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The Montgomery boys and Freehold Township girls won their first titles, Rumson pulled off a repeat sweep, the Shore Regional girls stayed on top, and the Metuchen boys returned to the winner's circle at Saturday's Central Jersey Championships at Thompson Park in Jamesburg.
This meet was filled with great highlights, so let's dig in.
FIRST TIME CHAMPIONS
One of the greatest things about Sectional Saturday is seeing teams that have been chasing their first title finally breakthrough. That's what happened in both Group 4 races.
In the girls race, junior Emma Zawatski, the Meet of Champions winner in the 1,600 last spring, ran 18:27, tied for the fastest time of the day, to finish first and lead Freehold Township's march to their first championship ever. Zawatski, the Shore Conference champion, finished 44 seconds ahead of runner-up Julia Scrudato of Montgomery, the Skyland Conference champion.
In addition to Zawatski, Freehold Township's all underclassmen top five consisted of junior Ava Biemuller, third in 19:27, sophomore Leah Rutledge, 16th in 20:16, junior Heather Feinstein, 17th in 20:16, and freshman Sophia Briggs was 19th in 20:40.
The loaded boys Group 4 race was the most dramatic and fastest of the meet!!
Unranked Montgomery, which missed advancing to the Group 4 meet last year by just two points, made history when it knocked off three ranked teams to capture its first title ever, 94-97 over No. 18 ranked and defending champion Princeton. Manalapan was third with 104, No. 12 Monroe placed fourth with 111, and No. 19 South Brunswick was fifth with 132.
Montgomery, which finished 6-15-18-26-26-29, averaged 17:00 and had a 1-5 split of 57 seconds, received a clutch finish from its No. 5 man, senior Ali Said, who ran 17:22 to finish 30th, nine spots ahead of Princeton's No. 5 runner to clinch the title for the Cougarsl.
The first four runners for Montgomery were Tyler Husar, 7th in 16:23, Habibullah Oberoi was 16th in 16:57, and Max Mahoney's was 17th in 17:00.
This race also produced the five fastest times of the day, with Manalapan junior Steven Kyvelos winning the race in 15:44 for the win, five seconds ahead of West Windsor-Plainsboro South senior Ayush Saran (15:49).
WHAT A DAY FOR SHAY
Chris Shay of Middletown South made history with his victory, and the Colts Neck boys, Allentown girls, and Liliah Gordon of Northern Burlington also won the titles in the Group 3 race.
In the boys race, Shay, a senior, became the first boy from Middletown South to ever win a sectional title by running 16:28 to win by 16 seconds.
Colts Neck packed its first five runners, averaged 17:08, and had a 1-5 compression of 50 seconds to score a 34-60 victory over defending champion West Windsor-Plainsboro North. It's the second title for Colts Neck in the past three years and its seventh overall.
Junior Jacob McNamara (16:44) and senior Leo Kurtz (16:47) went 2-3 for Colts Neck, and sophomore Hunter Celkupa, sixth in 17:11, John Shapiro,11th in 17:29, and junior Andrew Krok, 15th in 17:35 filled out the other scoring spots for Colts Neck.
On the girls side, Gordon, who finished second as a freshman last year, ran 18:27 to became the first individual champ from Northern Burlington since 1993, and Allentown averaged 20:52 and finished 2-6-19-25-30 to defeat runner-up Red Bank, 82-96,. It's the second title ever for Allentown, which won its first championship in 2016.
BROOMS AND HISTORY
Rumson pulled out the brooms for the second straight year, and Mark Viggiano of Ocean Township and Melina Johnston of Robbinsville were the individual champions in Group 2.
In the girls race, No. 7 ranked Rumson rolled to its third straight title and 11th overall with a convincing 40-88 victory over runner-up Point Pleasant Boro, and Mercer County champion Johnston, a junior, ran 18:50 to win by 20 seconds to become the first runner ever from Robbinsville to capture a sectional title.
Rumson's top five were Julia Shanes, second in 19:10, Logan Rettino, fifth in 19:49, Sarah Butler, (20:21), Georgia Edwards (20:28) and Hannah Nitka (20:32) finished 10-11-12 for Rumson.
On the boys side, Viggiano, a senior, ran away with the individual title in 16:22, 39 seconds ahead of runner-up Quinn Padavano of Runmson, and Rumson won its second straight title and third overall.
Padavano was the leader of a tight pack for Rumson, who crammed its seven runners in the top 18, had 1-5 split of 49 seconds and averaged 17:33 on the way to a 51-62 victory over Point Pleasant Boro. Kevin Medrow (17:29), Jake D'Angelo (17:40), Mickey Schroeder (17:49) and Luke McCormick (17:50) were the others scorers for Rumson.
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SHORE AND RILEY REPEAT, METUCHEN WINS
The Metuchen boys won its first title since 2016, and the three other titles champions featured repeat winners - Colin Riley of Dayton, and Megan Donlevie, who led Shore Regional to another team title.
In the boys race, the Villanova-bound Riley, who will defend his state Group 1 title this Saturday, won his second straight title in 16:17, and Metuchen put five runners in the top 16 as the Bulldogs dethroned defending champion Dayton, 47-55. Metuchen has now captured 10 sectional championships.
Metuchen's pack consisted of junior Alex Patelski, third in 17:00, senior Brandon Sinclair, 8th in 17;56, junior Eric Schleif, ninth in 17:56 junior Michael McNamara, 13th in 18:29, and junior Harry Moorman, 16th in 18:34.
On the girls side, Donlevie, the defending state Group 1 champion, ran 19:20 to win her second straight title and spark Shore to a 37-61 win over Metuchen for its third straight title and ninth overall.
The four other runners that scored for Shore, who put its seven runners in the top 18, were Jacqueline Gifford (20:38), Lillian Flor (20:42), Shannon Loehr (21:03), and Milla Scalise (21:18).