NEW JERSEY SECTIONALS - Every first weekend in November marks the start of a three week journey for all New Jersey cross-country athletes. The stars mark their place in history, and the underdogs give it what they have to fight another day. From Garret Mountain in West Paterson at exit 155 on the Garden State Parkway (GSP) where the North Jersey Section I races, heading South to exit 141 on the GSP for a stop at the North Jersey Section 2 races at Warinaco Park, Elizabeth. Hop on the New Jersey Turnpike for a stroll to exit 8A, where you can find Thompson Park in Monroe Twp and the Central Jersey races. Then for the South Jersey races head way south down Interstate 295 towards Bellmawr then hop on 55 South where it will take you to Delsea HS and you've just made your way across and down NJ to all four NJSIAA State Sectional Cross-Country sites.
Garret Mountian - We saw North Jersey Section I groups 1-4 take to the hills in search of a sectional crown. In the boys group 1 race the Mountain Lakes sophomore Stephen Lewandowsk led the way winning by 9 seconds over Westwood's Louie Schiedler in 16:43. The group 1 girls race was dominated by Mountain Lakes as they put up just 27 points running 1-2-3 led by junior Kristen Landry who ran 19:30. The group 2 boys race saw a close race for the team title with Wallkill Valley and Indian Hills coming down to the 5th runners where Wallkill Valley was superior. They 5th runner placed 13th while the Indian Hills 5th place runner finished in 22nd place to give Wallkill Valley the team victory 46-49. The race was won by Nick Ward of Indian Hills in 16:15. In the group 3 girls race Ramsey absolutely ran away with the team title scoring 45 points to Indian Hills' 2nd place finish of 88 points. Ramsey was led by senior Alexandra Clinton who finished 2nd overall with a time of 19:29. With a romp in the group 3 boys race, Wayne Valley crushed the competition beating perennial powerhouse Morris Hills 57-108. Wayne Valley was led by senior Mark Sheptock who finished 4th overall running 17:04. The group 3 boys race was won by Salim Corbin of Eastside in a time of 16:16 the 4th fastest time of the day at Garret Mountain. The girls group 3 individual race was a nail biter between veteran Katie Hinchen of Nothern Highlands and newcomer Brittany Day of Demarest. With veteran poise Hinchen pulled out the victory finishing 8 seconds ahead of the Frosh 19:52 to 20:00. The team title was won by Northern Highlands with 81 points to High Point's 94 points. The boys group 4 race was easily the fastest of the day and rightfully so as it was contest by two of North Jersey's fastest runners, Jeramy Elkaim from Livingston and Collin Frost from Randolph. Frost, just a junior couldn't handle Elkaim also a junior coming down the home stretch as Elkaim finished 16 seconds ahead of Frost with a time of 15:54 to Frost's 16:10. Elkaim's time of 15:54 was the only won under the magical mark of 16:00 on the course for the day. The girls group 4 race was blowout from the word go. Joelle Amaral (pictured above, courtesy of Maroon News) of Randolph whose just a junior ran away from the entire field finishing 31 seconds ahead of 2nd place, a teammate Molly Higgins. Amaral's time of 18:29 was easily the fastest of the day. She also led her team to an almost perfect score of 20, with her team finishing 2,4,6,7.
