The Middletown South girls won one of the wildest team battles you will ever see, the Colts Neck boys made history and Manalapan's Sadie Honig and Clay Stevens swept the individual titles at the Monmouth County Championships on Thursday at Holmdel Park.
We have to start out with the girls' race, which was an instant classic as four ranked teams were separated by just two points in a mad scramble for the championship.
Manalapan, ranked No. 7, dominated the race up front, going 1-3-5 with Honig winning in 18:26, but a big gap after that allowed No. 6 Middletown South, No. 8 Freehold Township, and No. 17 Colts Neck to make up lots of ground to set up the thrilling finish.
When the dust settled, Middletown South emerged victorious in this epic clash with 96 points, just one point ahead of both Colts Neck and Manalapan (97 each) and two points ahead of Freehold Township (98).
Colts Neck edged Manalapan for second place on the sixth runner tie-breaker. No. 12 ranked Rumson-Fair Haven finished fifth with 120 points and No. 14 Red Bank Catholic placed sixth with 128.
This is the eighth county title for Middletown South, which also won in 1990, 1992, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2019, and 2020.
Middletown South's scoring combination was 10-12-14-27-33. Colts Neck was 9-18-19-25-26. Manalapan was 1-2-5-43-46 and Freehold Township finished 4-15-21-23-25.
When is the last time you ever saw four teams so close at a county championship meet!!!
The race was so close that Middletown South and Colts Neck had the same average of 20:06 and nearly identical 105 spreads, 1:06 for Middletown South and 1:09 for Colts Neck.
I told you this race was wild!!
Middletown South's victory was propelled by four Holmdel PR's and a gusty race by freshman Amelia Pattwell. Pattwell took a spill in the bowl area but overcame that misfortune, and with her knees bloodied from her fall, she rallied to place 14th in 19:45.
That's how you level up for your team!!!! Middletown South's four other scorers all threw down Holmdel PR's. They were junior Caitlin Brown, 10th in 19:39, junior Abby Oglevee, 12th in 19:42, junior Riley Murphy, 27th in 20:38, and junior Emily Gallo, 33rd in 20:48.
COLTS NECK MAKES HISTORY
For the first time, the Colts Neck boys, ranked No. 3 in the state, finished on top in the county as the Cougars ended Christian Brothers Academy's run of 22 straight titles with a 34-73 victory over CBA. No. 7 Manalapan finished third with 134.
CBA, the No. 1 team in N.J. and No. 2 in the U.S., held out their top runners. Look for CBA's top varsity squad to let it rip at the Shore Conference Championships at Ocean County Park this Thursday.
Colts Neck solidified its status as the favorites to win the Group 3 state title next month by receiving Holmdel PR's from its entire top five, who all finished in the top 14 (2-3-5-10-14) and produced an average of 16:35.
The top five for Colts Neck were junior Jay Adimala, second in 16:04, senior Hunter Celkupa, third in 16:13, senior John Shapiro, fifth in 16:26, sophomore Kyle Schandall, 10th in 17:04, and sophomore Rowan O'Connor placed 14th in 17:10.
MANALAPAN SWEEP
Clay Stevens, a junior, and Sadie Honig, a senior, pulled off a rare daily double by giving Manalapan both individual champions.
In the boys' race, Stevens ran 15:56 to finish eight seconds in front of runner-up Jay Adimala of Colts Neck. The time by Stevens was just off his Holmdel PR of 15:50 that he ran to place sixth at the State Group 4 meet last year.
Stevens, eighth at the 2023 Meet of Champions, has the potential to make a big drop at the state meets. Look for him to get close to 15:30!!
Honig dropped a lifetime PR for any course when she a 1-2 finish for Manalapan in the girls' race. Honig ran 18:26, five seconds ahead of junior teammate Jessica Abbott, who ran a Holmdel PR of 18:31. Abbott won the Ocean County Championship for Toms River North last year.
Leah Starkey of Ocean Township continued her fantastic freshman season by placing third in 18:40.
STRONG SEASON DEBUT FOR LILLEY
Senior Clemmie Lilley, one of the top half-milers in the country, made an impressive season debut for Rumson-Fair Haven, placing 20th in 20:08.
Lilley, who won the 800 at the Indoor Meet of Champions last March, was the No. 3 runner for Rumson. The addition of Lilley in the lineup will bolster Rumson-Fair Haven's chances of winning both the Central Jersey, Group 2 Championship and the State Group 2 title.