Note, there were some major issues with results primarily due to mix-ups with the tags and this recap is based off the information we have. There are a large number of corrections still incoming for Saturday's meet. Updates will be made to this article if necessary. If you still see incorrect times or places in the results for Shore Coaches you can provide that information to the timer at vipertimingnj@gmail.com.
Holmdel, NJ - The heavy rain that battered the state and caused lots of flooding on Friday took a toll on the course at Holmdel Park, making it very soft and sloppy for Saturday's eagerly anticipated New Balance Shore Coaches Invitational.
Because of the swampy conditions, it was logical to assume that the times would be slow.
Wrong!
Instead, the top teams and runners in the state made a huge statement that should be clearly heard by the rest of the country by dropping some of the greatest performances ever run on the historic 3.1-mile layout.
Despite the mud and rain that created shaky footing and resulted in numerous runners stumbling, slipping, and falling during the 26 races on the day, the No. 1 ranked teams in the state, the CBA boys and Union Catholic girls, led a barrage of stunning times, which showed that the talent level in New Jersey is just ridiculous right now!!
Let's take an inside look at all the eye-popping performances.
CLASH OF TITANS
In a day filled with marquee matchups, the main event was clearly the showdown between top-ranked Christian Brothers Academy and No. 2 ranked Westfield in the boys Varsity A race, which came late in the day after thousands of runners had chopped up the course.
The race lived up to the hype as both teams ran two of the fastest averages in course history and each squad put its seven runners at 16:30 or faster and in the top 20!!
CBA, ranked No. 8 in the nation, controlled the race up front with a 1-2 finish from junior Joe Barrett (the top time of the day of 15:36) and senior Jack Falkowski (15:41), and the Colts received a 7-11-12-13 finish from its 3-4-5-6 runners as CBA threw down a meet record 15:59.1 average, No. 2 all-time at Holmdel, which has been used as the State Championship course since 1978. Only the CBA team that ran 15:52 at the 2013 Meet of Champions has run faster at Holmdel.
Behind Barrett and Falkowski for CBA were Conor Clifford, seventh in 16:10, Wyatt Falkowski, 11th in 16:13, Alex Mastroly, 12th in 16:17, Brady Barber, 16th in 16:19, and Alex Kemp, 19th in 16:27.
CBA had to run fast to win because Westfield gave them all they could handle as the Blue Devils averaged 16:08.9, the fastest time ever by a Public School at Holmdel and No. 9 all-time in course history. Westfield broke the Public School record of 16:14 that was set by West Windsor-Plainsboro North, led by twins Joe and Jim Rosa, at the 2008 Meet of Champions.
Westfield's top seven were Avery Keith, fourth in 15:55, Eamon Mason, fifth in 16:03, Ryan Daly, sixth in 16:08, Jimmy Gildea, 9th in 16:12, Graham Korins, 17th in 16:27, Tage Mehta, 18th in 16:27, and Alexander Valencia, 20th in 16:30 There's a good chance that Westfield just ran its way into the national rankings with this performance, which comes a week after a big win at Bowdoin.
The averages by CBA and Westfield marks the first time in Holmdel Park history that two teams averaged under 16:10 in the same season!!!
How fast would they have gone if the course was dry???
Barrett, whose 15:36 is the fastest ever by a junior at CBA and No. 3 in school history, was one many runners who felt that the conditions cost runners about 10 seconds.
"We knew after the way we ran at Bowdoin last week (No. 2 all-time 16:07 average) that we were ready to run fast here,'' said Barrett. "That 15:52 record is something we are aiming for, and we know we are capable of getting it at the state meets.''
The CBA-Westfield matchup only happened because for the first time that I can remember there are two weeks between the Shore Coaches meet and the Manhattan Invitational. CBA always sits their top guns at Shore Coaches to prepare for Manhattan, which has been the following week for several years.
"Coach McCafferty (Sean) wanted use to get used to the feeling of back-to-back races to help us prepare for the back-to-back we will have at Regionals and Nationals,'' said Barrett. "And we were excited to get the opportunity to get out on this course today and see what we could do.''
VIKINGS DROP RED HOT AVERAGE
The girls competition also featured a matchup between the top two teams in the state, top-ranked Union Catholic, the defending Meet of Champions winner, and No. 2 Haddonfield, the M of C runner-up last year.
Union Catholic, ranked No. 12 nationally, showed that it simply has too much firepower for the rest of the state right now as the Vikings went 1-2-3-4-9 and averaged a meet record 19:06.4, which is tied for No. 5 in course history. UC outpointed Haddonfield, 18-56.
UC's top five were Paige Sheppard, first in 18:27, one of the fastest times in course history for a freshman, Courtney Kaiser, second in 18:37, Peyton Hollis, third in 19:07, Cayleigh Kaiser, fourth in 19:19, and Ella Solorzano, 9th in 20:03.
The only four teams who have run faster at Holmdel than UC are all from Hunterdon County. They are Voorhees (19:01.0 at the 2007 Meet of Champions), Voorhees (19:01.6 at the 2012 M of C), North Hunterdon (19:02.6 at the 2019 M of C), and Voorhees (19:04.8 at the 2007 Group 3 race). North Hunterdon also ran 19:06.4 at the 2019 Meet of Champions, which UC equaled.
