Westfield pulled off another stunning sweep, the North Hunterdon girls kept its amazing streak alive, the Voorhees and McNair boys repeated, the Hasbrouck Heights girls and Mendham and Bernards boys returned to the top, and Brenden McMahon and Molly Domurat ran the fastest times on an record-breaking day of heat at Saturday's NJSIAA North Jersey, Section 2 Championships at Greystone in Morris Plains.
In a season that has been marred by rain every Saturday, that trend ended in record-breaking fashion with the thermometer hitting 80!!
This meet also marked the return to Greystone for the first time since 2019. The meet was held at Oak Ridge Park in Clark the last three years.
Ok, let's dive into all the great action at this meet, which had several off the hook highlights.
Here we go!!!
BLUE DEVIL BROOM JOB, THE SEQUEL
Westfield did it again!!
For the second straight year the Blue Devils busted out the broom and swept the Group 4 titles, but this time they did it without their No. 1 runners, and the boys broke the course record average!!! You read that right!
The Westfield boys, despite having top gun Avery Keith sit out, still averaged a course record 15:56.21 on the hottest sectional day I can ever remember, and I've been at this for a long time! Yes, FAT time was used at this meet, and it's important to list here because the course record average coming into the meet was listed at 15:56.58 by Mendham at the 2018 Morris County Championships. But that meet didn't have FAT timing, and we all know the deal with FAT times vs. non-FAT times.
Westfield, ranked No. 3 in the state, rocked this race by with a 2-3-5-6-7 scoring combination and 1-5 compression of 33 seconds en route to a 23-73 win over runner-up and No. 5 Ridge!!
The victory raised Westfield's NJ. Sec. 2 record total to 23 titles! The Blue Devils have also won three championships in Central Jersey, so the now have a total of 26 sectional championships!!!
Westfield's top five were senior Tage Mehta, second in 15:39, senior Jimmy Gildea, third in 15:48, senior Eamon Mason, fifth in 15:58, senior Alexander Valencia, sixth in 1607, and junior Ryan Daly, seventh in 16:11.
Westfield will head into the Group 4 race next Saturday at Holmdel as the favorite as it seeks to avenge it close loss to Cherokee last year.
On the girls side, Westfield, ranked No. 10 in the state, overcame some adversity to repeat as champions.
Running without its No. 1 runner, freshman Anna Youseff, who was sick, and with consistent scorer Grace Lisnock unable to finish due to the heat, the Blue Devils dug down deep and still found a way to come up with a 61-88 victory over runner-up Hunterdon Central. It's the 8th sectional title for the gritty and gutsy Lady Blue Devils.
Westfield put three runners in the top nine, and picked up 19 points on Hunterdon Central at the No. 4 and No. 5 spots and averaged 20:34.
The top five for the Blue Devils were junior Emma Pranke, sixth in 20:05, senior Lina Wright, 8th in 20:12, junior Anna Kylish, 10th in 20:15, freshman Jessica Zhou, 16th in 20:44, and junior Emily Drennan, 26th in 21:36.
SKYLAND FLEXES AGAIN
The Skyland Conference once again flexed its dominance by capturing seven of the 16 titles-four girls championships (2 individual and 2 team), and 3 three boys titles (2 individual and one team championship).
On the girls side, Kelly Shanklin continued her breakout season by winning the Group 3 race in 19:07 to spark No. 6 North Hunterdon to its 9th straight title with a hard-fought 52-56 win over No. 9 Summit.
North Hunterdon, which has now won 25 sectional championships, went 1-5-11-17-18 and averaged 20:17. Summit countered with a 2-10-13-15-16 and averaging 20:28.
The other Skyland girls champs were Voorhees in Group 2 and Molly Domurat of Hunterdon Central.
Domurat, another big breakout star this season, dropped the top girls time of the day by stopping the clock at 19:01 to spark the Red Devils to a third-place finish.
As for Voorhees, the Vikings made it three straight titles in Group 2 with a 41-70 victory over Bernards. The Vikings have now captured 20 sectional titles overall!
In the boys competition, the three winners from the Skyland Conference were Brenden McMahon of Ridge, and Ben Connell, who won the group 2 race in 16:05 to fuel No. 14 Bernards to its first title in three years and its 36th overall!! That's the second most in state history behind Haddonfield's state record 42.
McMahon, another big breakout star this season, had to use a big late kick to overtake and then hold off Westfield's Tage Mehta in the Group 4 race. McMahon won in 15:35, the fastest time of the day. McMahon, and Mehta, second in 15:39, led five runners under 16:00. No other race produced a sub-16 time.
ALL IN THE FAMILY
Aidan Morrow had a lot on his mind when he toed the line in the boys Group 1 race. He was seeking to avenge is loss to Ian Zalewski of Verona last year, and he wanted to join his brother as a sectional XC champ and complete the triple crown.
The junior at Hasbrouck Heights ran 16:33 to finish 21 seconds ahead of runner-up Zalewski. who won the Essex County title last week. With the victory, Morrow joined his brother, Evan, as a sectional XC champ. Evan, now running at Rutgers, win the NJ Sec. 2 Group 1 race in 2021 at Oak Ridge. Morrow's win also gives him victories in the league, county and sectionals this season, giving him the triple crown!!
Morrow has been chasing all of his brother's course PR's this season, and broken every family record except at Holmdel where the brothers are tied at 16:45. Look out, Evan. Aidan is cooking right now and looks like he's ready for a big drop at Holmdel at the Group Championships next Saturday.
Joining Morrow as a triple crown winner was Bogota senior Isabel Michele, who captured the girls Group 1 race in 19:47. Michele, the second straight winner from Bogota (Amandine Fernandez won last year).
HISTORIC VICTORY
When junior Kira Chebishev crossed the line first in 19:54 in the girls Group 2 race she became the first girls ever from Parsippany Hill to capture a sectional XC title. Chebishev won by 31 seconds in her historic triumph.
BACK ON TOP
For the last two years, the Mendham boys have been rebuilding in the hopes of getting back to being one of the top teams in the state.
The Minutemen, ranked No. in the state, proved they are indeed back among the state's best packs with a great performance to win the Group 3 title with a 38-51 win over runner-up and defending champion Summit, ranked No. 9 in the state.
Leading the charge for No. 8 Mendham was junior Tommy Jendryka, who found another gear with 100 meters left and pushed through the pain to score his biggest victory in 16:20 to spark a 1-3-9-11-14 scoring combination for Mendham, which averaged 16:50.
HOGAN'S HERO'S
The McNair boys, coached by Matt Hogan, used its superior compression to runaway with its second straight Group 1 boys championship and sixth overall.
McNair was trailing Hasbrouck Heights, 12-19, after both teams had three runners across. But McNair's 4-5-6-7 runners came up huge as all four finished ahead of the No. 4 man for Hasbrouck Heights to seal the deal.
McNair, which had a very imprssive 1-5 spread of 33 seconds, rolled to a 38-72 win over runner-up Hasbrouck Heights.