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The Montclair Kimberley Academy girls, led by repeat winner Maggie Horn, made history by winning its first title ever, Ian Zalewski won his second straight title, and the Columbia boys returned to the winners circle for the first time in seven years at the Essex County Championships on Monday at Brookdale Park in Bloomfield.
Horn, a senior, ran 18:14 to win by 44 seconds and lead a 1-10-16-19-27 scoring combination for MKA, which outscored runner-up Columbia, in the girls team standings. Horn's winning time was more than a minute faster than she ran to win last year (19:23)
In addition to Horn, MKA's scorers were junior Natalie Ewing, 10th in 21:16, senior Olga Shandarivska, 16th in 21:38, freshman Victoria Altirs, 19th in 21:43, and freshman Milena Kwapniewski, 27th in 22:38.
On the boys side, Zalewski, a senior, sliced 17 seconds off his winning time from last year by stopping the clock at 16:08. In the team competition, Columbia's all underclassmen lineup all ran PR's as the Cougars jammed five runners in the top 12 and had a 1-5 compression of just 29 seconds to roll to its first championships since 2016.
Columbia's scoring five were junior Asa Glassman, 5th in 16:46, junior Samuel Medd, 8th in 17:05, junior Earl Hart finished 9th in 17:06, sophomore Christian Caravetta, 11th in 17:13, and freshman Abraham Hoffmann, 12th in 17:15.