Warinaco Park - The group 1 boys race at the North Jersey section 2 race was easily the highlight of the day. The race saw Verona stud David Oster take on an up and coming star Patrick Rono. The meet record in this meet has stood since 1994 and held by Anthony DeBenedictis who ran 16:10. Oster had his eyes set on winning as well as a shot at the meet record. Oster took full advantage of good conditions and smashed the 14 year old meet record running 15:48.8. Rono, just a sophomore couldn't hang on to Oster's speed but was still good enough to get under the old meet record running 16:08.6. In a close team battle Verona outlasted McNair Academic 53-55. In the group 1 girls race the winner wasn't determined until the final meters when Christina Nicholas from McNair Academic pulled away from Kiera Keller of Whippany Park. Nicholas ran 21:16.1 to Keller's 21:24.9. Keller's 2nd place finished helped her team the the team crown topping Verona 31-36. The group 2 boys race was a nail biter with Sherif Ali of Cliffside Park and Thomas Chin from Summit. Ali had enough left to finish just 3 seconds ahead of Chin 16:54.5 to 16:57.4. The team title was decided on the 5th runners of Cranford and Chatham and Cranford's runner got the better end of the stick. Cranford's 5th runner finished 9 places in front of Chatham's to win by a margin of 8. The group 2 girls race was individually dominated by Dana Giordano of Bernards who is just a sophomore. Giordana finished with a time of 19:17.9, almost 30 seconds ahead of 2nd place. The team title was much much closer as Bernards lost a close one to Chatham 53-55. The difference once again came on the heels of each's fifth runner where Chatham's finished 27th and Bernards finished 32nd. The group 3 boys race was easy to predict on paper. Tyler Udland of Millburn is the defending Meet of Champions champion in XC, and the outdoor 3200m, so it was not question if he was to win or not, just a matter of how fast he wanted to run. The question was answered 16:25.6 seconds after the gun went off. Udland won quite handly with the 2nd place runner, Clay Petty of Mendham running 17:01.4. Mendham may have gotten the last laugh in the sectional race as they beat out Millburn for the team title 46-51. The group 3 girls race saw one of the top runners in NJ toe the line. Laura Vigilante of Mendam had a solid race winning easily over Voorhees' Colette Whitney 18:37.5 to 19:18.0. The team title went to Whitney led Voorhees squad finishing 10 points ahead of Morristown 42-52. The group 4 boys race, unquestioned the most exciting race of the day say the first seven runners finish within 10 seconds of each other with Matthew McDonald of North Hunterdon finishing 1st. Only an only fitting fashion for the race the team title was just as close. Ridge pulled out a close one finishing with 65 points to Wesfield's 67 points. The group 4 girls race may have been the closest sectional race ever. Jackie Madden of Ridge and Cara Talt of Bridgewater-Raritan finished just .64 away from each other. Madden finished first with a time of 19:39.30 to Talty's 19:39.94. Madden led her squad to an easy team victory finishing with 39 points, 2nd place North Hunterdon finished with 90 points.
Thompson Park - for the last few years the group 1 boys and girls side of Central Jersey has been dominated by Robbinsville, this Saturday was no different. On the boys side, Brian Otoole helped his team take the team title by finishing first with a time of 16:27. The team finished 21 points ahead of 2nd place Metuchen. On the girls side Brianna Feerst a sophomore from Point Pleasant Beach broke up the Robbinsville domination to finish first with a time of 19:41 just seven seconds ahead of a Robbinsville trio led by Megan Flynn who finished in 19:48. Robbinsville took the girls team title winning by more than 40 points with a score of 24 to New Providences 68. The group 2 boys race was all about the team title where it saw Delaware Valley come back on it's fifth runner who finished 16th to take the title by 1 point over Red Bank Regional whose fifth runner finished in 21st place. Matt Metlitz did all he could for his Red Bank Reg. squad as he finished first in the race with a time of 16:21. The group 2 race was similar to the boys race only this time it involved 5 teams within winning distance of each other. Team places 1-5 were all within 14 points. Rumson-Fair Haven got the better end of the stick out of the 5 teams with a strong showing by their 3-4 and 5 runners who finished 20-28-30th overall. The individual race was won by Rahway's Nichelle Harris with a time of 18:55 the only runner under 19:00 in the race. What can I say about the group 3 boys race other than the Rosa's and company were in it. The Rosa's go 1-2 and West Windsor-Plainsboro North wins the team title, enough said. The group 3 girls race was led by a 1st place finish by West Windsor-Plainsboro North's Emily Scott who finished the 5k in 18:36, a very comfortable win over 2nd place Julie Jablonski from Hopewell Valley who crossed the line in 18:53. The team title went to Hopewell Valley who finished with 62 to finish 14 ahead of Princeton. The group 4 boys saw two of the state's top 25 runners with Mike O'dow
d (pictured below) who hails from Colts Neck and Sam Macaluso from West Windsor-Plainsboro South. O'dowd finished just ahead of Macaluso to claim his first sectional crown with a time of 15:50. Macaluso finished 8 seconds back in 15:58. The group 4 boys team title came down to the wire as East Brunswick wins with a final talley of 104 to West Windsor-Plainsboro South's 106. The group 4 girls race was won by a Kellner for the 2nd straight year. No it wasn't Katie, it was her little sister Caroline. She finished in first after battling some of the state's toughest runners in Jillian Prentice from Montgomery, Rashmi Singh from Hunterdon Central, Ashley Smolinka from Hillsborough, and Sophia Ginez from South Brunswick. All 5 runners finished under 19:00 with Kellner running 18:14. The team title had the state's top two teams pitted against each other, with Hillsborough and Hunterdon Central. Hillsborough found themselves by race's end almost 40 points ahead of Hunterdon Central 48-83.
