The Skyland Conference rocked the trails by winning 10 titles, Helena Szep made history, Emily Conway scored a huge bounce back race, North Hunterdon pulled of a sweep, Lexie Mizzone ran the fastest girls' time and added to her great family legacy, and Brody Watt ran the top boys' time at Saturday's NJSIAA North Jersey, Sec. 2 Championships on the Gresytone course at Central Park in Morris Plains.
SKYLAND CONFERENCE RULES THE DAY
The story of the day was the dominant display of superior firepower by the Skyland Conference, which racked up 6 of the 8 team championships (3 boys and 3 girls) and four individual crowns (2 boys and 2 girls).
In the team competition, North Hunterdon led the Skyland's charge by bringing out the brooms and sweeping the Group 3 championships. The Voorhees girls and Ridge boys threw down the best team performances, and the Bernards boys and the Bridgewater-Raritan girls threw down an amazing race to win their first title since winning back-to-back crowns in 2006.
For the North Hunterdon girls, ranked No. 11 in the state, it was their 11th straight title and 27th overall, while the North Hunterdon boys, also ranked No.11, won their first championships since 2021 and their 16th overall.
The Ridge boys, ranked No. 7 in the state, made a huge statement by leveling up and storming to the Group 4 team title with an emphatic 60-point victory over defending champion and No. 6 ranked Westfield, 31-61. It's the first sectional title for Ridge since 2021.
Led by individual champion Owen James (16:00), Ridge put all five scoring runners ahead of Westfield's No. 1 runner, and the Red Devils flexed their tight pack with an eye-popping 1-5 compression of just 39 seconds, and they averaged 16:24.
James was followed by Nicholas Alapatt (3rd), Jack Schon (7th), Maxwell Neumann (9th), and Andrew Bandrowski (11th) to complete the scoring five.
Westfield had a tight pack with a very impressive 1-5 split of just 16 seconds and averaged 16:51, but they were too far back behind Ridge's pack.
Ridge's performance solidified the Red Devils' status as a serious contender to win the State Group 4 title next Saturday at Holmdel Park.
Team Results:
| 1 |  Ridge HS | 31 | 1+3+7+9+11 (15+26) | 0:39 1-5 Split | 16:24 Avg |
| 2 |  Westfield HS | 91 | 13+18+19+20+21 (23+31) | 0:16 1-5 Split | 16:51 Avg |
| 3 |  Phillipsburg HS | 112 | 12+17+22+29+32 (34) | 0:43 1-5 Split | 17:02 Avg |
| 4 |  Watchung Hills Reg. HS | 113 | 2+6+24+36+45 (50+51) | 1:51 1-5 Split | 17:02 Avg |
| 5 |  Columbia HS | 143 | 14+25+27+37+40 (46+66) | 0:58 1-5 Split | 17:17 Avg |
VOORHEES GIRLS BLITZED THE FIELD
On the girls' side, Voorhees, ranked No. 3 in the state, left no crumbs on the trails in the Group 2 race, dropping a score of just 17 points to blitz the competition and win its 5th straight title and 22nd overall!!
Voorhees will head into the State Group 2 Championships as the favorite.
Group 2 Top Seven Finishers
| 1 |  Lexie Mizzone | 12 | Voorhees HS | 18:16.39 | 1 | |
| 2 | Emily Leyton | 9 | Voorhees HS | 18:57.16 | 2 | |
| 3 | Daphne Roskowski | 12 | Voorhees HS | 19:16.38 | 3 | |
| 4 |  Isabella Sisto | 10 | Hackettstown HS | 19:20.30 | ||
| 5 |  Kate Shaw | 12 | Mendham HS | 19:23.14 | 4 | |
| 6 | Lucy D'Alessandro | 12 | Voorhees HS | 19:26.27 | 5 | |
| 7 | Zoe Saksa | 10 | Voorhees HS | 19:41.60 | 6 |
Voorhees Team Stats
| 1 | Voorhees HS | 17 | 1+2+3+5+6 (18+23) | 1:25 1-5 Split | 19:07 Avg |
SKYLAND SHOWDOWN
A Skyland Conference showdown between No. 8 ranked Bernards and defending champ Voorhees produced the tightest team battle of the day in the boys Group 2 race.
Bernards mounted a big comeback to defeat Voorhees by five points toi capture their 37th sectional title, the second most in state history behind Haddionfield's 44.
