The NJ XC season really gets cooking on Saturday when many of the state's best runners and teams will converge on the legendary grounds of Holmdel Park for the 51st Shore Coaches Invitational, NJ's biggest and baddest invitational of the season!
This meet is once again stacked! But there will be some big stars missing. More on that shortly.
The Shore Coaches Invitational features 26 races on the state championship layout, including 13 varsity races (7 boys and 6 girls), and will take place over the course of 7 hours!!! How awesome is that? The first race is at 9 a.m., and the last finisher in the final race won't cross the line until just after 4 p.m.
Another big change this year is that Diadora, the Italian Footwear Company, and NJ's Runner's High have partnered as the title sponsor of the meet. NJ legend Marco Langon, who signed a 6-year pro contract with Diadora, will be at Holmdel, so stop by and meet him on Saturday at the Runner's High tent.
As always, this meet will help separate the contenders from the pretenders as many teams load up and let it rip for the first time, giving us a much clearer picture of who many of the favorites will be ahead of the State Championships next month.
Ok, let's dive into this.
How Low Can Starkey Go
In the girls' competition, all eyes and watches will, of course, be on Leah Starkey of Ocean Township, who has been burning up the trails and has been one of the most impressive runners in the country over the first month of the season.
Starkey, a junior who won the NJSIAA Meet of Champions title last year in 17:15 (No. 3 all-time at Holmdel) and was 7th at the Brooks National Championships, will be running in the D race at 1:35 p.m.
Starkey, who is focusing on competing at the Nike Nationals this year as opposed to last year when she ran at the Brooks National Championships, has crushed all three of her races this season.
Starkey, a 2-time national champ on the track, opened her season with a jaw-dropping CR of 16:04 at OCP and then dropped a 17:29 at Holmdel Park! Then in her first race ever at Bowdoin last week, she blasted a 17:30.7, which places her No. 5 on the all-time course list, on the challenging layout.
The only four girls who have ever gone faster at Bowdoin are Katelyn Tuohy of North Rockland, NY, who ran 16:45.2 in 2018, Blair Bartlett of Lawrenceville, who ran a NJ CR of 17:00.6 to win the Northeast Regional as a junior last year, Aisling Cuffe of Cornwall, NY, who ran 17:16.9 in 2010, and Nicole Blood of Saratoga, NY, who ran 17:27.3 in 2004.
So one of the biggest questions is how low will Starkey go?
Will sub-17 happen!!!??
Based on her results, there is no doubt that Starkey is fit enough right now to go under 17 at Holmdel!! That's something that only two girls have ever done- Katelyn Tuohy of North Rockland in N.Y., who dropped a mind-blowing 16:21 at the 2018 Shore Coaches Invitational, and Angelina Perez of Lakeland, who won the 2021 Group 3 race in 17:07.
It all comes down to how much Starkey feels like pushing herself.
Time will tell!
Munn On The Run
On the boys' side, the biggest individual storyline is the eagerly anticipated Holmdel debut of NJ's newest star, Owen Munn of Wilberforce.
The senior, who emerged as one of the best distance runners in the country last year when he ran for the Greensboro Gladiators, a competitive homeschool team in North Carolina, wasted no time making his presence felt by burning a course record 15:47 at a quad meet last Saturday on Lawrenceville's campus.
Munn will be running in the F Division race at 2:20 p.m., which is loaded with strong teams, led by No. 2 ranked Union Catholic, No. 7 Glassboro, No. 9 Paul VI, and No. 19 Indian Hills.
How good is Munn?
Last year, 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!
It's hard to predict what Munn will run in his first crack at Holmdel, but I'll do it anyway. His track times show that he's capable of going well under 15:30. And he will have some very good runners to make him work, including defending champ Danny Kuran of UC.
I'll go with 15:25 for Munn!
Missing Star Power
For those hoping to see future Stanford teammates Blair Bartlett of Lawrenceville and Paige Sheppard of Union Catholic, two of the best distance runners in the country and in NJ history, make their season debuts on Saturday, that won't be the case.
Bartlett and Sheppard both extended their track and field seasons into August and are playing the long game this season as they are both planning to race at national championship meets in December.
When will they race?
Sheppard, who won the 800 at the U.S. U-20 Championships to qualify for the World U20 Championships over the summer, has targeted her season debut for Oct. 17 at the Virginia Showcase. There is no timetable yet for Bartlett's first race.
During the XC season last year, Sheppard was second to Starkey at the Meet of Champions in 17:17, No. 4 in Holmdel history, placed 13th at the Brooks National Championships, and led UC to a third-place finish at the Nike National. Bartlett won the Nike Northeast Regional title last November in 17:00.6, No. 3 in Bowdoin Park history, and finished second at both the Brooks and Nike National Championships.
Boys Races
Most of the Top 20 teams will be in action, including several great head-to-head matchups that are sure to produce sparks flying and cause a big shake-up in the next rankings. We are never sure how many teams will be at full strength, so that remains to be seen.