(central jersey photos courtest of Good Doggie Photo)
Delsea HS - In the group 1 girls down way down in South Jersey, we saw Jacob Walter of Haddon Twp go wire to wire with James McCarvill from Audobon. Walter finished just infront of McCarvill 16:51 to 16:56. The team title in group 1 after 5 runners was a tie 55-55 so it came down to the 6th runner where Haddon Twp finished in 29th place to Pennsville's 37th place. The group 1 girls race was another classic veteran vs. the rookie. Senior runner from Pitman, Shona Potrzuski won by 45+ seconds over Kaley Moyer from Maple Shade whose just a Freshman. The team title was dominated by the Potrzuski led Pitman team as the scored 26 points to finish ahead of Pennsville who tallied 63. 
The group 2 boys race was no a matter of who would win, nor what team would win, just really by how much. Jon Vitez (pictured to the left) of Haddonfield took down the meet record (that actually had already been broken that day by the group 4 runner, because group 4 went first, I'll get to that later) of Brett Johnson and Ocean City alumni. Vitez ran 15:24 to take down the CR of 15:37. Vitez won by almost 40 seconds finishing in 2nd place was his teammate Colin Baker, who crossed the line in 16:02. Freshman sensation from Barnegat managed to finish 3rd to break up the quartet from Haddonfield running 16:05 a very solid time for a freshman. Haddonfield finshed with a team score of 21 to Delsea's 2nd place finish of 63. Group 2 went down as the biggest margin of victory in the entire state. Marielle Hall the senior from Haddonfield and a strong challenger to Chelsea Ley (the state's top runner all year) finished with a stellar time of 17:52, almost 1 minute and 30 seconds ahead of 2nd place who as Felicia Odonnell a junior from Delsea. In the girls race the tide was turned as Delsea finished on top of Haddonfield for the team crown 33-41. The group 3 boys race saw one runner dip under 16:00, sort of the "plateau" of New Jersey running and that was by Miles Schoedler of Ocean City. 
On the legs of Schoedler the squad from Ocean City managed to hold of Lacey Twp by 11 with a score of 60-71 respectively. The group 3 girls race had the states #1 runner line up against another one of the state's top runners. Chelsea Ley (pictured to the left) whose from Kingsway vs. Megan Venables a junior from Highland Regional. Ley got the better of Venables finishing 10 seconds in front of her as both smash the rest of the field running 17:33 to 17:43. Look for these two to be among the top 5 at next week's group meet and then the week after at the MOC. The group 3 team title was won by Seneca 53 to Kingsway's 84. The group 4 boys race saw one heck of a team finish. The top 4 teams all finished within 5 points of each other. Shawnee a sort of underdog in the race managed to come out on top on the heels of their senior leader David Forward who finished third overall in 15:48. To round out the top 4 teams, Southern Regional 85, Toms River North 86, and Cherokee finished with 89. The individual race was won by Joe Kotran in 15:25 in what at the time was a meet record beating that of Brett Johnson's a year ago who ran 15:37. As stated earlier Kotran's meet record was short lived as Vitez of Haddonfield. The girls group 4 team race was dominated by Toms River North one of New Jersey's best teams and youngest to say the least as only 1 of their top 7 will graduate this year (their 3rd runner). Toms River North has been led by a freshman by the name of Karah O'Halloran all season long. It was no different today as O'Halloran finished in 7th place with the other 2 parts of their trio finishing right behind her in 8th, and 9th. The individual race saw Lenape go 1-2 led by another Freshman, Natalie Ocasio, finishing in 2nd was her teammate Caitlin Orr.
pictures from South Jersey, courtesy of SJPixShooter