North 2: Sweeps And Streaks Rule The Day



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Voorhees and Hasbrouck Heights pulled off sweeps, the North Hunterdon girls continued their amazing streak, the Chatham boys returned to the winners circle, their were several repeat champs, and Daphne Roskowski and Brody Watt ran the fastest times at Saturday's NJSIAA North Jersey, Section 2 Championships at Greystone in Morris Plains.

Ok, let's dive into all the great action at this meet, which featured lots of runners cooking up fast times and slaying the course.

Here we go!!

SWEEPS

Two of the most impressive team performances were produced by Voorhees and Hasbrouck Heights, who each busted out the brooms to complete sweeps.

The daily double by Hasbrouck Heights came in dramatic fashion as the boys, led by senior Aidan Morrow's repeat victory in 16:08, won a three-way thriller, 73-76-80 over Bogota and McNair, and the girls  edged Weehawken, 48-49!!!  Hasbrouck Heights rallied for the win when their No. 5 and No. 6 runners leveled up by finishing ahead of Weehawken's No. 5 runner to clinch the title.  


Voorhees also turned the double as the boys and girls each won the Group 2 titles by eight points.

In the girls race, junior  Daphne Roskowski burned the fastest time of the day by running 18:14 to spark Voorhees to its fourth straight title and 21st overall, 43-51 over Mendham.

The Voorhees boys, No. 14 in the state, dethroned defending champ and No. 15 Bernards, 53-61, for their first title since 2021 and their 9th overall.  


WATT LOOKS READY TO DEFEND STATE TITLE

Brody Watt of Bernards, who won the State Group 2 title as a sophomore last year, showed that he's ready to defend that championship by throwing down the fastest time of the day with a 15:30!!! Watt led a parade of 5 guys under 15:56!  Watt's victory gives the Bernards boys program 21 individual sectional championships!!   


BLUE DEVILS EXTEND RECORD 

The Westfield boys, ranked No. 4 in the state, won their straight title in Group 4, 52-74 over Ridge, to raise their NJ. Sec. 2 record total to 24 titles! The Blue Devils have also won three championships in Central Jersey, so they now have a total of 27 sectional championships!!! Westfield, which averaged 16:37, won despite holding out two of its top guns as the Blue Devils prepare to defend its state Group 4 title next Saturday at Holmdel Park.     



BACK ON TOP

The Chatham, ranked No. 12 in the state, have been close in recent years to winning their first title since 2013, but all the pieces didn't quite come together for a variety of reasons. But this time, the Cougars refused to be denied and made a huge statement by burning up the course on the way to a 27-37 victory over No. 16 North Hunterdon.

It's the first championship for Chatham since 2013 and its 16th sectional title overall. 

Chatham absolutely crushed this race by jamming its scoring five in the top 12 with a 1-5 compression of 46 seconds,, and averaging 16:17, the fastest of the day. Chatham's performance was so strong that it come out on top on the merge, 92-120 over North Hunterdon.

The Cougars, who wen 1-3-5-6-12, were led by senior Finn Valli, who won the race in 15:52. Junior Marcus Valenzuela was third in 16:03, junior Tom Haines dropped a massive PR with his fourth place time of 16:22, senior Dylan DeCicco was fifth in 16:29, and junior Brady Byrne finished 12th in 16:38.        


SKYLAND GIRLS RUN WILD

The Skyland Conference flexed its strength in the girls competition, winning five of the eight titles, three team and two individual.

The North Hunterdon girls, ranked No. 15, in the state, led the charge by winning the Group 3 race, 24-70 over Cranford, to extend their winning streak to 10 titles in a row and increase their total to 26 championships overall. This is the 50th year of the North Hunterdon XC program, so that obviously means the Lions have won more than half of the sectional championships since the program was born. 

North Hunterdon, the most impressive girls team of the meet, crammed their first five runners in the top eight, averaged 19:39, and finished on top in the team merge,  111-134 over Group 4  runner-up Westfield. The top five for North Hunterdon, who have been ravaged by injuries and illness this season, were Shanklin, freshman Sophie Nash, second in 19:17, junior Emily Scott, sixth in 19:59,  sophomore Charlotte Roop, seventh in 20:00,  and sophomorr Kate Bowers, eighth in 20:04, 

No. 17 ranked Ridge, who defeated Westfield, 51-54, to win the Group 4 title, was third in the merge with 138. As reported earlier, Voorhees was the other Skyland girls team that finished first, winning the Group 2 championship for the fourth straight year.

Individually, juniors Kelly Shanklin of North Hunterdon and Daphne Roskowski of Voorhees each captured their second sectional championship.

Shanklin, who has come back strong after being sick earlier this season, ran 18:56 to win her second straight title in Group 3, and Roskowski, who won as freshman, regained her Group 2 title title by blasting an 18:14, by far the best time of the day and a PR for any course! Roskowski has made a sensational comeback this season after battling through iron issue as a sophomore last year.     

MAX SHOWS OFF BIG KICK


Max Bonilla used a big kick to secure the victory in the boys Group 4 race to become just the second sectional champ ever from Elizabeth. Bonilla, a senior, joined Feder Estelus (1998) as the only winners for the Minutemen.

Bonilla, the Union County champion and one of the biggest breakout stars in the state this season, ran 15:49 and took down some big names. Lukas Disko of Bridgewater-Raritan, the Skyland Conference champ, was second in 15:50, and defending champion Brenden McMahon of Ridge was third in 15:58. 



MAKING HISTORY

Big shoutouts to the Elizabeth girls, Anna Kylish of Westfield and Tarikwa Dunn of Weehawken.

Elizabeth, after being so close in the past, advanced to the State Group Championships for the first time ever by scoring 126 points to grab the fifth and final qualifying spot in the Group 4 race, 8 points ahead of sixth-place Scotch Plains-Fanwood. Last year, Elizabeth missed qualifying for the Group 4 meet by one place and 16 points.  

Kylish, a senior, ran a monster PR of 18:56 to win the girls Group 4 race and become the first individual sectional winner in the history of the Westfield girls program. 

Dunn, a junior, became the first sectional XC champion ever from Weehawken by winning the Group 1 girls race in 19:14.