WAPPINGERS FALLS, NY - It's not everyday that an 800 meter specialist can take down a National 5000m champion at her own game. On Saturday at Bowdoin Park in upstate New York it happened. Molly McNamara a senior star from Red Bank Catholic (who is Stanford bound) was in the lead pack for much of the race. With about 1,200 meters to go Molly was sitting on the heels of Lindsay Crevoiserat of Glastonbury, CT. Crevoiserat is the reigning indoor 5000m champion from the Nike Indoor Nationals. McNamara knew she had a great chance to take this race with the final 1000m to go all flat. McNamara had an edge over those final 1000m as her 2:09 800m speed proved to be to much for Crevoiserat. McNamara finished one step in front of Crevoiserat in 18:32.4. Two Other Jersers will be making the trip to Portland as they will receive automatic bids by placing in the top 5 overall are :
Julianna Miller (Hillsborough) - who placed 3rd overall with a time of 18:41.3. Miller will be the lone Hillsborough athlete going to Portland as their team fell just short of a guaranteed bid by placing 3rd overall for the 2nd straight year. Hillsborough will have to wait to see if they are selected for an At-Large bid.
Samantha Jones (Randolph) - who placed 5th overall
Sitting just on the outside of the automatic bids was Dana Giordano (Bernards) who finished 7th in a time of 18:56.5 over the treacherous course.
The top 21 individual finishers are selected to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd team All-Northeast Region (each team consisting of 7 runners) and those teams are:
1st Team (in order of finish, places 1-7)
Molly McNamara (Red Bank Catholic) - 18:32.4
Lindsay Crevoiserat (Tomahawk XC Club) - 18:32.9
Julianna Miller (Hillsborough) - 18:41.3
Margo Malone (Una-Pittsburgh, PA) - 18:47.7
Samantha Jones (Randolph) - 18:49.1
Viviana Hanley (Rocks XC) - 18:53.1
Dana Giordano (Bernards) - 18:56.5
2nd Team (in order of finish, places 8-14)
Marissa Shoji (Una-Newton, MA) - 19:02.1
Emily Dunne (Academy of the Holy Angels - 19:04.3
Kristen Traub (Eastern Christian) - 19:06.4
Nisa Cicitta (Voorhees) - 19:09.7
Kristen Landry (Mountain Lakes) - 19:16.5
Andrea Keklak (Mercury TC) - 19:18.9
Leah Anne Wirfel (Una-Portage, PA) - 19:22.0
3rd Team (in order of finish, places 15-21)
Reid Watson (Tomahawk XC Club) - 19:23.2
Maggie Mullins (The A Team) - 19:23.7
Erin Thompson (Immaculage Heart Academy) - 19:24.7
Taylor Spillane (Champlain Valley XC) - 19:25.5
Sarah Disanza (High Point Wildcats) - 19:25.6
Janie Augustyn (Dub-C XC) - 19:26.3
Regan Rome (Una-Dallas, PA) - 19:26.3
Bold = New Jersey athletes
9 New Jersey female athletes made an All-Northeast Team
The girls team battle was just (if not more) exciting than the individual race. The top 4 teams were pretty clear as they were just spread out from 1-4 by 31 places. What was unclear was who were the top 2 (who get automatic bids to the National Champonships in Portland). The suspense built all day as the officials crew would not release the results until the awards ceremony hours later. This really built the suspense. Around the time Ian Brooks was annoucing the results (he started with the girls Northeast) a pretty sizable crowd had been drawn to the ceremony location. He started by annoucing the 4th place team....
Red Bank Catholic!!!, on the sound of "Red" coming out of Mr. Brooks' mouth the Red Bank Catholic squad jumped up for joy. Sheer happiness and elation on their faces. Their hard work all season long had payed off with a 4th place finish. Red Bank Catholic's times and places were:
Molly McNamara - 1st - 18:32.4
Hannah Eckstein - 26th - 19:52.4
Liana Marzano - 38th - 20:08.1
Mary Kate Byrne - 49th - 20:26.1
Lindsey Bellaran - 55th - 20:33.3
Katerina Saling - 103rd - 21:44.6
Heather Rochford - 134th - 22:55.8
Next to be announced was the 1st team to NOT get an automatic bid, the dreadful 3rd place (as they would have to wait another day to see if they would be selected as an At-Large bid). Ian Brooks announced "Hillsborough XC Club" and right then you could see a set of mixed emotions as Hillsborough had finished 3rd overall for the 2nd straight year (they did not get an At-Large bid last year). Hillsborough's times and places were:
Julianna Miller - 3rd - 18:41.3
Kelly Janokowicz - 16th - 19:34.7
Mary Dombrowski - 23rd - 19:46.4
Stephanie Nunes - 57th - 20:37.7
Allly Cady - 59th - 20:39.2
Mallory Drake - 84th - 21:04.1
Sarah Skrabal - 106th - 21:50.0
So the top two teams were now known as Champlain Valley XC and Voorhees (who had outstanding races) were the last two standing. But who won the championship? As Brooks began to announce the team who finished in 2nd place you could see the faces on both squads waiting in anticipation. "And this year's 2nd place team is....Champlain Valley XC". Holding their emotions back, Hunterdon Hawks TC (Voorhees HS) waited for Brooks to make it official 
and call their name. Brooks said "And this year's team champion" "Hunterdon Hawks TC". The Voorhees team and crowd with them jumped in the air with sheer joy as they were crowned the 2010 Northeast Region Nike Cross Nationals Team Champion. The Hunterdon Hawks TC times and places were:
Nisa Cicitta - 8th - 19:09.7
Clarissa Modde - 19th - 19:41.4
Kristen Erickson - 22nd - 19:45.6
Shannon Carney - 37th - 20:05.3
Brigid McGill - 52nd - 20:27.9
Erin Seiffert - 54th - 20:31.2
Kathryn Hahn - 89th - 21:14.7
O yeah and by the way, that Voorhees team, their top 6 ARE UNDERCLASSMEN!