The three-stage New Jersey cross-country championships open this weekend with 32 races at four sites, the top five teams and first 10 individuals in each to qualify for the group championships on Nov. 12 at Holmdel County Park.
While the sectionals are limited to the four public school groups, most of the Parochial (non-public, to be precise), will also be in action, the 49th annual New Jersey Catholic Track Conference championships following the North Jersey 2 sectionals at Warinanco Park, Elizabeth, and the smaller South Jersey Parochial meet doing the same at the South Jersey sectional site, Delsea High School.
Technically, the state championship season began on Wednesday with the New Jersey Independent School Athletic Association championships at Blair Academy. Pingry scored an unusual double there, winning the girls’ A race and the boys’ B division. (The presence of some large boys-only schools is responsible for this anomaly.)
Two of these schools dominated the boys; A race with St. Benedict’s Prep defeating Seton Hall, 23-47, led by soph Brandon Jarrett who scored his fourth win of the season in 16:26. This was four seconds faster than Nicolai Naranjo of Montclair Kimberley in the B race and served as a kind of payback for Brandon’s loss to Nicolai in the Essex County meet five days earlier.
The Pingry girls, favored to win the Parochial B meet in the NJSIAA meet, scored a 34-53 win over Peddie in defending their title, while Stuart County Day School topped Ranney School, 44-55 for the B crown. Rachel Provost of Peddie won the A race by 100 yards from Emily Naranjo, Nicolai’s freshman sister, in 19:40, while Jess Foran of Rutgers Prep took the B race in 20:58. Both had finished second last year.
The top sites this weekend will be Garret Mountain, West Paterson, for the North Jersey 1 races and Holmdel County Park, the state championship course, for the Central Jersey octet. At Garret, the defending all-group girls team, Roxbury, will have its fifth meeting with Morris Knolls in the Gr. IV race, while Morris Hills, No. 2 in the boys’ rankings, will shoot for a rare perfect score in the Gr. III event. At Holmdel, two of the state’s top girls’ teams, Jackson and Colts Neck, will compete in Gr. IV and III, respectively, as will several of the state’s top individual stars, including Amanda Marino of Jackson and the Colts Neck trio of Craig Forys, Ashley Higginson and Briana Jackucewicz.
Forys’ main rival for the boys’ all-group crown, Ben Massam of Chatham, will got after his seventh major victory of the campaign in the Gr. II race at Warinanco Park. He has already set records at Lincoln Park, Jersey City; Freedom Park, Randolph, and, last Saturday, at the difficult Nabisco course in East Hanover.
Now for a quick look at each of the sectional sites:
BOYS
GARRET MOUNTAIN
As already noted, Morris Hills is a cinch to repeat as Gr. III winner here and junior Kyle Soloff is the most likely individual winner in what could be the toughest qualifying ticket in the state. Ridgewood should have no trouble taking its fourth straight Gr. IV title (14th all told) with Byron Williams probably adding the individual title as well. Hopatcong is also favored to repeat in Gr. II, but Mike Crum may have a tough time defending his individual title against Bryan Kretschmer of Ramsey. Becton is a major threat to defending Kinnelon in Gr. I, with Ryan VanAlstine of Midland Park a strong favorite to match twin Amy’s individual win.
WARINANCO PARK
Westfield and Phillipsburg should have another donnybrook here in Gr. IV, with the Blue Devils’ Jeff Perrella, defending champ, almost certain to complete his Warinanco “hat trick,” having already run away with county and conference honors there. Cranford has been restored to this section after winning Central Jersey Gr. II last year, setting up a solid Gr. III race with Millburn’s Essex County champs, Ridge, Holmdel and Morristown and also providing a close individual race between its junior star Joe McKenney and Skylands champ Chris Southwick of Voorhees. The Gr. I race is probably the weakest in the state with no team favorite. Tauqueen Qazi of McNair Academic and solo runner Matt Turlip of Dunellen top the individual field.
