Bavaro, Smith, McGoey, Fernandez Star At Magee Class Meet

Sep 17, 2022

Jeremy Bavaro felt he was in sub 16 shape heading into the season.

He was right!

Bavaro proved how fit he was when he came storming across the line with a huge PR of 15:52 to win the Senior Division race at the Bernie Magee Memorial Class Meet on Saturday at Oak Ridge Park in Clark

Bavaro's time was the fastest of the day, and it ignited the North Hunterdon pack, ranked No. 9 in the state, to the team championship in the Senior Division race with a 16:34 5-man average, and the overall team title (the soph., junior and senior races combined).

Bavaro's 15:52 is a 34 second PR drop from 16:26 he ran when he was sixth at the Roxbury Invitational last week.

"I wasn't real happy with the way I raced last week at Roxbury, so I wasn't super confident going into today,'' said Bavaro.
"I went out too fast last week, so today my teammate (David McKinnon) and I went a little slower, and I surprised myself by running as fast as I did. We did a hill workout this week and we did mile repeats, so I was little sore and wasn't really sure what to expect. But I was feeling really good, so I just kept pushing it the whole way. It feels really good to see all the training and hard work pay off, and now I'll just keep working hard to keep getting faster.''

Bavaro led a 1-2-6-8-14 finish for the Lions, McKinnon was second in 16:03, Asa Alderman sixth in 16:18, Brayden Barro eighth in 16:26, and Matt DiLanno ran a monster PR of 17:24 to finish 14th for North Hunterdon.

North Hunterdon also received a big victory from Ryan Schmidt in the Freshman Race (3,200 meters).

MORE HIGHLIGHTS

The most impressive individual girls performance of the meet was delivered by Addison McGoey of Kent Place, who dominated the Junior Division race with a winning time of the 19:26.

The Watchung Hills girls received several outstanding performances to capture the overall team title, but it was the Hunterdon Central girls that came out on top by a wide margin in the merge and the top average of the day of 20:52.

The Hunterdon Central boys made their presence felt with victories from Noah Smith and Cameron Hess.

Smith dropped a big PR when he won the Junior Division race in 15:56, and Hess sliced a minute off his previous best time when he captured the Sophomore Division race in 17:20.

Amandine Fernandez of Bogota was all smiles after winning the girls Senior Division race in 20:18 as shed pulled away late from a very game Margaret Michelet of Hunterdon Central, second in 20:35. Fernandez called it the biggest win of her career and the toughest race she's ever run. Fernandez said one of her biggest goals this season is to break her school record of 19:25.

First-year XC runner Sophie Tirabassi of Warren Hills opened a lot of eyes when she ranaway with the girls Sophmore Division race in 20:49. Tirabassi played soccer last year, but after running a 5:35 mile last spring, she decided to make the switch and devote herself to distance running. Looks like a great decision.

Emmy O'Hearn of Union Catholic, another young rising star, made a smashing high school debut when she won the 3,200-meter Freshman Race in 12:26. O'Hearn, who was a very good swimmer, said she's now focusing on running and that it's the best decision she's ever made.