New Jersey saw multiple squads enter their athletes to the RunningLane Cross Country Championships in Huntsville, Alabama on December 2nd. The national level event emerged during the 2020 season amongst the changing competition landscape of the COVID era and has been running every year ever since.
Sofia Day's Strong Finish to 2023
The major highlight of the meet for the Garden State was junior Sofia Day of Mainland Regional. Day ran to an 11th place finish clocking an 18:05.4 in the main event Gold Race.
Day's 11th place run is the best all-time finishing position for New Jersey at this meet, in 2021 Colts Neck's Lilly Shapiro finished 13th overall with a 16:51, in 2020 Caroline Mehlhorn of Montgomery crossed the line in 14th at 17:49.
Day was coming off a 31st place run at Nike Cross Nationals Northeast Regionals on November 25th and a seventh place finished in the NJSIAA Meet of Champions on November 11th.
Next best for New Jersey at this year's RunningLane was Pingry School's senior Olivia Murray running 37th with a time of 18:379. Melina Johnston of Robbinsville HS finished 120th at 19:25.9.
Along with Murray the Pingry School sent a full squad which scored 12th overall with 276 points (6 + 50 + 62 + 76 + 82 (87) (102)) averaging 20:04 with a split of 2:14.
Along with Murray's 37th place run Pingry saw Kayla Kerr finish 170th, Gia Sachan 197th, Sari Berman 221st, Devan Gambello 231st, Hannah Diao 240th, Lucy Ambrogio 261st
Girls Top Finishers Overall - Gold Race Results
| PLACE | VIDEO | ATHLETE | TEAM | MARK | POINTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Evelyn Prodoehl | 11 | Lak. West | 17:32.80 | ||
| 2 |  Sadie Adams | 11 | Unattached VA | 17:40.00 | ||
| 3 |  Morgan Boonshaft | 12 | Providence Day School | 17:44.60 | ||
| 4 |  Gail Vaikutis | 12 | St. Joseph | 17:48.50 | ||
| 5 |  Addison Dorenkamp | 12 | Valley High School | 17:50.30 | ||
| 6 |  Nicki Southerland | 12 | Delta High School | 17:50.50 | ||
| 7 |  Scout Storms | 11 | Barrington | 17:57.20 | 1 | |
| 8 |  Addison Moore | 10 | Woodford County | 17:58.10 | ||
| 9 | Mia Sirois | 9 | Barrington | 18:03.00 | 2 | |
| 10 |  Tula Fawbush | 12 | Team Kentucky Elite | 18:03.90 | ||
| 11 |  Sofia Day | 11 | Mainland Regional HS | 18:05.40 |
McNamara Leads Colts Neck Boys
On the boys side we saw a full squad from Colts Neck which scored 19th overall at 408 (31 + 59 + 91 + 97 + 130 (132)) They were led by senior Jacob McNamara in 115th at 16:12.9.
Behind McNamara were teammates John Shapiro at 16:33.3 for 172nd, Jay Adimala in 226th, Andrew Krok in 236th, Lucas Sanginari in 278th, and their lone displacer Eren Alpa running 280th.
The third fastest NJ time of the meet actually came out of the Silver Division with Connor Polen's 16:56.5 for 80th, he's a sophomore at Newark Academy. Max Kahn of Mountain Lakes was also in that division clocking 17:01.2 for 96th, the fifth fastest of NJ performances at the meet.
Some history for New Jersey boys at RunningLane... In 2021 Jackson Barna of Ridge HS ran to 8th here with a time of 14:23. in 2022 Ayush Saran of West Windsor Plainsboro South HS was Jersey's top finisher in 24th at 15:38.
Top Boys Finishers Overall - Gold Race Results
| PLACE | VIDEO | ATHLETE | TEAM | MARK | POINTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Skandera | 10 | Unattached - AL | 15:05.30 | ||
| 2 |  Junior Allen | 12 | Oakton | 15:15.00 | ||
| 3 |  Matteo Tonnos | 12 | Farragut High School | 15:16.90 | 1 | |
| 4 |  Isaac Rivera | 12 | Lincoln College Prep. High School | 15:17.50 | ||
| 5 |  Jaden Merrick | 10 | Cedar Falls | 15:19.50 | ||
| 6 |  William Bauschke | 11 | Mishawaka High School | 15:22.10 | ||
| 7 | Jeron Wisner | 11 | Unattached - NM | 15:22.60 | ||
| 8 |  Aiden Le Roux | 10 | Cheyenne Mountain High School | 15:23.30 | 2 | |
| 9 | Daniel Hruska | 12 | Bruins Racing | 15:25.80 | 3 | |
| 10 |  Joseph Jacquot | 12 | Heritage Prep | 15:28.40 |