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There was lots of smoke on the trails after one of the fastest boys races in course history, the Pingry girls got the 3-peat, and Kaitlyn Chu of Bridgewater-Raritan won the biggest race of her career at Tuesday's historic Somerset County Championships at Pleasant Valley Park in Bernards Township.
We have to start out with what happened in one of the greatest boys races in meet and course history.
The Ridge boys, ranked No. 11 in the state, simply blew the 3.1-mile layout apart by throwing down a course record-tying average of 16:28 to win its sixth title in the past seven years, 47-67 victory over defending champion and No. 5-ranked Bernards. No. 6-ranked Pingry was third with 77 points.
Individually, senior Brody Watt of Bernards won his second straight title by cooking up the second fastest time in course history, stopping the clock at 15:35!!!!
Watt, who sliced 6 seconds off his winning time from a year ago, had to run fast to win because junior Owen James of Ridge pushed him the whole way, placing second in 15:42!!! That's tied for No. 4 in course history with Lukas Disko of Bridgewater-Raritan, who ran 15:42 when he was second to Watt last year. James also broke the Ridge course record of 15:44 that
Brenden McMahon ran to place third last year.
The only runner to go faster at Pleasant Valley Park than Watt is Doug Smith of Gill St. Bernard's, who ran the CR of 15:26 at the 2007 county meet. Liam Mullett of Pingry, who won the 2013 Somerset County title, is now No. 3 in course history at 15:36.
In the team battle, Ridge ripped a 16:28, equaling the course record average that the 2022 Ridge squad ran at the county meet, and put together a scoring combination of 2-3-9-14-19 for 47 points as the Red Devils notched their 10th title overall. Bernards countered with a 1-7-12-23-24 for 67 points and averaged 16:39.
The 5 scorers for Ridge-
2-Junior Owen James, 15:42
3-Senior Jack Schon, 16:10
9-Senior Nicholas Alapatt, 16:31
14-Junior Matias Valle, 16:56
19-Sophomore Rehaan Wadhwani, 17:05.
PINGRY AND CHU WIN GIRLS TITLES
The Pingry girls, ranked No. 10 in the state, delivered another powerful performance to win their third straight title, defeating runner-up and No. 18 Ridge, 39-70.
Pingry's pack strength (1-5 spread of 1:25) and depth (they put their 7 runners ahead of Ridge's No. 4 runner) proved decisive. The Big Blue placed all five scoring runners in the top 12 and averaged 20:07.
Leading the way for Pingry was senior Sari Berman, who finished 2nd overall in 19:13, 13 seconds behind the winner.
Pingry's Top 5 runners -
Sari Berman (12th grade) -- 2nd place, 19:13
Julia Ronnen (12th grade) -- 4th place, 19:41
Sophia Wong (9th grade) -- 10th place, 20:28
Penelope Maher (10th grade) -- 11th place, 20:35
Gia Sachan (12th grade) -- 12th place, 20:38
CHU CONTINUES BREAKOUT SEASON
Individually, Kaitlyn Chu continued her breakout junior season, blasting a personal best on any course of 19:00 to win the girls race by 13 seconds ahead of Berman. Defending champ Maia Zalmover, a sophomore, finished third in 19:21.
Chu, one of the most pleasant surprises in the state this season, cut 1:30 off her time of 20:30 that she ran at Pleasant Valley Park last year when she placed 15th at the county meet.
