The crowd roared and jaws dropped when Leah Starkey and Paige Sheppard charged onto the final straightaway side-by-side as they waged an epic battle for the ages in a Clash of Titans at Saturday's 53rd NJSIAA Meet of Champions at historic Holmdel Park.
- WATCH FULL RACE -
In one of the most eagerly anticipated and hyped up showdowns in NJ history, Starkey and defending champion Sheppard delivered an all-time classic in head-spinning and breathtaking fashion, hammering the pace and trading the lead multiple times before Starkey was able to dig down deep one last time to edge past Sheppard about 75 yards from the finish to win the greatest girls' race in state history.
The two all-time greats left lots of smoke on the trails as they threw down two of the fastest times ever run on the legendary 3.1-mile layout.
Starkey, a sophomore at Ocean Township, stopped the clock at 17:14.33!!!!!! Sheppard, a junior at Union Catholic, came across in 17:16.60!!! Those times place them No. 3 and No. 4 all-time on Holmdel's current course, which has been used since 1979.
On a day were conditions were ideal for fast times, the blistering pace up front by Starkey and Sheppard pulled along lots of runners, which led to a record six runners breaking 18 minutes and a parade of personal best times. The first seven runners all ran faster than the winnng time last year!!
That's not all.
With Sheppard igniting the charge, Union Catholic detonated an all-time bomb with an electrifying performance as the Vikings averaged a stunning 18:12 to demolish the course record average and win their fourth straight title!! This is the single greatest race by a girls team in NJ history on any course!! It's not even close! And how about runner-up Ridgewood, who blasted a public school record 18:57 average!!!
More on the Vikings' record-smashing masterpiece and Ridgewood's remarkable run later.
This was the greatest day in NJ XC history for the girls! Times don't lie!!!
INSTANT CLASSIC
There is so much to get into with this race, which will be talked about and relived forever!!!!
This was the first meeting of the season between Starkey and Sheppard, who were clearly the top runners in this field all season, and it marked the first time that two girls with sub-17:40 PR's at Holmdel ever squared off at the Meet of Champions.
Starkey, who was 10th last year and won the 3,200 at the Meet of Champions last June, came into the race undefeated and unchallenged all season. She ran 17:31, No. 7 in course history at the time, to win the Group 3 race last week.
Sheppard, the defending champ who shattered the state record in the mile when she won the New Balance National title last June, ran a Holmdel best of 17:38 when she won her race at the Shore Coaches Inviational last month.
The million-dollar question leading into this race was would Starkey be able to create a gap on Sheppard and shake her to avoid being potentially being rundown by Sheppard's closing speed or would Sheppard stay on Starkey's hip and stay within striking distance to use her vaunted kick to propel her to a second straight title?
Girls Top 10 Individual Finishers
| 1 |  Leah Starkey | 10 | Ocean Township HS | 17:15.00 | ||
| 2 |  Paige Sheppard | 11 | Union Catholic Reg. HS | 17:17.00 | ||
| 3 | Cayleigh Kaiser | 11 | Union Catholic Reg. HS | 17:45.00 | ||
| 4 |  Amelia Pattwell | 10 | Middletown South HS | 17:52.00 | ||
| 5 |  Katherine Keating | 11 | Ridgewood HS | 17:53.00 | ||
| 6 | Harper Telesca | 9 | Union Catholic Reg. HS | 17:53.00 | ||
| 7 |  Allison Lee | 12 | West Windsor-Plainsboro North HS | 18:00.00 | ||
| 8 |  Molly Domurat | 12 | Hunterdon Central HS | 18:03.00 | ||
| 9 |  Lexie Mizzone | 12 | Voorhees HS | 18:30.00 | ||
| 10 |  Julia Flanagan | 12 | Holy Cross HS | 18:34.00 |
Sheppard executed her race just as she planned, refusing to let Starkey get away. But Starkey, who threw in multiple surges in an attempt to create space, surprised herself and probably everyone who jammed themselves along the final straightaway, by winning the way she did- with her kick! Who saw that coming?
The race started as expected.
Starkey and Sheppard locked on to eachother right away and opened a 10-yard gap on the field when they went past the mile in 5:52.Then they really cranked it up, ripping a 5:31 second mile with Starkey a step ahead going in and out of the the bowl. It stayed that way at the 2-mile mark, which they hit in 11:23, and around the tennis courts Starkey still led with Sheppard on her heels.
Sheppard, looking for the right time to strike, hit the gas and charged down the big down hill in the back woods to take the lead, which she held by a stride with just over 200 yards left as they exited the woods.
Then the two traded shots like a couple boxers trying to deliver a knockout.
Starkey went back ahead with about 175 to go, then Sheppard countered by making her big final move to overtake Starkey with about 100 yards left. But Starkey was able to quickly respond, making one last burst as she zig-zagged around Sheppard to regain the lead and secure the hard-fought victory.
As far as the all-time list at Holmdel goes, the only two girls who have ever run faster at Holmdel are the great Katelyn Tuohy of North Rockland in N.Y, who dropped a mind-blowing 16:21 at the 2018 Shore Coaches Invitational, and Angelina Perez of Lakeland, who won the 2021 Group 3 race in 17:07. Perez also clocked a 17:09 to win the 2021 Meet of Champs race.
Starkey said she was a bit concerned when they hit the final straight together.
"Paige has such great speed, so I was like, uh oh,'' said Starkey. "But I just kept pushing with everything I had and never stopped believing in myself. I gave it all I had, and thanfully I was able to win. It's just such an amazing feeling to run this fast and win like this. I never expected we'd run this fast, but Paige and I kept battling and surging and going back and forth. It's an honor to win this race and to be the third fastest runner on this course.''