Trailing after 4 runners had crossed the line for both teams, Bernards No. 5 man Sean Carey finished 12 places ahead of Voorhees' fifth scorer to complete a 36-41 comeback victory for the Mountainers and secure the championship.
Leading the way for the Mountaineers was senior Brody Watt, who won his second straight title in 15:36.. He was followed by Julian Bonk (4th, 16:19), Daniel Richardson (9th, 16:46), Sean Griffin (10th, 16:58.), and Carey (12th, 16:59) to round out a strong top five that produced a 16:31 team average.
Voorhees countered with a powerful front pack - Austin Fritz (2nd, 15:50.29), Anthony Giello (3rd, 16:12.18), Avery Innis (5th, 16:31.28), and Benjamin Damiano (7th, 16:35.04) - but their fifth finisher, Joel Ortega (24th, 17:59.76), couldn't match Bernards' back-end depth.
Final Team Scores:
| 1 |  Bernards HS | 36 | 1+4+9+10+12 (13+15) | 1:24 1-5 Split | 16:31 Avg |
| 2 |  Voorhees HS | 41 | 2+3+5+7+24 (42+54) | 2:09 1-5 Split | 16:37 Avg |
| 3 |  Mendham HS | 108 | 18+19+21+22+28 (37+68) | 0:29 1-5 Split | 17:47 Avg |
| 4 |  West Morris Central HS | 117 | 6+8+33+34+36 (40+44) | 2:05 1-5 Split | 17:48 Avg |
| 5 |  Lyndhurst HS | 117 | 11+23+25+26+32 (45+47) | 1:27 1-5 Split | 17:52 Avg |
Bridgewater-Raritan waited nearly two decades for this kind of moment -- and the Panthers didn't let the opporunity slip away by delivering their best performance of the season by throwing down an eye-popping race to win their first sectional title in 19 years!
Riding a lethal frontal attack that featured a PR parade and four runners in the top 10, Bridgewater-Raritan ran away with the Group 4 championship with 56 points, 33 ahead of runner-up Westfield (89). Watchung Hills was third (99) and defending champ and No. 18 ranked Ridge was fourth with 100.
The blueprint? Break the race open early and make everyone else chase.
That is exactly what happened.
Bridgewater-Raritan, which had a scoring combination of 2-3-8-9-34 and averaged 19:49, received PR's from its first four runners, who finished ahead of every other team's No. 2 runner!!! That kind of top-end punch is how you win championships. That is how you suffocate a field.
Junior Kaitlyn Chu, the Somerset County champion, ignited the swarming attack for the Panthers with a huge runner-up finish in 18:46. Senior Dahlia Adams was right behind in third in 19:01, and juniors Sofia Daniels (8th in 19:48) and Lana Guelich (9th in 19:52) slammed the door shut. Junior Sophia Rizarri sealed the scoring in 34th with a season best time of 21:39 to lock up the championship.
This race belonged to Bridgewagter-Raritan, not just because they won, but because of how they left no crumbs on the trails when the stakes were highest.
And that is why 19 years later -- the Panthers are back on top!
CONWAY REBOUNDS WITH BEST RACE OF HER CAREER
Resiliency and grit are the best ways to describe Emily Conway.
Conway, a junior at Watchung Hills, rebounded from a rolled ankle that prevented her from finishing at the Somerset County Championships by dropping a PR and winning the biggest race of her life as she captured the girls Group 4 race in 18:38!
Big shoutout to Helena Szep, who made history by becoming the first girl from Middletown North to win a sectional XC title. Szep, a senior, ran 18:27 to win the biggest race of her career. Congrats, Helena!
MORE HIGHLIGHTS
Senior Fergie Onate-Avila finished first in 20:11 to ignite the Bogota girls to their first title since 2022, a 47-86 victory over runnner-up Hanover Park.
In the boys Group 1 race, McNair used a huge surge over the final miile to rally to defeat Bogota, 59-77, for their first fifth title in 8 years!, and Piotr Dymnicki, a senior at Hanover Park, couldn't have picked a better time to win the first race of his career, stopping the clock at 16:45 to finish first.
In the boys Group 3 race, Chatham senior Marcus Valenzuela continued his torrid season by winning his first sectional XC title in a very controlled 16:14.