A pair of historic records fell, rookies rolled, the Union Catholic girls and Westfield boys cooked, and many runners threw down big personal bests during one of the greatest Shore Coaches Invitationals ever on Saturday on a hot day at Holmdel Park.
There were plenty of statements made at the 49th annual meet, which serves as a midterm test for runners and teams and separates the contenders from the pretenders as we head into the championship portion of the season.
On a day filled with dramatic duels and riveting races, Paige Sheppard and Jack Tindall provided two of the biggest individual highlights.
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FASTEST SOPHOMORE EVER
Sheppard, the sensational sophomore at Union Catholic, torched the trails in the girls' E Division race by burning a 17:41, which smashed the sophomore course record and placed Sheppard No. 9 all-time on Holmdel's all-time list!
It's the second straight title for Sheppard, who said she was seeking redemption for her runner-up finish at the Meet of Champions last year when she ran 17:54.
The 17:41 by Sheppard broke the sophomore course record of 17:47 set by Camryn Wennersten of Ridgewood at the 2019 Shore Coaches Invitational and sparked N.J. No.1/ U.S. No. 7 Union Catholic to the second-fastest average in course history. More on that later.
Here's a quick look at the updated Holmdel Park all-time girls' Top 10
16:21-Katelyn Tuohy, North Rockland, N.Y., 2018 Shore Coaches Invit.
17:07-Angelina Perez, Lakeland, 2021 Group 2 Championships
17:21-Charlotte Bednar, Lawrenceville, 2020, Holmdel Invit.
17:26 -Kate Wiser, Pomeraug, Conn., 2020, East Coast Championships
17:28-Megan Venables, Highland Reg., 2010 Group 3 Championships
17:35-Lilly Shapiro, Colts Neck, 2021 Meet of Champions
17:36-Janet Smith, J.P. Stevens, 1983 Meet of Champions
17:40-Michelle Rowen, Washington Township,1982 Meet of Champions
17:41-Paige Sheppard, Union Catholic, 2024 Shore Coaches Invitational
17:44-Chelsea Ley, Kingsway, 2008 Shore Coaches Invitational
TINDALL TAKES DOWN A LEGEND
Jack Tindall of Cherokee wasted no time showing the rest of the state why he was hyped up as possibly the most talented freshman in state history by blowing up the freshman course record with a mind-bending 15:55 to place second in the boys' A race. Lukas Disko of Bridgewater-Raritan won in 15:54.
Tindall's time smashed the former freshman record of 16:15 that all-time great Craig Forys of Colts Neck ran twice in 2003, at the Monmouth County and Shore Conference Championships.
Forys is a two-time XC Meet of Champions winner, who once held both the Holmdel Park record of 15:15 and the Van Cortlandt Park 2.5-mile record of 12:10.7, and was the Foot Locker National runner-up in 2006. We all knew Tindall was loaded with talent after he ran 16:55 at Holmdel as an eighth-grader, but to chop 20 seconds off the freshman record is just amazing!!
VIKINGS DELIVER KNOCKOUT
The Union Catholic girls once again flexed their superior firepower with another epic performance as the Vikings dropped a 5-runner average of 18:46, No. 2 all-time at Holmdel, and nearly threw a shutout. UC set the record of 18:37 at the Meet of Champions last year.
The scoring combination for UC's all-underclassmen squad in the E race was 1-2-3-5-6 for 17 points!!! UC also finished on top in the team merge with just 48 points!! Ocean City was second with 341.
Sheppard was first in 17:41, sophomore Cayleigh Kaiser second in 18:26, sophomore Sophia Thompson third in 18:37, junior Jimmiea King fifth in 19:26, and junior Ella Solorzano was sixth in 19:41.
There doesn't seem to be any way to stop the UC Express from getting the 3-Peat at the Meet of Champions next month.
TRIFECTA
Senior Liliah Gordon of Northern Burlington did something very rare when she pulled off the trifecta when she opened her season by winning her third title at the Shore Coaches meet with a time of 18:21 in the C race. Gordon won the D race in 19:00 as a freshman and finished first in the Varsity C race last year in 18:18.
Gordon, a Foot Locker National finalist last year, is aiming to win her third straight Group 3 title this season, and she said her biggest goal is to win the first Meet of Champions title of her career after some near misses. Gordon has finished in the top 10 at the XC Meet of Champions three times, 8th as freshman, 7th as a sophomore, and 5th as a junior.
BLUE DEVILS LEVEL UP
With N.J. No. 1/ U.S. No. 3 ranked CBA holding out their top guns, the biggest question in the boys' team battles was who would emerge as the No. 2 team in the state?
The answer could be the same team that was No. 2 last year, won the Group 4 title a year ago, and advanced to the Nike National Championships!!
Despite being decimated by graduation, Westfield has reloaded and coach Chris Tafelski's pack proved they might be the No. 2 team in the state right now and have all the pieces to make a strong run at another Group 4 title.
No. 2 Haddonfield didn't run their top guys, so it remains to be seen if Haddonfield keeps that spot in the next ranking.
The Blue Devils, who came into the meet ranked No. 6 in the state, defeated No. 4 ranked Cherokee, 49-65, in the A race. No. 8 Cherry Hill East was third with 68. Westfield, who averaged a meet-best 16:38, also finished on top in the team merge, 155-203 over Cherokee.
