The Union Catholic girls dropped a bomb, history was made, and three teams broke out the brooms to sweep titles at Tuesday's Union County Conference Championships at Oak Ridge Park in Clark.
WATCHUNG DIVISION
In one of the most remarkable performances in Union County history, the UC girls left a lot smoke on the course after they absolutely torched the 3.1-mile layout with a 1-2-3 finish as junior Peyton Hollis (17:52), senior Kaleigh Gunsiorowski (18:01), and Courtney Kaiser (18:19) ran the three fastest times in course history to lead the Vikings, ranked No. 1 in the state, to a course record average of 18:35 and a runaway victory in the Watchung Division. Freshmen Ella Solorzano (19:10) and Emmy O'Hearn (19:34) were UC's No. 4 and No. 5 runners. UC defeated No. 12 ranked Kent Place, 19-60. No. 15 Westfield placed third with 81.
The times by Hollis, who hit the first mile in 5:31 and the second mile mark in 11:11, Gunsiorowski, and Kaiser were all faster then the former course record of 18:22 that was set by Cassidy Roop of North Hunterdon when she ignited North Hunterdon to a a then course record average of 19:16 at the North Jersey, Section 2 Championships last November.
Hollis, Gunsiorowski, and Kaiser, who have now finished 1-2-3 in all four of their races this season, finished ahead of All-Stater Lindsay Hausman of Kent Place to keep their amazing streak alive. Hausman was fourth in 18:34.
The UC boys, ranked No. 2 in the state, made it a Watchung sweep for the Vikings by placing 2-3-4-5-8 and averaging 15:59 (No. 2 in course history behind UC's 15:49 at this meet last year) to outscore No. 4 ranked Westfield, 22-67. Westfield held out most of its top runners while UC held out Jimmy Wischusen, the state's top ranked runner. So the big showdown between those state powers will have to wait until Oct. 20 when UC and Westfield will race at full strength in what has all the makings of an epic clash at the Union County Championships at Warinanco Park.
Rahway senior Micah Lawson, who won the Mountain Division title last year, took advantage of Wischusen's absence. Lawson went right to the front and kept hammering the pace the whole way en route to a very impressive victory in 15:30, which broke his own school record and was fastest time of the day. Lawson finished 15 seconds ahead of Ryan Cichocki of Union Catholic, second in 15:45.
It was Lawson's first race since the first week of the season. Illness and some knee soreness kept him from competing for the last few weeks month, but Lawson said he feel great now and said when he races at the North Jersey, Section 2 meet in a few weeks, he plans to try to make a run at the course record of 15:01 set by Marco Langon of Bridgewater-Raritan last year.
MOUNTAIN DIVISION
The race was all about the return to the top by the Elizabeth boys and the New Providence girls, and an impressive season debut by junior Cassidy Kidd of Union, who won her third straight divisional championship.
Kidd, who just returned to training last week after being sidelined for about a month with an ankle injury, showed a lot of heart over the last half mile as she willed her way to victory in 20:04. Kidd, who won the Valley Division race the previous two years, held off Miranda Bournique of New Providence, second in 20:08.
VALLEY DIVISION
The biggest celebration of the day took place at the end of the girls race when Elizabeth rallied to edge Dayton, 32-40, to win its first divisional title in school history! Elizabeth and Dayton were deadlocked at 20-20 after each team had four runners across the line, but Elizabeth's No. 5 runner, sophomore Zaraie Castillo, came up with a clutch 12th place finish, 10 places ahead of Dayton's No. 5 runner, to clinch the historic victory.
When Elizabeth was announced as the winner, the team and coaches erupted in total jubilation as they high-fived, hugged, and screamed in pure joy as they soaked in basked in the
The girls individual winner was Dayton senior Claudia Reines in 19:33. This was the first XC victory ever for Reines, who was second last year. She won the race by more than a minute.
In the boys race, senior Hayden Singer finished first in 17:24 to ignite a 1-3-5-11-13 finish for New Providence as the Pioneers captured the team title, 31-48 over runner-up Johnson.
