Dennis Fortuna of Triton continued his torrid season on the trails by smashing the course record, the Audubon boys won its first title in 50 years, and Grace Wassell repeated as champion to spark the Highland Regional girls to the team title at Friday's Camden County Championships at Timber Creek Park in Gloucester Township.
Fortuna, who finished second as a junior last year, stopped the clock at 16:13 to take down the course record of 16:22 set by Jay Wassell of Highland at the county meet last year. Fortuna, who ran a Triton school course record at Holmdel Park earlier this month of 16:02 when he won his race at the Shore Coaches Invit., finished 41 seconds ahead of runner-up Billy Clewell of Camden Catholic (16:54).
Two new team champions were crowned as Haddonfield, the 2020 boys and girls champions, didn't compete. The Haddonfield girls, ranked No. 3 in the state, had won the last four titles. The Haddonfield boys are ranked No. 5 in the state.
In Haddonfield's absence, the Audubon boys put four runners ahead of the No. 2 runner from every team and averaged 18:10 on the way to a 32-54 victory over Highland Regional, and Wassell led the Highland to a 50-64 triumph over Paul VI for its first girls title in 13 years.
The Audubon boys, who went 3-7-8-9-16, were led by third-place finisher Scott Hubbard (17:15).
In the girls race, Wassell, a junior, ran 20:26 to lead a strong frontal attack for Highland, who packed three runners in the top five. Highland's Princess Nwoga was second in 20:39, and Vanessa Marinero placed fifth in 21:27.