What Happened @ The Races - Oct. 21 to Oct. 27

Morris Co. Championships

@ Greystone Park (Parsippany)

 
With the Mendham girls and Travis Ellis of Morris Hills leading the charge, the all-time course list took a beating, and the Morristown boys, despite a banged up leader, broke a long drought to highlight the action. Junior Mackenzie Barry’s second title in three years in 17:57.5 sparked Mendham to a course record average of 18:57.0 and its first title since 1993, 56-108 over Mount Olive. Seniors Abby Seel and Regan Kolakowski finished fourth and fifth, respectively, to help lead a strong Mendham pack in the front, and pushed the team to a course record average of 18:57.0.

In the boys race, Ellis a senior, changed his approach from the week before when he went out too fast and was fifth at the NJAC Championships. This time, Ellis stayed back and let junior Josiah Hanko of Trinity Christian handle the pace. Hanko, in his first season of cross-country after giving up soccer, led most of the way until Ellis exploded to the front with 150 meters left on the way to victory in 15:49.5, No. 2 in course history. Ellis, whose 15:49.5 is No. 2 all-time behind the 15:29.6 run by Morgan Pearson of Delbarton in 2010, led a course record four runners under 16 minutes. Hanko was second in 15:52.5, No. 5 in course history.

Meanwhile, the Morristown boys, despite one of its top guns running at less than 100 percent, still put together a remarkable pack race as it jammed its top five into a 36-second compression to defeat defending champion and No. 16 Mendham (Star-Ledger Rankings) 65-85. It’s Morristown’s first county title since 1997.

The most impressive part about Morristown’s performance is that it won without senior Alex Cary scoring. Cary, normally near the front of Morristown’s attack, sprained an ankle five days before the meet. Cary ran a gutsy race and was Morristown’s No. 6 man, six spots ahead of Mendham’s No. 4 runner.

When Cary was at full strength at the NJAC meet, Morristown edged Mendham for second on a sixth-runner tiebreaker after each team finished with 69 points. So it didn’t seem possible that Morristown could beat Mendham without Cary scoring at the county meet. "I prepared these guys for the possibility that Alex may not run, and that if he did he wouldn’t be 100 percent," said Morristown coach Paul Buccino, the head coach since 1998. "I told them we needed six guys under 17 and that they had to run a smart and patient race and finish strong. And those guys all came through and ran a perfect race."

Junior Greg Arabagian, seventh in 16:22.4, said Cary’s presence inspired the team. "We didn’t think he’d be running, but all of a sudden he showed up at practice yesterday," said Arabagian. "That got us all real pumped up. Alex is a great senior leader, and we wanted to make sure we won this for him and for coach Buccino. They deserve this."
One of the big keys for Morristown was the big races at the back of the pack by juniors Gavin Pitt and Ian Kinney, who both ran personal bests. Pitt was 19th in 16:51.5, 30 seconds faster than his conference time. Kinney was 23rd in 16:58.5, a drop of 13 seconds off his conference time.

"This is the deepest team I’ve ever had," said Buccino. "That was the difference for us. One man goes down and there is another guy right there to step up and get the job done. To win in Morris County is very special because you have to beat some of the best teams in the state to win this."
Arabagian said the groundwork for this championship began a few years ago. "We had a great freshman team two years ago, and we knew if we kept working hard we’d be on top in a couple years, and here we are," he said.
 

On-Site Coverage

Union County Championships

@ Warinanco Park (Elizabeth) 5133m

Matt Luppino became Westfield’s third straight champion to lead his team to a fourth straight title, and Gillian McIlroy and her Summit team continued its supremacy in the county. Luppino, first in the freshman race in 2010 and the J.V. champ last year, got away from Summit sophomore Leland Jones over the final 1,200 meters to finish first by eight seconds in a personal best 16:06 to spark the Blue Devils to its impressive triumph.
Westfield, which put five runners in the top 13, had six runners finish in under 17 minutes and had six runners record personal bests on the way to a 38-81 triumph over runner-up Union Catholic. It’s the fourth consecutive Union County Championships title and seventh in the past eight years for Westfield, which extended its county record to 31 county championships. It’s the first county title under coach Chris Tafelski, who took over for the legendary Jack Martin as head coach this fall.