Sheppard, also second here as a freshman before winning a year ago, held her head up high and was her usual very classy self as she tipped her cap to Starkey.
"It was an incredible race and I'm so proud of how I raced,'' said Sheppard. "I ran the race exactly how I wanted and left everything I had out here. We really picked it up in that second mile, and I was feeling fine until we got into the back woods and my legs started to feel it. I kept pushing and fighting and made that move to try to win, but she had a little more left. Leah ran a great race, I give her a lot of credit.''
UC CEMENTS LEGACY/CONTINUES DYNASTY
No one should be surprised that Union Catholic won their fourth straight title. It came into the race as probably the biggest favorite of all time.
But the way the Vikings blitzed a loaded field and the times they burned were simply remarkable as UC's high octane pack produced the greatest team race this state has ever seen with an eye-popping average of 18:11.80!!!! That's all-time XC flex right there!
UC, ranked No. 1 in the state all season and currently ranked No. 4 in the nation, used a scoring combo of 1-2-5-11-20 as the five underclassmen scored 39 points. No. 2 Ridgewood averaged a public school record 18:57 and was second with 92.
By winning four straight titles, the Vikings are now tied with North Hunterdon (1983-86) for the second-longest winning streak in meet history. Red Bank Catholic won 5 in row from 1972-76, a record UC will be favored to tie next year.
After breaking the course record average last week by running 18:36 to win their fifth straight Non-Public A title, the entire UC squad said they had more in them and they'd run faster this week.
But 18:11.80!!! Holy Smokes!! That is the definition of leveling up!!!
Union Catholic now owns the 5 fastest times in course history!
"We thought maybe we'd go somewhere in maybe the low 18:20's, but we ran way faster than we expected and decimated the record,'' said Sheppard. "We were all ready to run fast, and we showed today that we are capable of anything we put our minds to.''
Top Six Team Finishers
| 1 | Union Catholic Reg. HS | 39 | 1+2+5+11+20 (23+29) | 1:58 1-5 Split | 18:12 Avg |
| 2 | Ridgewood HS | 92 | 4+14+15+17+42 (50+57) | 2:06 1-5 Split | 18:57 Avg |
| 3 |  Paul VI HS | 135 | 10+13+34+35+43 (65+85) | 1:18 1-5 Split | 19:25 Avg |
| 4 |  Cherokee HS | 154 | 12+25+33+39+45 (68+89) | 1:07 1-5 Split | 19:36 Avg |
| 5 |  Haddonfield Memorial HS | 166 | 9+21+31+46+59 (73+83) | 1:40 1-5 Split | 19:36 Avg |
| 6 |  Princeton HS | 174 | 24+27+30+37+56 (69+81) | 0:52 1-5 Split | 19:45 Avg |
To break the most hallowed record in NJ XC, you need a lot of big PR's. That's exaclty what happened as the entire scoring 5 for the Vikings ran the fastest races of their lives at Holmdel, including some monster drops
Check this out!!!
After Sheppard's 21-second course PR, junior Cayleigh Kaiser was third in 17:45, that's No. 12 in course history and a 28-second course PR!! Kaiser's time is so fast that it would have won 41 of the previous 45 M of C races run on the current course!!!! Sheppard and Kaiser are the best 1-2 punch in NJ history!!!
Freshman Harper Telesca was sixth in 17:54, tied with Sheppard for the third fastest time ever run by a freshman at Holmdel and a course PR of 48 seconds!!! Briana Gess of Haddonfield, who ran 17:45 when she won as a freshman in 2013, and Christina Allen of River Dell (17:50 in 2030) are the only girls to run faster as a freshman.
Sophomore Saffa Ellis was next, placing 19th in 18:51, a 19-second drop, and freshman Eden Solorzano put an exclamation point on the historic victory by placing 42nd in 19:15, a nine-second PR.
Freshman Jia Jain and senior Ella Solorzano were the 6-7 runner for UC. Solorzano finished her amazing career as a member of 4 M of C winning teams, which never lost an XC race to a NJ team! Clock it!
To put 18:11.80 into further perspective, that average is faster than the winning time at 24 Meet of Champions races!!! How crazy is that!!!
The Vikings will now turn their attention to the Nike Northeast Regional next Saturday at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, N.Y, where they are favored to win their third straight title and advance to the Nike National Championships for the fourth consecutive year.
"The way we are running, we all feel we have a shot at winning the national championship if we keep working hard and race to our potential,'' said Sheppard.
Time will tell, but after what they just did, this team might just be the best in the country!!!
RIDGEWOOD ROCKS
Ridgewood deserves a huge shoutout for what they did, becoming the fastest public school in state history at Holmdel. Their 18:57 average broke the public school course record of 19:01 set by Voorhees at the 2007 Meet of Champions, and is No. 6 all-time at Holmdel. Only Union Catholic has run faster at Holmdel.
The magnificent 7 for Ridgewood are all underclassmen and most of them cooked up huge Holmdel PR's!!!!!
They are junior Katherine Keating, 5th in 17:53, a 49 second drop from last week and the third fastest time in Bergen County history. Sophomore Penelope De Valence was 23rd in 18:55 (a PR by 33 seconds). Junior Maeve Schoeler was 24th in 18:55 (a 31 second course best), sophomore Natalie Knowles, 32nd in 19:06 (one second faster than last week), and junior Ella Recchuiti was 85th in 19:59. Ready for this, Recchiuti sliced 1:14 off her previous Holmdel best!! Clock it!!
Ridgewood's 6-7 runners, sophomores Hunter Witham and Abi Marino, also ran big Holmdel PR's!
What Ridgewood did is the definition of leaving no crumbs!
Look out for Ridgewood at the Nike Northeast Regional next week! The Maroons are a major contender to finish in the top 2 to earn a berth in the National Championship race!