These 3 saturdays in November are, in some ways, as fun as Christmas for XC enthusiasts. The chase for the Meet of Champions starts today at four Sectional sites around the state.
Central Jersey Group Sectionals
By:Kaitlyn Lavender
On Saturday morning, schools in Central Jersey Groups 1-4 competed in the state sectional championships at Thompson Park in Jamesburg, in hopes of qualifying for this weekend’s group championships.
Robbinsville proved to have the best showing of the day, taking home both the boys and girls Group 1 Sectional Championship titles. The boys placed all top 5 runners within the top 8, scoring just 26 points, as Brian O’Toole took home the individual title in 16:11. Shore Regional was 2nd, while Metuchen was 3rd.
The girls won in just as much of a dominating form, scoring 29 points and placing their top 5 runners all within the top 11 spots. Metuchen 2nd in the girls race, while New Providence was 3rd. The individual champion for Group 1 was Brianna Feerst of Point Pleasant Beach, who finished in 19:00.
Holmdel also had a good showing, taking home the girls Group 2 title and placing 2nd in the boys race.
“This was definitely one of our goals at the beginning of the season, but we knew it would be tough,” said Kaci Redding, the Holmdel Girls Head Coach. “We knew Lennon (Cooper) and Shannon (Nelson) would be up there, but we need to get our third through fifth girls in a pack ahead of the third through fifth girls from the other schools. They came through today, and we’re looking to come in top three at groups, so we can advance to Meet of Champions as a team.”
Holmdel’s 58 points beat out Rumson-Fair Haven and Manasquan, who were 2nd and 3rd respectively. Georgiana Honrath of Manasquan was the individual winner with a time of 19:13.
On the boys side in Group 2, Delaware Valley was the individual winner, scoring 53 points. Holmdel was 2nd, while Red Bank Regional was 3rd. Matthew Bearden of Ewing won the race in 16:52, finishing just ahead of Bryan Broderick of Red Bank Regional, Dylan Tooher of Cinnaminson, and Zack Baisley of Holmdel.
Jim Rosa led his team, West Windsor- Plainsboro North to victory in the boys Group 3 race. Without Joe Rosa, the team was still able to score just 33 points and place all of the first 5 runners in the top 12. Rosa’s finishing time was 15:52. Princeton was 2nd, while Colts Neck was 3rd.
In the girls Group 3 race, Princeton was the winner was 57 points, while Middletwon South was 2nd and Hopewell Valley was 3rd. Caroline Ticse of Allentown was the individual champions with a 19:04 finish.
West Windsor-Plainsboro South was the winner in the boys Group 4 race, scoring 62 points. Freehold Township was 2nd, while Hillsborough was 3rd. The individual champions was Cullen Davis in 15:54. On the girls side, the Group 4 team champion was Hillsborough with 34 points. Howell was 2nd and West Windsor-Plainsboro South was 3rd. The girls individual winner was Caroline Kellner in 18:02.
There were lots of fireworks all over the rest of the state as well, including a mad dash to the finish at the North 2 Grp. 4 race between Matt McDonald (No. Hunterdon) and Tim Ball (Piscataway)
NJRunners will be covering all the action from today right through the Grande Finale at Holmdel Park on November 20th.
Photo: Dave Folsom