Monmouth County Championships Preview
By: Kaitlyn Lavender (Staff Writer)
The Monmouth County Championships are set to be held tomorrow, October 19th at Holmdel Park. and should be quite an exciting meet, as many of the top team and individual competitors at the state level call Monmouth County home. While there are pre-race team favorites on both the boys and girls side, anything could happen once the gun goes off, particularly as individuals battle it out. Here are our pre-race predictions.
Girls
At last year’s meet, Red Bank Catholic took home the title, beating out Howell 45-113. While Howell looks strong this season, RBC is again the predicted favorite. The Caseys, led by defending country champion, Molly McNamara, have a strong squad, with Liana Marzano, Hannah Echstein, and Lindsey Bellaran all under 21:00 on the Holmdel course this season. RBC finished third in the Shore Coaches Invitational championship race with a five runner average of 20:07.
Howell has a younger squad of runners than RBC, but there is still a good deal of talent. They will likely be the next best team. Howell won the Varsity A race at Shore Coaches with a team average of 20:57. They were led by Aileen Rivell, Jamie Hand, and Laura Kochenash, all of whom were between 20:00 and 21:00. Howell will likely continue to be a strong team over the next few seasons, but most likely will not overtake RBC at Counties.
The race here gets a bit more interesting when you look at individuals contending for the top spots. While Molly McNamara of RBC will look to defend, her closest competition will likely come from Tracy Campbell of Wall, Georgianna Horrath of Manasquan, freshman Lennon Cooper of Holmdel, Shannon Nelson, also of Holmdel, and RBC teammates, Liana Marzano and Hannah Echstein.
Boys
On the guys side, expect Christian Brothers Academy to dominate. The Colts are ranked #1 in New 
Jersey, so they’re going to be extremely difficult to beat. Colts lead runner Mike Mazzaccaro was Country Champion last year and was 4th last year at the XC Meet of Champions. The Colts won lthe Shore Coaches Invitational championship race, placing 3 runners (Mazzaccaro, Dan Mykityshyn, and George Kelly) in the top 7.
CBA won the county meet last year in the same fashion that RBC won the girls’ race. This year the teams to look out for in the chase are likely Holmdel, Red Bank Catholic, Colts Neck, Red Bank Regional and Freehold Township. Each of these teams have standout runners, but aren’t as strong as CBA. After CBA the team race for the top spots is relatively tight, as each of these teams has had recent strong performances.
Last year’s boys individual championship was a battle between Mazzaccaro and Colts Neck’s Mike O’Dowd. There will likely be a repeat of this battle again. Red Bank Catholic’s Kevin Byrne will also be in the mix for the top spots, along with Dan Mykityshyn of CBA, Travis Foder of Holmdel, Bryan Broderick of Red Bank Regional, and Colin Richmond of St. Rose.
Photos by: MaroonNews