WAPPINGERS FALLS, NY - New Jersey's top teams, boys and girls will be heading to the NXN Northeast Regional meet in hopes of a bid to Portland, OR where the best teams in the country will square off. Hillsborough and Randolph on the girls side have been near the top of NJRunners.com's team rankings all season. It was no surprise that in back to back weeks they finished 1-2 in each race against each other with Randolph beating Hillsborough in the Group meet and Hillsborough winning the Meet of Champions by 1 point over Randolph. That was just Hillsborough's 2nd time ever making the Meet of Champions as a team and their first win. Neither Hillsborough nor Randolph has that stud sub 18:30 (on Holmdel) runner, rather each team is is tremendously balanced. At the Meet of Champions each team had their 5th runner (34th for Hillsborough and 27th for Randolph) through the finish line before ANY other team's 3rd runner. It's that balanced attack that makes these two teams dangerous when they toe the line. They may not have that 1-2 punch that other out of the area teams may have, but watch out from places 10-30 because Hillsobourh and Randolph will be coming. Other teams and individual girls from NJ making the trip looking for an outside shot of making it to Portland include: Jillian Prentice (Montgomery), the team from Hunterdon Central that includes, Jessica Krystek, Juliana Lindner, Allison Payenski, Rashmi Singh, Carlie Skellington, Kelsey Stecklow, and Kat Vodopia. Emily Scott of West Windsor-Plainsboro North and Michelle Capozzi of Red Bank Catholic will also be making the trip
On the boys side New Jersey has an outside shot of sending 4 teams out west. Don Bosco the reigning MOC champs, CBA, WWPN, and Haddonfield. Each team needs strong performances from their 3-5 runners to solidify a spot for a National Championship. Don Bosco the strongest of the 4 teams in the last two weeks looks to be New Jersey's best shot of putting atleast one on the podium. 'Bosco is led by three seniors, Rafael Vargas, Michael Belgiovine, and Howard Rosas. Those three athletes will look to help the Ironmen extend their 2009 cross country season another week. The Christian Brothers Academy from Lincroft, perenial powerhouses in NJ will also have a strong bid for place high this weekend. L
ed by junior sensation Mike Mazzaccaro who recently busted a HUGE personal best at the legendary Holmdel 5k course running 15:40.2, #16 on the All-Time list. For CBA to make it through to the next stage, they will need strong finishes from the 3-4-5 runners. If they run the way they ran at the Meet of Champions they will be right in the mix. The other two teams making the trip to Bowdoin Park, WWPN and Haddonfield have more questions. WWPN had other wordly performances from their 1-2 punch of Joe and Jim Rosa (arguably the best 1-2 EVER) who ran 14:55.6 and 15:14.3 (Video of that race HERE) respectively at last weeks Meet of Champions, good enough for #'s 1 and 2 all-time at Holmdel park. If WWPN's 3-4-5 runners can muster up what they ran at the Group Championship meet two weeks ago this team will be dangerous. Haddonfield a team a laden with 4:15 milers, is led by senior Jon "Boo" Vitez who also just set a big personal best at Holmdel Park running 15:41.4. Will Haddonfield's 4 and 5 runners have enough to withstand Bowdoin Park? Time will tell.
full list of NXN NE entries can be found HERE
Both photos courtesy of Good Doggie Photo