Christian Brothers Academy and the Union Catholic girls, the No. 1 ranked teams in New Jersey, won the overall team titles despite holding out their top runners, and the Donovan Catholic girls and Oratory boys also captured championships at the 66th New Jersey Catholic Track Conference Championships on Saturday at Greystone in Morris Plains.
The individual winners were junior Ally Sparno of Oak Knoll, first in the girls race in 19:14, and CBA senior Thomas Field captured the boys title in 16:05
With the State Non-Public Championships scheduled for this Saturday at Holmdel Park, CBA, ranked No. 1 in NJ and No. 2 in the U.S., and the UC girls (NJ No. 1/U.S. No. 7) held out their regulars, giving other runners on their deep squads an opportunity to shine.
In the boys race, CBA had a scoring combination of 1-5-8-9-12 for a total of 35 points, and the Colts averaged 16:31. No. 19 ranked Oratory, the Small Schools Champion, was second in the overall scoring with 70.
CBA's top five were Field, junior Sean Galvin, fifth in 16:21, senior Ryan Shibles, 8th in 16:39, senior Braeden Cullen, 9th in 16:40, and sophomore Maguire Hartnett, 13th in 16:50.
In the girls race, Union Catholic edged Donovan Catholic for the overall championship, 72-80. Donovan Catholic finished first in the Small School Division.
UC finished 5-12-13-19-23 and averaged 20:48. Their top five were junior Joelle Ruccio, fifth in 19:50, her first time under 20 on any course, sophomore Aubrey Devers, 14th in 20:38, sophomore Kailyn Brown, 15th in 20:39, senior Emily Harrington, 21st in 21:14, and sophomore Clare Harrington, 25th in 21:43.
