IT'S FINALLY HERE!!!
THE BEST DAY OF THE YEAR!!!!
IT'S THE STATE GROUP CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!!
IT JUST DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS!!!!
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3:51 p.m. Just a reminder-The Meet of Champions next Saturday at Holmdel Park begins with the boys race at 11 a.m. The girls race is scheduled for 11:45 a.m.
3:40 p.m.. Stay tuned for the release of the wild card teams. I know there are bunch of runners, coaches and parents on the edge of their seats right now as you wonder if your team earned a wild card. All I can tell you, they will be out as soon as they are official.
3:30 p.m. GET UR TRINITY HALL ON!!!! Trinity Hall wins its first title ever, 54-96, over Villa Walsh for the girls Non-Public B state title. Congrats, girls!!!
3:18 p.m. Soph. Sarah Hanifin of Villa Walsh crosses the line first in 19:27 to win the girls Non-Public B race. That's a 19 second Holmdel PR for Sarah!!!
3:10 p.m. Hey, who turned off the heat??? This place just turned into a meat locker!!! Get ur frozen finger tips while typing on!!!!!
2:59 p.m. The girls Non-Public B race, the final race of the day, just went off.
2:58 p.m. RBC wins the girls Non-Public A title, 55-70, over Union Catholic. RBC put five runners in the top 15 as it increased its state record total to 20 state titles!!!!
2:48 p.m. Here comes Nicole Vanasse. She wins her 2nd straight title in 18:31!!!!! Nicole, a jr., will have a chance to become the 11th girl in state history to win three straight titles.
2:35 p.m. Newark Academy grabs the boys Non-Public B team title, 54-103 over Bishop Eustace. 2nd title ever for Newark Academy.
2:30 p.m. The girls Non-Public A race is on the course. Union Catholic and Nicole Vanasse of Pingry are the defending champions!
2:16 p.m CONNOR MELKO of Bishop Eustace wins the boys Non-Public B race in 16:50!!!! He's the first boys champ from Bishop Eustace in 35 years!!
2:10 p.m. Metuchen wins the girls Group 2 title, 64-74, over Holmdel. That's three straight state titles for Metuchen! Metuchen won Group 1 the past 2 years. This is the first year Metuchen is in Group 2 since 1976.
1:59 p.m. Still waiting on the scores for the girls Group 2 race. A girl ran with a boys number, so that's why the scores aren't done yet.
1:46 p.m. CBA's Shaw Powell wins in 16:14!! CBA wins, 43-84 over St. Peter's Prep. That's state title No. 29 for CBA!!! NJ #1 CBA went 1-5-9-11-17 and averaged 16:48. Great race by St. Peter's to grab the No. 2 spot!!!!
1:24 p.m. Next up is NJ #1 CBA in the boys Non-Public A race. CBA is holding out two of its top guns, Tim McInerney and Luke Reid. But the Colts should still roll to its state record 29th state title.
1:19 p.m. Corinne Barney of Indian Hills wins the girls Group 2 title in 19:09!!! First runner from Indian Hills to grab a state XC title. Congrats!!!
1:00 p.m. Girls Group 2 is off.
12:50 p.m. Colts Neck wins its 3rd straight girls Group 3 title and 6th overall, 55-76 over Mendham. Colts Neck went 2-4-12-17-20 and averaged 20:00.
12:48: It's all LEXI WESTLEY in this one!!!! The Wisconsin-bound Westley, a 2-time M of C 3,200 winner outdoors, stops the clock at 18:09 for her first state X C title. Congrats, Lexi!!!! GET UR BADGERS ON!!!
Looks like the Colts Neck girls just won its 3rd straight title.
12:45 p.m. Girls Group 3 race will be coming in soon.
12:42 p.m. I just talked to Devin Hart. He took it easy today so he can crank out a real fast one at the M of C. Hart wants to make a run at sub 15:20 at M of C next week!!!!! I'll say it right now-Hart is going under 15:20!!!!
12:16 p.m. Hart wins big in 16:00. Get the fire trucks ready because the Haddonfield boys rolled to the Group 2 title, 42-75 over runner-up Voorhees.
Haddonfield goes 3-5-8-12-14 and averaged 16:51. That's 2 straight titles and 17 overall for Haddonfield, which is No. 3 all-time in state history!!! CBA is No. 1 with 28 (it will 29 later today) and Bernards is No. 2 with 23.
12:00 p.m. GET UR DEVIN HART ON!!! GET UR HADDONFIELD ON!! BOYS GROUP 2 RACE IS ON THE COURSE!!!
11:46 a.m. GET UR MORRIS COUNTY 1-2 FINISH ON!!! Mendham wins its 2nd straight title, 62-99 over runner-up Morris Hills. Mendham went 1-2-11-13-35 and averaged 16:38, the fastest of the day!! Morris Hills 9-17-20-21-32 and averaged 17:16.
11:45 a.m. JACK STANLEY OF MENDHAM GOES 15:45 FTW!!!!!! That's the top time of the day and the 2ND STRAIGHT TITLE FOR STANLEY.
11:30 a.m. Boys Group 3 race is off. Jack Stanley vs. Liam Murphy!!! Should be a hot one.