Westfield went 3-4-5-11-26 with Ryan Daly third (16:11), Kaleb Stoeckman fourth (16:25), Brody Toriello fifth (16:29), Cole Varner 11th (16:46) and Christian Buonapane 26th (17:19).
KICK OF THE DAY
It looked like Lukas Disko of Bridgewater-Raritan was going to finish second in the A race when he came out of the woods and was facing a 20-yard deficit to Jack Tindall of Cherokee. But Disko, a senior, dug down deep and delivered a monster kick to reel in Disko and win the race in 15:54, a couple of strides ahead of Tindall. Disko's 15:54 is a course PR by 2 seconds.
RED HOT ROOKIES
Let's hear it for Maggie Boler of Villa Walsh and Alice Rappazzo of Westwood.
Both seniors are running XC for the first time this season and they each scored huge wins.
Boler, who gave up soccer this year to follow in the footsteps of her twin brothers Colin and Brian, made a name for herself when she opened lots of eyes by winning the F Division race 19:08. Colin and Brian both starred at Delbarton and now run for Princeton University.
Rappazzo, who made the switch from field hockey to XC, won the A Division race in 19:15.
Why did Rappazzo decide to run XC.
"After the field hockey season my sophomore year I decided to go out for a run,'' said Rappazzo. "I went for six miles and it was fun. I loved it. And then I ran a couple of half marathons (including a 1:29 and change) because my uncle did and I thought it was so cool. So I knew I had to try cross-country and it's worked out great!
ANOTHER DRAMATIC DUEL
It was predicted to be the fastest race of the day and the Luke Pash vs. Brenden McMahon matchup delivered as Pash, a senior at Ridgewood, edged Ridge's McMahon, 15:45 to 15:50, in the B race. those were the two fastest times of the day. At the State Group 4 meet last year, both ran 15:41 with Pash third and McMahon fourth.
MOVING ON UP
Another team that showed it should make another jump in the state rankings is the Ocean City girls.
Ocean City, No. 4 in the state, averaged a South Jersey meet record 19:52 and outscored No. 8 Middletown South, 48-65, in the C race, and finished second behind No. 1 ranked Union Catholic in the team merge with 256 points. No. 5 Princeton finished third in the merge with 341 and Middletown South was fourth with 361. Meanwhile, No. 2 Ridgewood was ninth in the merge and No. 3 Pingry was eighth.
Ocean City's top five were Maeve Smith, second in 18:47, Chloe Care, fourth in 19:26, Carly Godfrey, fifth in 19:40, Riley Tolson, seventh in 19:48, and Gabrielle Henry, 30th in 21:45.
LOOK WHO'S BACK, BACK AGAIN!
Daphne Roskowski of Voorhees was anxiously waiting by the timing truck next to the finish line after she won the D Division race.
She knew she had destroyed her Holmdel PR, but was waiting to see if she cracked the 19-minute barrier.
When she got the news that her time was 18:59, she was ecstatic.
Roskowski, a junior, had waited nearly two years for this moment. She ran 20:13 as a freshman on this course at the State Group 2 Championships, but an iron issue prevented her from hitting the times she wanted.
But she is back and better than ever now.
MORE PR'S, MORE WINNERS
Jacob Nolan of Madison, Aidan Morrow of Hasbrouck Heights and Allison Lee of West Windsor-Plainsboro North, and Preston Gumann all ran huge PR's to win their races, and Alex Pelov of Montville also ran a lifetime Holmdel best.
Morrow, a senior, ran 16:22 to finish first in the G Division race, a 22-second Holmdel PR. Nolan, a senior, used a big surge coming down the hill just before the first-mile mark on his way to a dominant win in the E race in 16:21, a 19-second Holmdel PR.
Lee, a junior, blasted an 18:46 to win the girls' B race, a 30-second drop off her previous Holmdel Best. And Gumann, one of the most pleasant surprises in the state this season, exploded for a massive Holmdel PR of 16:21 to win the boys' C race. His previous best at Holmdel was 17:36 at the state Group 4 meet last year.
Pelov, a senior, won the boys D race in 16:16, 2 seconds faster than his previous best of 16:8 that he ran to place 21st at the Meet of Champions last year.
John Richardson of Bernards ran 16:31 to capture the boys' E race.
RISING STARS
The fastest runners in the freshmen races were Joe Pangallo of Hackettstown in the boys' competition, covering the 2-mile B race in 11:30, and Sienna Nicholson of Colts Neck on the girls' side. Nicholson ran 13:09 to win the girls' freshman A race.
A HIGH-FIVE FOR GREAT SPORTSMANSHIP
Something most people didn't catch that you don't see very often occurred in the boys' freshmen A race. As the last few runners were coming down the final straightaway, CBA's Chris Cosenza and Marlboro's Max Kennett were side-by-side with about 40 yards left when Cosenza reached his hand up high to encourage Kennett to give him a high-five. Kennett obliged. Cosenza then hit the gas as the two battled across the line with Cosenza finishing a step ahead.
Time and place really didn't matter in this case. Instead, this was all about great sportsmanship displayed by these two young competitors!! Big shoutout to Cosenza and Kennett! They showed tremendous great mutual respect while also battling each other hard to the line. That's what high school sports and XC is all about!