Bergen MOC: Ridgewood Sweep, Luke Pash & Christina Allen Win

Results | Videos | Photos | Team by Team

The Lou Molino Bergen County Meet of Champions hit the trail Saturday morning at Darlington Park in Mahwah, NJ.

Both Christina Allen of River Dell and Luke Pash of Ridgewood earned their first BMOC individual titles, and the Ridgewood boys and girls shined, both scoring 23 point totals to sweep the team championships.

Watch Boys Race | Watch Girls Race

This is an awesome meet every fall, the vibe hints of the magic often brought to Holmdel during the State Meet of Champions. Individual and team qualifiers have advanced and earned the right to be there, the time schedule is focused and allows for breathing between the title races, athletes outside of the competition are in attendance cheering on their teammates. Most years you'll find school flags, face paint, costumes parading around the park.

River Dell HS senior Christina Allen toed the line at Darlington Park for the final time on Saturday morning and by race end had checked yet another box on a successful high school running resume.

The University of Cincinnati bound star won the Bergen MOC title clocked at 18:32, a full 44 seconds ahead of the field. That is the top ranked time recorded at Darlington Park this season, despite slippery conditions on the rain soaked muddy course.

Her previous best finish at BMOCs occurred last fall when she ran second as a junior.

Allen is River Dell's second individual winner all-time on the girls side and the first for her school since Shannon Goria brought home the title in 2015. 

Girls Top 5 Finishers - Watch Here

Running second was Ridgewood senior Cellina Rabolli clocked at 19:16. That performance kicked off an inspiring scoring effort by Ridgewood that totaled for 23 points (1+2+3+8+9) to defeat Northern Highlands and their 53 point run(5+6+10+14+18).

Ridgewood averaged 19:32 with a 27 second top five split! Their entire scoring five over the line within the top ten finishers overall.

Behind Rabolli's second place run was junior Eilat Kissil at 19:28, now the top returner heading into 2024, freshman Katherine Keating was next in fourth at 19:31, senior Avery Sheridan ninth 19:43 and right there at the line in 10th was junior Ayla Cooke also at 19:43.

Displacer Lola Jacqueline finished 19th running 20:32 and came through ahead of Northern Highlands' fifth extending Ridgewood's lead. Their seventh runner Sofia Lanzisera was 33rd at 21:11.

This is Ridgewood's 33rd title on the girls side and their fourth in the past five BMOCs contested including 2018, 2019, 2021, and now 2023. The meet was not held in 2020.

Northern Highland's strong second place run as a team saw a 20:02 average with a 1:20 split, they were led by Autumn Ritter and Allison Courtney in sixth and seventh, both credited with a 19:43. 

Also cracking the top five individually was Ramapo junior Brianna Potaki who earning a time of 19:32.

With a Darlington Park course PR of 15:27 Luke Pash left no doubt on Saturday pulling away from the field to win by a margin of 29 seconds!

Pash has racked up an impressive junior season of performances so far including winning the Big North Freedom Divisional, the Bergen Group A Championship, and now the Bergen Meet of Champions title.

His course best at Holmdel Park dropped from a 16:50 in 2022 down to a 16:01 at Shore Coaches, his Darlington Park best has now moved from a 16:09 down to a 15:27.

The star junior is Ridgewood's first individual winner since Will Baginski in 2017 and for Ridgewood the successes on the day did not end with Pash's individual win. 

Boys Top 5 Finishers - Watch Here

Joshua Tejada of Teaneck, a senior, ran a course PR of 15:56 to finish second on Saturday, his previous best finish at BMOC was eighth just last season. 

Senior Ryan LoCicero of Don Bosco Prep earned third place at 16:01 and junior Aidan Morrow of Hasbrouck Heights clocked a 16:10 for fourth. 

From there on it was all Ridgewood HS, their entire top six finished the race by ninth place overall! Defeating the defending champs Don Bosco Prep 23 to 93 while averaging 16:13 and a spread of 1:02 between their top five.

Led by Pash's one card finish Ridgewood senior DJ Murphy crossed in fifth at 16:14, junior Trevor Kane sixth 16:27, senior Chris Brady seventh 16:28, junior Tom Mevissen eighth 16:29, and their sixth runner Jett Lincoln, a junior, recorded 16:33 for ninth which displaced points on four of the five scorers for second ranked Don Bosco Prep.

For the Ridgewood boys this is their fifth BMOC title in the past six competitions including 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, and now 2023. As mentioned above the meet was not held in 2020. Don Bosco Prep were the defending champs coming in after their 2022 victory.

Ridgewood successfully won three of the four 2023 BMOC titles on the day sweeping the team titles and both the boys and girls teams scoring the same impressive total of 23 points.

• 2023 Boys Darlington Park 5K Rankings
• 2023 Girls Darlington Park 5K Rankings
• Watch Boys BMOC Race
• Watch Girls BMOC Race
• Bergen Group Championship Winners 

Team Scores

Boys Championship

Girls Championship