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NXN 2008 Northeast Regional
November 29, 2008 at Wappingers Falls, NY
Connecticut - Maine - Massachusetts - New Hampshire - New Jersey - Pennsylvania - Rhode Island - Vermont
New York regional is being held at same site same day.

Preview

8 nationally ranked teams
New Jersey boys, Massachusetts girls will reprise intra-state battles.
"Angry" Don Bosco NJ boys seeking revenge for MOC loss to West Windsor North.
Individual qualifying slots up for grabs.


by Jim Lambert
 
11/26/08 -- The path to Portland will feature a couple of riveting intrastate rematches while the red-hot West Windsor-Plainsboro North boys from New Jersey and the Newton South girls from Massachusetts will invade Bowdoin Park as the favorites at  Saturday’s Nike Northeast Regional Championships in Wappingers Falls, N.Y.
 
Both races are stacked with four teams ranked in the Super Top 25 national poll in each gender. With the top two teams earning automatic berths in the 22-team Nike National championship race (scheduled for Dec. 6 at Portland Meadows in Oregon), there’s a good chance that some very talented teams will be left on the outside looking in when  the dust settles.  But because the region is so strong, there’s a possibility that of the four national at-large bids awarded, one or more could be handed out to the third and fourth place finishers.
 
Boys: Battle of New Jersey
 
In the boys race, West Windsor North NJ, No. 1 in the Northeast and No. 4 nationally, will lock horns with New Jersey rival Don Bosco Prep, No. 2 in the region and No. 8 nationally, North Penn of Pennsylvania, No. 3 in the region and 10th in the nation, and Danbury CT, No. 4 regionally and 23rd nationally.
 
West Windsor North heads into this showdown on a serious roll. Led by the sensational Rosa twins, Jim and Joe, West Windsor North hammered out a course record average 16:14.4 at Holmdel Park last Saturday when it scored an 18-point win over defending champion and previously unbeaten Don Bosco Prep to capture the New Jersey Meet of Champions title.  The victory evened the season series between the two at 1-1 and catapulted West Windsor North 15 spots in the Super 25 from 19th to 4th.
 
Joe Rosa, the individual favorite, is expecting his team to turn in another big-time performance.

``As well as we ran last week, that’s what we expected,’’ said Rosa. ``If we all click again, there’s no reason why we can’t have another great race. We’ve been getting faster and faster the last few weeks and are peaking well. I see no reason why we can’t hold it for another few weeks.’’
 
Rosa said there’s really just one objective.  `We are going there to win it,’’ said Rosa. ``If you go in trying to win and fall short you can still qualify. But if you are just hoping to qualify and have a bad race then you probably won’t make it.’’
 
Don Bosco Prep, 10th at the national race last year after earning an at-large bid, is seeking some redemption after its M of C loss. At the M of C, three of Don Bosco’s runners took a spill during a nasty pileup about 300 meters into the race. Don Bosco senior Rob Molke was one of the runners that went down.

``We’re not losing,’’ said Molke. ``We’re so mad this week it’s beyond belief. No one will run bad this week. We’ll all have our best race of the season. We are running angry and have something to prove. Most teams don’t get another opportunity like this. It’s not about revenge, but having the chance to re-race them (West Windsor North) and show we are better than what we showed last week is something we are looking forward to. Chances are they may have still beaten us, but losing has given is tremendous motivation.’’
 
Molke said the pressure is off  Don Bosco now. ``We’re the underdogs now, and the target is off our backs,’’ he said.

Molke said he wouldn’t be surprised if New Jersey took the top two places. ``I think we can both advance,’’ said Molke. ``After the race last week we told them we’d see them in Oregon. Danbury and North Penn have great packs and it will be an interesting race. But I really feel New Jersey can go 1-2 in this race.’’
 
Don Bosco’s biggest  win this season came when it captured the Eastern States title at the Manhattan Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park on Oct. 11. In that race, Don Bosco finished first with 154 points, 16 ahead of runner-up Danbury. West Windsor North was fifth. Danbury has since won its State Open and the New England Championships.
 
North Penn, which won its state 3A title, won its race at the Manhattan meet with a five-runner average of 13:04.3, just ahead of  Don Bosco’s 13:05. North Penn, led by junior Brad
Miles, took the first four spots in that race.
 
North Penn and West Windsor have met once, with West Windsor North earning a one point victory, 68-69, at the Briarwood Invitational in Philadelphia on Sept. 20.  But that was before West Windsor North’s Jim Rosa (the fitth man that day) and Tyler Corkedale (who didn’t run a race until October) recovered from injuries.

``We’re a much better team now because we are healthier,'' said Joe Rosa.
 
