WAPPINGERS FALLS, NY - Blair Bartlett, Christian Brothers Academy and the Union Catholic girls continued their historic seasons with record smashing victories and the Haddonfield boys scored a huge breakthrough when New Jersey flexed its superior firepower at the 18th Nike Northeast Regional on Saturday at Bowdoin Park.
Bartlett, in her first season of XC, made a strong case to be considered the best XC runner in the country by blowing up the rugged 3.1-mile layout and blowing out a loaded girls field when the junior at Lawrenceville blasted a jaw-dropping 17:00.6, the third fastest time in course history!!
In the boys race, CBA, ranked No. 4 in the nation, also dropped a bomb and sent a message to the rest of the nation as the Colts ripped a 15:45.2 average to destroy the course record in a performance for the ages to secure their fourth straight title. Haddonfield, No. 17 in the nation, earned its first berth in the national championship race with a remarkable runner-up finish.
In the girls team competition, Union Catholic, No. 4 in the country, overcame some adversity to blitz the field to win its third title in a row and averaged a NJ record of 18:39.4!
The top two teams in the boys and girls races and the first five individual finishers who don't run for a qualifying team earned an automatic berth in the Nike National Championships, scheduled for Dec. 6 at the Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland, Oregon
Let's dive a little deeper into one of the greatest days in NJ XC history!!
BARTLETT'S BOMB
This was supposed to be the race that Bartlett was challenged for the first time this season, but the indeftigable undefeated star refused to let that happen as Bartlett's meteroic rise to super stardom reached a whole new level of greatness.
Bartlett, as she's done in all her races, charged out fast and began gapping the field just before she got to the mile mark. No one was able to go with Bartlett, who continued to methodically pull away with each stride as she began a race against the clock and chased history.
After she opened a 15 second lead by hitting the halfway point in 8:21.0, Bartlett ran 8:39.6 over the second half to finish off the epic victory, stopping the clock at a head-spinning 17:00.6!!!
There's only one runner who has ever run faster than Bartlett at Bowdoin - the great Katelyn Tuohy of North Rockland, N.Y. Tuohy, the only 3-time Nike XC National champ, ran a course record 16:45.2 in 2018.
Bartlett, who seemed like she still had more in the tank when she came across the finish line, obliterated the NJ course record of 18:00 that another Lawrenceveille star, Charlotte Bednar, ran to win the Nike NE race in 2019.
"There are so many great runners in the country,'' said the always humble Bartlett, who confirmed she will run in both national championhip races. "It would be amazing and a dream come true to be a national champion. I'm just going to go run my hardest and do the best I can.''
CBA 4-PEATS WITH HISTORIC RACE
The boys team race was all about NJ as CBA and Haddonfield locked up the 2 auto spots into nationals with breathtaking performances.
CBA ran away with their 4th titlte in a row and had arguably the best race ever by a NJ team as the Colts knocked 14 seconds off the course record average with their mind-blowing 15:45.2!!!! The former record of 15:59.0 was set at this meet last year by a CBA squad that a lot of people felt was the best pack in NJ history.
So does this result in addition to CBA's course record average of 15:40 last week at Holmdel make this team the best we've ever seen in NJ? Times don't lie!!!
CBA stayed undefeated by packing its scoring five in the top 16 with a compression of 40 seconds and scored a meet record 33 points, 100 ahead of runner-up Haddonfield.
The top 5 for CBA were senior Luke Hnatt, third in a CBA course record 15:24.3, junior Gavin Schmitt, fourth in 15:25.8, senior Wyatt Falkowski, 10th in 15:52.8, senior Ryan Collins, 13th 15:58.3, and senior Sean Galvin, 16th in 16:04.4.
This was the fastest race of all-time at Bowdoin in terms of depth at the front with five runners under 15:30 for the first time ever in one race at Bowdoin!!! Hnatt and Schmitt made history by becoming the first set of teammates to go under 15:30 on this layout.
Sean Gray of Porstmouth, N.H. won in 15:21.2, No. 2 in course history. Bocelli Howland-Vlahakis of Philip Exeter was second 15:22.7, No. 3 all-time. Hnatt's 15:24.3 places him No. 5 on the all-time Bowdoin list and Schmitt's 15:25.8 puts him at No. 7. Theo Opperman of State College, Pa., was fifth in the race in 15:28.9, No. 9 all-time.
When CBA toes the line in Portland in two weeks it will be one of the favorites as the Colts chase their second national title. CBA won it all in 2011 at Portland Meadows, and the way they've been running, it certainly has a shot at bringing that Natty back to Lincroft.
"I think there are people who fell asleep on us this season,'' said junior Gavin Schmitt. "But we've known all season what we were capable of, and we are showing that now.''
CBA, fifth at Nike Nationals last year, is confident it can win the national title.
"I'm not going to make any predicitons, but we are going there to win and we all feel we have a good shot if we run the way we are capable of,'' said Schmitt.
HADDONFIELD CLOSES FAST TO LOCK UP FIRST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP BERTH
Haddonfield, ranked No. 17 nationally, was in a tight battle with State College of Pa. for the second and final qualify spot for much of the race before the Dawgs used a huge late surge to secure the runner-up spot, sending Haddonfield runners into a frenzy when they saw the final score. This is the first time the Dawgs have earned a place on the starting line at Nike XC Nationals.
Haddonfield, who averaged 16:20.9 and had a 1-5 split of 1:00.1, is the first South Jersey boys team to ever qualify for Nike Nationals and just the fifth boys program to earn a spot on the starting line in the national championship race. The other programs are CBA, Don Boso Prep (2007 and 2008), West Windsor Plainsboro-North (2008) and Westfield (2011 and 2023).
The big key for the Dawgs was the remarkable compressiopn of their first four runners, who also came in within 5 places and five seconds of each other!!!
The top 5 for Haddonfield were senior Ben Andrus, 18th in 16:06.4, senior Luke Andresen, 20th in 16:09.1, senior Pete Simpson, 21st in 16:09.6, senior Ryan Gibson, 23rd in 16:11.6, and senior Michael Sinnes, 107th in 17:07.4.
"Every time we come to this meet, our team shows what it means to be a team," senior Ella Solorzano said. "People have their good days, people have bad days. It's just a part of running. We all have each other's back, and we all fill in when we have to. My younger sister (Eden) came up big today. Things don't go to plan as always, and you kind of gotta roll with it. I'm really proud of all these girls today. They all pushed through it on their best days and on their worst days, and that's what's important.