NJ No. 1 CBA, who made a big statement when their big guns ripped for the first time last week when they produced an impressive win in Division 1 at Bowdoin with a 16:21 average, will be racing in the A race at 10:25 a.m.
The schedule (Bowdoin last week, Shore, and the Manhattan Invitational on Oct. 10) makes it tough to load up in all 3 races, so it remains to be seen how CBA and some other teams play this.
Even if CBA doesn't run their top guys, their second 7 is strong enough to be right near the top against a loaded field that features a very good Bishop Hendricken of Rhode Island, one of the best teams in the Northeast, and five of NJ's top 20 teams.
Last week, Bishop Hendricken won the Division 2 race at Bowdoin, averaged 16:31, and finished a close second in the team merge behind CBA, 40-52.
Also in this race are No. 11 Westfield, No. 12 Cherry Hill East, No. 14 Southern, No. 16 Manalapan, and No. 18 Watchung Hills.
As for the top runners in the A race, Colby Flynn of Bishop Hendricken (16:19 at Bowdoin last week) and Trevor Szilier of Washington Township (16:11 at Holmdel last month) will push each other to sub-16 times.
In the B race (10:55 a.m.), No. 5 Ridge and No. 17 St. Peter's Prep will clash.
The C race (11:15 a.m.) features No. 3 West Windsor-Plainsboro North and No. 6 Ocean City, but West Windsor North won't load this up as they prepare to let it rip at the Manhattan Invit. next week.
The top team on paper in the D race is No. 15 ranked Cinnaminson, while No. 8 Haddonfield is the class of the E Division race, which is slated for 1:50 p.m.
Four ranked teams, including three in the Top 10, will square off in the F race (2:20 p.m.) as No. 2 Union Catholic, No. 7 Glassboro, No. 9 Paul VI, and No. 19 Indian Hills will go toe-to-toe.
UC, which brings back a lot of talent, opened its season at the Woodbridge Classic in California two weeks ago by placing 22nd with a 14:58 5-man average over the 3-mile layout. Glassboro is coming off an impressive runner-up finish to CBA at Bowdoin, averaging 17:07 and finishing fifth in the team merge.
In the G race (2:50 p.m.), perennial Group 1 power McNair is the pick to come out on top, and Misha Theberge of Saddle River Day, the Non-Public B State Champ last year, is the man to beat. He has a Holmdel PR of 17:40.
Girls Races
Even without Sheppard, the Union Catholic girls, ranked No. 1 in the country in the preseason, are so deep that regardless of who lines up for them on Saturday, no team can handle the smoke they will bring to the trails. UC finished third at the Nike Nationals last year, and it is even stronger on paper this season!
The Vikings opened their season with a lightning-quick 16:45 average and runner-up finish on the very fast 3.0-mile course at the Woodbridge Invitational in Calif.
UC, with senior Cayleigh Kaiser leading the charge, will be running in the E race at 2:05 p.m. vs. a field that includes No. 6 Haddonfield, No. 15 Red Bank Catholic, and No. 17 Shore Regional.
There should be lots of fireworks up front in this race as Kaiser, Alexandra Klein of Shore Regional, Dylan Hosty of Haddonfield, and Stella Blanchard of Wilberforce will clash.
Kaiser was third at the Meet of Champions last year in 17:45. Klein, who won the Group 1 title last year in 18:35, ran a 17:14 at Ocean County Park last month. Hosty ran a NJ freshman record of 4:42.21 in the mile last spring, and is coming off a strong runner-up finish last week at Bowdoin in 19:10.
The Duke-bound Blanchard, second in the 800 at the Meet of Champions last June, is making her season debut, and after a huge summer of training, she should make a big Holmdel drop from the 19:19 she ran a year ago.
Look out for the Ridgewood girls!!
This squad is loaded and could be the No. 2 pack in the Northeast behind UC.
Ridgewood, the defending Group 4 champ, will square off in the A race at 10:40 a.m. with No. 3 Freehold Township, No. 8 South Brunswick, No. 13 Cherry Hill East, and No. 19 Egg Harbor. Ridgewood, led up front by star Katherine Keating, is the class of the field and should emerge victorious.
The B race (11:10 a.m.) could be the best team race of the day as No. 7 Princeton, No. 9 Ridge, No. 10 North Hunterdon, and No. 12 Middletown will square off. In the C race (11:40 a.m.) No. 5 Ocean City, the defending state Group 3 champion, will battle No. 16 Hopewell Valley. The D race (1:35 p.m.) is a good one with No. 4 Paul VI, No. 11 Leonia, and No. 20 Rumson slugging it out. In the F race (2:35 p.m.), No. 14 Pingry is the class of the field.
The NJ XC season really gets cooking on Saturday when many of the state's best runners and teams will converge on the legendary grounds of Holmdel Park for the 51st Shore Coaches Invitational, NJ's biggest and baddest invitational of the season!
This meet is once again stacked! But there will be some big stars missing. More on that shortly.