HOLMDEL
Old Bridge has dominated Gr. IV here, winning five of the last six titles, But does not have the depth this year to combat co-favorites Hillsboro, East Brunswick, West Windsor-Plainsboro South and Jackson, all of whom took county titles this fall. Brian Dennis of Hillsboro is back to defend his title, but faces a severe challenge from Brick Memorial soph Andrew Brodeur, who finished third in the tough Shore Conference race here last Saturday, running 16:03. Forys will have no trouble defending his Gr. III title, but Colts Neck does not have the depth to defend its team title, with Ocean Twp, led by Greg Kremlet, the most likely successor. Summit, a newcomer here, heads a depleted Gr. II field with Owen Boyle of Manasquan a clear favorite after breaking 16:00 at the Shore Conference meet. Keansburg will have no trouble taking a third straight Gr. I title, but its defender, Andrew Carusuotto, will get plenty of competition from soph Shane Hart of Pt, Pleasant Beach.
DELSEA
Defending Toms River North and Cherokee head the Gr. IV field with Greg Bredeck of the Chiefs the individual favorite. Ocean City’s young team should repeat over Highland in III with county champs Matt Cowhey of the Raiders, Pat Collins of the Tartans and Ozzie Huerta of Kingsway battling for the gold. Haddonfield will probably repeat in Gr. II with its sixth title in eight years, with a hot individual battle among its junior star, Mike Burke, Matt Mitchell of Haddon Heights and Jay Rodgers of Haddon Twp. Maple Shade looks like a repeater in Gr. I with Jim Bulnicky leading the way as individual winner.
GIRLS
GARRET MOUNTAIN
Rosbuty and Morris Knolls are now even on the season at 2-2, but the Gaels have won the last two after the return of Ashley Cromartie and should take the lead this weekend. Jenn Ennis has been at top form in recent races and should take her first sectional crown since her freshman year at Warinanco. Paramus could get its first sectional title in Gr. II, led by Jess Setless and the Hannon twins. Ramsey is a solid choice in Gr. II, led by Stacey Bond and Jennifer Bain, who could go 1-2 individually. Gr. I will be a repeat of last year, an easy team win for Mountain Lakes, the probable group champion, and a more difficult individual triumph for Amy VanAlstine over 2003 champ Abby Hinds of the Lakers.
WARINANCO PARK
Westfield’s bid for a third straight title faces a real hurdle here in Bridgewater which could put three runners before the first Blue Devil, certainly two in Rachel Mangean and Kris Cupido, who should go 1-2 in either order. Gr. III has three of the state’s best in defending Voorhees, with frosh Melanie Thompson and soph Katrina Spratford; Cranford with last year’s CJ Gr. II winner, Laura Gallo, and Ridge with Nicole Traynor. Gallo is also seeking a Warinanco triple here and has “home court” advantage, but Thompson has been running up a storm recently with a near-record win at the Skyland meet last Thursday. Gr. II looks like a repeat for Chatham and Caldwell’s Essex County champ, Alexis Weiner, while Gr. I is even more puzzling than the boys’ race now that the past two winners, Palisades Park and Verona are in NJ 1. McNair may get an individual double with Quiauna Smith.
HOLMDEL
Jackson will have no trouble repeating in Gr. IV, but three-time sectional winner Jen Clausen (one in SJ), who skipped the Shore Conference meet with a sore back, is likely to be replaced by her junior teammate, Amands Marino. Colts Neck will win Gr. III easily with its aces, defending Ashley Higginson and frosh Briana Jackucewicz probably trotting over the line together. It will be Union County (neighbors Summit and New Providence) vs. Monmouth (defender Rumson and Shore) in Gr. II with Samantha Lee of the Hilltoppers, Katie Zaeh of Berkeley Heights and Kelly Cattano and Stephanie Fonseca of New Providence leading the individual fray. With New Providence “promoted” to Gr. II, Metuchen is about all there is left in Gr. I and the recent absence of two-time SJ I winner, Lindsey Ritchings of Pt. Pleasant Beach, leaves the individual title up for grabs,
DELSEA
Cherry Hill East could take its first sectional title in Gr. IV here, led by Theresa Cattuna, who led the Cougars to the Olympic Conference title last Friday. Danielle Tauro, undefeated in the state this fall, should, however, top Cattuna in defense of her individual title. With two-time all-group champ Brittany Sedberry back in form, Ocean City should make it three in a row in Gr.III over a strong challenge from Moorestown with Brittany trying to complete a four-year sweep over a strong challenge from Amanda Goetschius of Delsea.. Vanessa Wright hopes to do the same in Gr. II as Haddonfield pick up its 13th sectional crown. Maple Shade heads the Gr. I field with Lindsey Lampe of Pennsville, Salem County champ, the individual favorite.
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