Kigen, St. Benedict's placed fourth in the team standings with 99 points.
The four other N.J. winners were Corinne Barney of Indian Hills, Seton Hall Prep, and Ben Woodward of Highland Regional, who led his team to victory.
Barney, a sophomore who is running XC for the first time this season after giving up soccer, won the girls Division 2 race in 17:49 as Indian Hills placed second to Bay Shore of N.Y., 103-119. Madeline Barney, Corinne's twin, was third in 18:20.
Woodward won the boys Division 2 race in 15:36 to lead Highland to the team title, 128-135 over Plymouth North. Highland's No. 5 man (Jeremiah Clark) finished seven spots ahead of Plymouth's No. 5 to secure the victory. Highland went 1-15-28-40-44 and averaged 16:25. Indian Hills, led by 4th place finisher Steve Fiumefreddo (15:47), finished fifth with 230
In the boys Division 1 race, Seton Hall Prep used a potent frontal assault to defeat North Shore of N.Y., 80-87. Dan Gizzo (15:36), Mike DiDonato (15:57) and Nolan Orr (15:57) finished 2-3-4 to ignite Seton Hall to victory. The Hall went 2-3-4-26-45 and averaged 16:23. Seton Hall also won the J.V. Division team title behind individual winner Kevin Harvey, a freshman who crossed the line first in 16:40.