Photo by Doug Hague
Owen Munn, one of the best distance runners in the country, will be competing for the Wilberforce School this season, Wilberforce head coach Lois Szeliga confirmed on Friday night.
Munn, who was a huge star in North Carolina, arrives at Wilberforce after his father, Chris, was appointed as the Middle and Upper School Head at Wilberforce, which is located in Princeton.
According to Szeliga, Munn, after sitting out until Sept. 20 under thre NJSIAA senior tranfser rule, will open his season at Lawrenceville on Sept. 26 and he will be racing at the Shore Coaches Invitational at Holmdel Park on Oct. 3.
Munn is an absolute hammer on the trails and the track, and based on his PR's and his resume, there's no doubt the rising senior will be one the best XC runners in NJ this season, and a contender to win the Meet of Champions title!!
As a junior last fall while running for the Greensboro Gladiators, a competitive homeschool team in North Carolina, Munn won 7 of his 8 XC races, captured his third straight North Carolina Home Educators State Championship, and ran 14:56 to finish first at the HXN Cross-Country Championship in Tennessee, which is considered the national championship for homeschool and small private christian schools. His personal best for 5K in XC is 14:46.
On the track this past spring, Munn ran 4:08.92 to place 8th in the mile at the New Balance National Championships at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, just off his PR of 4:08.54, and he ran a 3,200 PR of 8:48.46!
Munn's PR's matchup very closely with the PR's run by Gavin Schmitt of CBA, the top returner from the XC Meet of Champions last year. Schmitt owns PR's of 4:08.81 for 1,600, 8:47.96 for 3,200, and ran his XC PR of 14:50 when he won the Shore Conference title at Ocean County Park last year. Schmitt ran 15:28 at Holmdel Park last November when he finished second to teammate Luke Hnatt at the M of C.
Wilberforce returns 4 of their top 6 finishers from the State Non-Public B meet last year when they placed fourth, so with the addition of a stud like Munn as the leader of their pack, Wilberforce will certainly be a force on the trails this fall!!!! They have to be considered the preseason favorite to win the State Non-Public B Championship.