11:20 a.m. Mountain Lakes wins the Girls Group 1 title, 71-88 over McNair.
11:19 a.m. Junior Corina Vidal of Henry Hudson wins the girls Group 1 race in 19:27. Might be the first runner from her school to win a state XC title!!! Yes, she is!!! Congrats!
11:00 Girls Group 1 race is on the course now.
10:47 a.m. North Hunterdon wins 2nd straight Group 4 title with 60 points and a 19:18 average! Ridgewood second with 91 points with a 19:45 average. South Brunswick 3rd, WWPSouth 4th, Westfield 5th, Ridge 6th.
10:45 a.m. HOLY SMOKES!!!! LOVEYS 17:52!!!! YOWZAA!!!!!! That's No. 11 all-time at Holmdel!!! How low will she go at the M of C?? I think the NJ Holmdel CR OF 17:28 set by Megan Venables in 2010 could go down next week!!!
10:29 a.m. IT'S TIME FOR THE GIRLS GROUP RACE! NJ #1 North Hunterdon and undefeated Abby Loveys of Randolph are heavily favoreed to repeat!
10:28 a.m. That's the 12th state title for Haddon Township, which went 7-11-13-23-26 and averaged 17:40.
10:27 a. m. Haddon Twp wins the Boys Group 1 title by 46 points over runner-up Hasbrouck Heights, 80-126!!! Jake Aylmer leads their attack in 12th at 17:19. Mountain Lakes, which beat Hasbrouck Heights to win to NJ. Sec. 1, is 3rd with 130.
10:16 a.m. SEBASTIEN REED OF PITMAN crosses first to win the Group 1 title in 16:18!!! Jared Cooper of Mountain Lakes second in 16:40. First state champ for a Pitman boy since Kevin Schilling in 1991.
10:00 a.m. Boys Group 1 race is off.
9:45 a.m. ETHAN WECHSLER OF CHEROKEE WINS GROUP 4 IN 16:08!!! Wins by 10 seconds over Nick Lundberg of Freehold Twp (16:18). NJ Sec. 1 winner Luis Peralta of Passaic, the New Balance National 800 champ this past June, dropped out with about 1,000 to go.
KINGSWAY WINS BY SIX POINTS OVER WESTFIELD, 91-97. Cherokee gets third with 122.
Huge win by Kingsway, which graduated 5 of its top 6 off last year's Group 4 championship team!!
GET UR DRAGONS ON!!!!!
Kingsway went 8-9-14-18-42 and averaged 16:49. Westfield-7-12-20-23-35 and averaged 16:53.
9:29 a.m. HERE WE GO!!! IT'S SHOWTIME HERE AT HOLMDEL!!! The Group 4 boys race is off!!!
9:06 a.m. The Group 4 boys race is first. Westfield is favored to win its first title since 2011. Kingsway is the defending champ.
9:00 a.m. We are a half hour away from the start here!!! It's about 40 degrees, slight breeze and bright skies here at Holmdel. It remains to be seen how much all the rain yesterday has affected the course??
An XC marathon of state championship races start with the what should be one of the best races of the day-the boys Group 4 race at 9:30 a.m. here at Holmdel Park!!
The Meet of Champions (next Saturday at Holmdel) is a great day, but it comes and goes way too fast. Nothing compares to the State Group Championship because of the never ending drama that plays out over the greatest XC course there is for six straight hours of racing!!
The Group Championship meet is NJ XC's Mardi Gras!!!! Nothing better than seeing fans running all over the course screaming, blowing horns, banging drums, and many students/fans are always decked out in war paint and dressed in crazy costumes as they show their school spirit!!!
When the day is done at NJ's XC Cathedral 24 state champions will be crowned (12 teams/12 runners per gender). It was like the night before Christmas when I was kid last night-no sleep!!! Way too jacked up to keep my eyes closed!
QUICK REMINDER- THE BIGGER THE MEET AND MORE EXCITED I GET, THE MORE I TYPE IN ALL CAPS!!!
TODAY IS ONE OF THOSE DAYS!!!
GET UR ALL CAPS ON!
GET UR NJ XC ON!!!!
GET UR HOMDEL ON!!
GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE COMPETING TODAY!!!!
Results, photos, recaps, and videos are all on the way and will be found on the Groups meet page.
Just a heads up-The Wi Fi at Holmdel Park can be very spotty, so there is a chance that I will lose my connection at times today. I know how much you are relying on these updates, so I wll be doing everything in my power to get you the latest info as quick as I can.
HEY XC FANS-DON'T FORGET- If you are coming to Holmdel Park for the meet, remember the parking rules-Parking for the Group Meet for both athletes and spectators will be at the Vonage facility, located on the corner of Route 4 (Holmdel Road) and County Road 520 (Newman Springs Road). Note-There's limited handicapped parking at Holmdel Park. Use lots A and D at Vonage. Shuttle buses will pick you up inside the lots on the road that circles the lots. This is the same procedure used last year. Spectators will be asked to pay a $1.00 bus fee to help defray the cost of the shuttle buses. This fee will be collected at the Vonage parking lot only.
ONE OTHER THING TO REMEMBER- For the first time ever, only the top 2 teams in each race will advance to the Meet of Champions and eight wild card teams per gender will advance.