It seems like it's just a matter of time before UC breaks the course record average, especially when you consider that freshman Kayla Devine ran 19:24 to win the JV C race. If you insert Devine's time into UC's varsity lineup, then UC's average comes to 18:58.8.
CONQUERING THE HILLS
Peyton Shute of Woodbury-Gateway spent a lot of time over the summer at Holmdel doing hill workouts. He knew that in order to get under 16 and run the times he needed to contend for a Meet of Champions title, he had to master the hills.
That hard work paid off in a big way on Saturday when Shute ran a strong tactical race and plenty left coming out of the bowl on the way to a victory in 15:43 in the Varsity F race, the third fastest time of the day.
"Whenever I ran at Holmdel in the past, my legs always to feel dead after I came out of the bowl,'' said Shute. "And I just didn't have enough left. Since there are no hills in South Jersey, I came here a lot over the summer and learned how to attack the hills and run smarter, and today I did that and I felt great after the bowl. One of my biggest goals is to win the Meet of Champions, so I had to figure how to run this course and run faster here. Now that I did this, I feel confident I can keep dropping my times here and can make a run at winning the whole thing.''
GORDON LEADS SUB 19 PARADE
Liliah Gordon of Northern Burlington came into the season with several big goals. Successfully defending her State Group 3 title, winning Meet of Champs, qualifying for the Foot Locker National Championships, and running a PR at Holmdel were her biggest targets.
The junior wasted no time crossing one of those off the list when captured the Varsity C Division race in 18:18 in her season opener. which is a new Holmdel PR and the fastest girls time of the day. Gordon's previous PR at Holmdel was 18:29 when she placed 8th at the Meet of Champions as a freshman in 2021.
Gordon was one of four runners to break 19 in her race. Rosemary Shay of Middletown South was second in 18:29, Maeve Smith of Ocean City ran 18:42 to finish third, and Sofia Day of Mainland placed fourth in 18:51.
Shay's time is No. 2 in Middletown South history behind the 17:59 that all-time NJ great Cate Guiney ran in 2008. Guiney won the Meet of Champions title, was third in the Foot Locker Northeast Regional and seventh at the Foot Locker Nationals as a senior in 1998.
Emma Zawatski of Freehold Township, the defending Meet of Champions winner, was the second fastest girl of the meet with a winning time and PR of 18:23 in the A race. Zawatski finished 28 seconds ahead of University of North Carolina-bound Julia Scrudato of Montgomery, second in 18:51. The victory avenged Zawatski's loss to Scrudato in the 1600m at the Meet of Champions last spring.
The other girls to crack 19 were Paige Sheppard of Union Catholic (the E Division winner in 18:27), Courtney Kaiser of Union Catholic (18:37), Shaelan McNally of Paul VI first in the D Division race with a Holmdel PR of 18:56, and Olivia Murray of Pingry School, first in the Varsity F race in 18:56, just off her PR of 18:50.
Murray, third at the Meet of Champions last year and a Foot Locker National finalist, was hoping to just break 20 minutes after missing training time this week with an illness.
"I didn't know what to expect, but I felt better during the race and really surprised myself,'' said Murray. "I couldn't be happier with how I ran.''
MORE HIGHLIGHTS
The other individual winners in the varsity races were Luke Pash of Ridgewood (a huge Holmdel PR of 16:01 in the boys B race), Elijah Forrest of Collingswood (16:21 in the boys E race), Will Mrozinski of Paul VI (16:43 in the boys G race), Douglas Antaky of Smithtown N.Y. (16:08 in the boys C race), and Nicholas Thomas of Niskayuna (16:29 in the boys D race). On the girls side, Zui Chinchalkar of West Windsor-Plainsboro North (19:55 in the B race).
In the boys team competition, No. 3 Union Catholic outscored Pingry 20-62 to win the D Division race. Jimmy Wischusen of UC, the Meet of Champions 3,200 winner last winter and the fastest runner at Holmdel last year (15:22), didn't race. He ran in Rhode Island last week and planned all along to skip this meet as part of his race schedule for the season.
No. 7 Haddonfield defeated No. 10 Bernards, 34-47, in the E Division. Ridge, ranked No. 14 beat No. 10 Ridgewood, 73-76, in the B race with No. 5 St. Peter's Prep was third, No. 19 Shawnee fourth, and No. 16 Montgomery was fifth. Summit, ranked No. 6, edged No. 15 Mendham., 81-83, in the C race. Paul VI, ranked No. 18, outscored Metuchen, 59-88, in the G race.
On the girls side, No. 4 Pingry defeated Oak Knoll, 53-93, in the F Division. Ridgewood, ranked No. 5, defeated No. 6 Northern Highlands, 70-118, in the B Division. Freehold Township, No. 3 in the state, averaged a school record 20:12 and placed second in the A race to W.T. Woodson, 54-80. In the C Division No. 7 Middletown South outscored No. 17 Summit, 73-112, and No. 8 Mainland was third with 133, No. 12 Ocean City was fourth with 177, and No. 14 Hopewell Valley finished fifth with 212. In the C Division, and unranked Paul VI defeated No. 10 Voorhees, 81-112, to win the D Division title.