Girls: Battle of Massachusetts
 
The girls race looks like it will come down to another tussle between Newton South, No. 1 in the Northeast and No. 7 nationally, and defending champion and rival Lincoln-Sudbury.   But US #19 Glastonbury of Connecticut (the State Open and New England champions) and US# 22 Emmaus of Pennsylvania (the 3A state champions) aren’t far behind and are capable of getting into the top two to earn automatic qualification to NXN nationals.

Newton South and Lincoln-Sudbury met at the Massachusetts Division 1 Championship and  Newton South emerged with a 15 point win.  Newton South is led by seniors Bridget Dahlburg and Kelsey Karys while Lincoln-Sudbury’s top runners are senior Ellie Hylton and sophomore Andrea Keklak.
 
Lincoln-Sudbury outscored Emmaus by 20 points, 60-80, when they went 2-3 at the Bowdoin Park Classic on Sept. 20.
 
Boys Individuals

With Joe Rosa a virtual lock to qualify for nationals with his team, there should be a mad scramble for the five individual tickets to Oregon, which will go to the top five finishers whose teams do not qualify.
 
Among a big group expected to battle for for those five spots are Sean Pohorence of Morris Hills NJ, Mike Mazzaccaro of Christian Brothers NJ, Taro Shigenobu of Ridgewood NJ,  Mark Leininger of Colts Neck NJ, Dan Krystek of Gateway PA,  Eric Malnati of Fall Mountain NH, Francis Hernandez of Bishop Guertin NH, Mark Feigen of  East Greenwich RI, and John Raneri  of New Fairfield CT.
 
Pohorence owns the second fastest time of the season at Bowdoin, winning the Bowdoin Park Classic in 16:06 on Sept. 20, and was recently third at N.J. Meet of Champions. Shigenobu was 10th at the NJ M of C and Mazzaccaro 12th.
 
Pennsylvania’s top hope appears to be Krystek, fourth in the state 3A championship.
 
Rhode Island boasts a strong contender in Feigen, who scored a stunning win when he knocked off the heavily favored Andrew Springer to win the New England Championship, 15:47.1 to 15:48.3.
 
Out of New Hampshire comes Malnati, fifth at the New England Championships, and Hernandez seventh at the New England meet.
 
If Danbury fails to make it as a team, Tucker Schaefer would certainly be a key figure in the the individual picture. Schaefer captured the Connecticut Open title.
 
North Penn’s Brad Miles would also be a strong individual contender if his team falls short of advancing.
 
Girls Individuals
 
With many of the top girls running on the projected team qualifiers, Newton South and Lincoln-Sudbury, the chase for the top five individual spots is really a toss up.
 
Two of the best runners are on a team that could find itself on the qualifying bubble in Glastonbury’s Kristen Malloy and Lindsay Crevoiserat. Malloy was fifth and Crevoiserat 26th at the New England Championships. At the Connecticut State Open, Malloy was fifth and Crevoiserat 7th.
 
A runner who should be in the lead pack throughout is junior Heidi Caldwell of Hanover NH, who took third in the New England Championships.
 
Kristen Veit of Holyoke Catholic MA was a very strong fourth in 18:55 in the Massachusetts state Division 2 championship. .
 
Another runner from a team that has its eye on qualifying is Lindsey Graybill of Emmaus PA, who was fourth in the Pa. state 3A championship race.
 
There’s a large contingent of New Jersey runners that could be near the front, led by Sara Pagano of  Imamaculate Heart Academy, Angela Rugino of Toms River North, Julie Jablonski and Clare Buck of Hopewell Valley and Briana Jackucewicz. The Syracuse-bound Pagano won the N.J. state Non-Public A title and was seventh at the M of
C. Jablonski was seventh at the M of C and Buck 22nd. Jackucewicz, headed to Harvard, was a Foot Locker finalist as a freshman three years ago.
 
Also keep an eye on senior Allie Siskind  of Barrington RI, 30th in the very deep New England Championships.
 
Notes:
  • Voorhees, New Jersey’s top girls team, has opted not to run at the Nike Northeast Regional. Instead, it’s giving star runner Lanie Thompson a shot at individual glory at Saturday’s Foot Locker Northeast Regional Championships at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. The Oregon-bound Thompson, undefeated this season, is one of the favorites to win the race.  Last year, Thompson bypassed the Foot Locker Northeast Regional to run with her team at the Northeast Regional, where Voorhees got second  and went on to place 13th at nationals.   Voorhees isn’t nearly as strong this season and would have been a long shot to return to Oregon.
  • Haddonfield, No. 4 in New Jersey and  7 in the Northeast, has scratched from the boys race. No. 1 runner Jon Vitez, the New Jersey state Group 2 champion, has been nursing an injury the past few weeks, so coach Nick Baker has decided to shut him down so he can recover.
 

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