WILL THE NEW KID ON THE BLOCK STEAL THE WEEKEND THUNDER?
Six Flags Wild Adventure Invitational - Saturay @ Great Adventure (Jackson)
The 3rd weekend of Cross Country will feature a couple of old standby's a few out of state appearances by Jersers and the newest, potentially most exciting event in NJ high school running. That is, of course, the Six Flags Wild Adventure Invitational. The brainchild of Colts neck head coach Jim Schlentz the inaugural edition of the meet has drawn close to 100 teams and over 3, 00 athletes from 4 states. Details about the meet can be found HERE.
The top race of the day could possibly be the Girls "C" race, where Voorhees and Red Bank Catholic, the #5 and #6 ranked teams in the state will go stride fro stride. Voorhees looked very impressive, putting a tight pack in high place when they took the "B" Race at Randolph on 9/10. Soph Nisa Cicitta led the Lady Vikings with a win in 9:18.41. Voorheees scored a mere 18 points with a 1-5 gap of 41 seconds.
RBC will be making their invitational debut here. The Caseys have won their two dual meets so far, most recently on Tuesday with a 17-44 win over Colts Neck at Bucks Mill Park. RBC's ace this year is senior Molly McNamara. Molly "Mac", who is the #10 returner to the MOC, recorded one of the fastest times ever run at the Colts Neck course at 18:11.
For the Boys, the "B" race will pit some top guys against each other in their bids to be at the head of the line for the Kinda Ka (see Coach Schlentz's preview). Competing in this race will be Colts Neck's star Mike O'Dowd, who won his opener at the Lake Forest Invitational in Delaware ( 15:55.63)., The Davis twins of North Brunswick, Cullen and Kyle will also be in this race. Cullen Davis ran a quick 15:57 to win the Senior race at Thompson Pk while Kyle Davis took bronze (16:20). Khari Bowen of Monroe should also be in the mix after his runner up finish to Davis last Saturday (16:02)
Passaic County Coaches Invitational - Saturday @ Gearett Mtn. (Woodland Park)
One of the grand daddies of NJ Cross, this is the 44th edition of the Garret Mtn. classic. In the Boys Grp 4 Race, which could jeopardize the 15:16 CR (M, Khadroui, 2003) as Outdoor MOC 3200m champ Jeramy Elkaim will tangle with Collin Frost of Randolph in the grp 4 race. Frost won the "A" race at his opener with a 15:48 over the Freedom Park course.
The top Girls competing here will be;
#9 Mountain Lakes running for the 1st time this year in the Grp. 1 race with Kristen Landry leading the way .
Mt. Saint Dominic (T#11) looks to be tough to beat in the Grp.2 event. The individual race could shape up nicely as DePaul's Alyssa LaGuardia will duel with Amanda Corbosiero, the freshman from Mt. St. Dominic in a battle between 2 of the top 10 girls in the state so far this year.
In the Grp 4 race, #4 Randolph with star Joelle Amaral will take on #14 Ridgewood,
52nd Stewart Memorial XC Championships - Saturday @ Warinanco Pk. (Elizabeth)
In it's 52nd year, the Stewart Invitational at Warinanco Pk. will also see some hot action as #3 Westfield is expected to field it's full team for the first time this season. They will go up against a very good and perhaps underrated Old Bridge team in the "A" Race. In that race, Matt McDonald (No. Hunterdon) who is on a hot streak will go for his 3rd win a row. Also, Patrick Rono (Lyndhurst), who ran 15:50 last week at Darlington will take on Everett Price of New Providence in the "C" race. Price took second in the Junior Race last week on the same course (16:38).
On the Girls side, #1 Hunterdon Central should air it out in the "A" race.
Out side of the state, the action will center on 2 venues in New York as the Bowdwin XC Classic (Wappingers Falls) and the Warwick Wave Mania Invitational (Warwick) will feature some of the top teams in New Jersey.
At Bowdoin, the site of the NXN Northeast regional race, CBA (#1) will be suiting up their top 7 for the first time this year. It will be interesting to see just how good the Colts, ranked US #6 by The Harrier, will be. Haddonfield (#7) who took care of business here last year will look to repeat.
Don Bosco Prep (#4) travels north again this week to compete at the Warwick Wave Mania Invite. The Ironmen won the St. Regis meet @ VCP last week (29 pts)
Cover Photo: Matt McDonald at the Magee Class Meet
Photo by: Dave Folsom
WILL THE NEW KID ON THE BLOCK STEAL THE WEEKEND THUNDER?
Six Flags Wild Adventure Invitational - Saturay @ Great Adventure (Jackson)