St Peter's Prep won is first title, Villa Walsh captured its second major title in four days, Collin Boler dropped a big PR to finish first, and Lily Murphy continued her red hot rookie season with another victory at Saturday's NJCTC Championships at Oak Ridge in Clark.
Some of the top Non-Public teams in the state either skipped this meet or held out its top runners.
NJ#1 Union Catholic and NJ#2 Christian Brothers Academy held out almost all of their top guys as they prepare to collide for the Non-Public A State Championship this Saturday at Holmdel Park. On the girls side, No. 12 Kent Place and No. 14 Red Bank Catholic didn't run, and No. 11 Union Catholic held out its top guns.
But there was no holding back for St. Peter's Prep, the No. 14 ranked team in the state. The Marauders came in locked and loaded and threw down a very impressive performance on the way to a 31-66 victory over CBA.
St. Peter's, which won the Hudson County title last week, dominated the race by averaging 16:22 and packing its five scorers in the top 14 with a spread of 46 seconds.
The top five runners for St. Peter's were junior Alex Schimmel, second in 16:02, senior Luke Bradley, third in 16:15, junior Theodore McCarthy, sixth in 16:20, junior Richard Harrington, ninth in 16:27, and senior Brandon Schimmel, 14th in 16:49.
Look out for St. Peter's Prep at the State Non-Public A Championships this Saturday. This team has a great shot at placing third behind Union Catholic and CBA and advancing to the Meet of Champions. It's been amazing run this season for St. Peter's when you consider that four of the top five runners from the team that won the North Jersey Non-Public A Sectional XC Championship last fall graduated last year!
Individually, Delbarton's Boler ran a PR of 15:43 to win the race by 19 seconds over Alex Schimmel, the Hudson County champ. This is the third straight major title for Boler, won the NJAC title at Greystone in 15:55 (his previous PR), and the Morris County title at Greytone in 15:59. Boler, who has a PR of 16:09 at Holmdel Park, is certianly fit enough to get under 16 at the state meet next week.
In the girls race, Villa Walsh, coming off a victory at the State Prep B Championships on Wednesday at Blair Academy, put three runners in the top 13 and averaged 20:35 on the way to a 62-94 victory over runner-up Oak Knoll.
Villa Walsh's top five runners were freshman Ines Lemee, fourth in a PR of 19:59, junior Victoria Wong, seventh with a PR of 20:12, freshman Martha Smart, 13th in a PR of 20:38, junior Delaney McKee, 18th in 20:47, and freshman Erin Lyons, 22nd in 21:16.
The girls individual champion was Murphy, a senior at Oak Knoll who is running XC for the first time this season. Murphy stopped the clock at 18:44, just two seconds off the PR she ran to win at the Union County Conference Championships on the same course last month. Murphy won by a minute over Mt. St. Mary junior Payton Kochanski, who ran a huge PR to place second in 19:44. Kochanski's previous PR of 20:02 came when she placed fifth in the State Prep A race last Wednesday.