Luppino and Jones were locked in a tight battle after the mile mark, which they hit in 5:00. After going past two miles in 10:05, Luppino gradually built about a 10 meter gap on Jones with 1,200 to go.
"My main move came after the two-mile mark,’’ said Luppino. "That’s the place to start opening it up. When I came up that ridge with about 1,200 to go I stopped hearing his footsteps. And then it was time to finish off that third mile with all I had.’’
Luppino said being Westfield’s third straight individual champion and continuing Westfield’s great tradition means everything to him.

`'I‘m so honored,’’ he said. "Jack won it last year and Andrew Kirna the year before. Those guys were great mentors and taught me everything I know about the sport. It means a lot to me to follow in their footsteps.’’
Westfield's team performance also included personal bests from Rob Marczydlo, eighth in 16:39, Phil Edwards, 11th in 16:47, Dan Luzzi, 12th in 16:48 and from Mike Reilly, 13th in 16:49.
``We wanted to keep our pack as tight as possible and run our best race of the season so far and we did that,’’ said Luppino, who hopes to lead Westfield to its fourth straight state Group 4 title next month. ``We wanted to run well to get ourselves ready for sectionals and groups. This was a great way to start the championship season.’’

In the girls race, McIlroy won her second straight title in 19:20, eight seconds faster than her winning time last year, and Summit had five  runners in the top 10 as it defeated Westfield, 30-87
"It's really exciting," McIlroy said. "We come here and try and run together and run with as many Summit girls as we can. We focus on that in practice because it really helps pushing each other in the race."
Kirsty Gargiulo, Devin Lawler, Amanda Brodow and Emma Olcott were Summit's other four top finishers and finished sixth, eighth, ninth, and tenth, respectively. Seniors Gargiulo, Lawler and Olcott have been a part of all four championship teams for the Hilltoppers.
 

Shore Conf. Championships

@Ocean County Park (Lakewood)

This will go down as arguably the greatest non-state championship boys race in state history as CBA and Tom O’Neill of Middletown North produced epic performances.
And Danielle Leavitt of Lacey repeated and RBC grabbed the girls team title.

We have to start with the boys race as CBA continued its amazing season by producing its fourth course record in as many tries. The Colts ran wild with a ridiculous average of 15:08.7 and defeated Holmdel, 27-96. Holmdel averaged a school record 15:56.6.
To put CBA’s 15:08.7 in perspective, it’s 18 seconds faster than what CBA ran last year when it set the course record at OCP before going on to win the national title. The 2011 CBA team was dubbed by many to be the best XC team in state history. One more thing,                         CBA’s sixth man ran 7 seconds faster than the course record average from last year. You read that right. What these guys are doing is downright remarkable.

Speaking of remarkable, O’Neil a junior, won a great duel with Jack Boyle of CBA, 15:03.9 to 15:04.5, as seven runners broke 15:10. O’Neill is now No. 2 in course history behind the record of 15:01.7 set in 2010 by CBA’s Mike Mazzaccaro in 2010. Boyle is No. 3 all-time.
 
For the girls, Leavitt won the race the race for the second straight year, winning in 17:53.1. She was challenged from several different runners most of the race, but pulled ahead in the last mile to beat Courtney Thompson of St. John Vianney.
After winning the Monmouth County title, Red Bank Catholic followed that up by finishing ahead of Ocean County champion Toms River North, 96-111.
Eryn Mills ran a personal-best 18:21 and finished eighth to lead the team while MaryKate McNamara, Kassi Chrysanthopoulus, Emily Rienzo, and Shayne McNally rounded out their top five finishing 14th, 17th, 33rd, and 34th respectively.
Red Bank Catholic finished with a team average of 18:52.9--14 seconds better than Toms River North.