New Jersey Weekly Roundup |
With only one notable exception, New Jersey cross-country teams will gather at the state championship course at Holmdel County Park this Saturday for the annual preview of the group and all-group meets which will be held there on, respectively, Nov. 12 and 19.
The exception is Colts Neck, which will be in action at the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University with its two individual stars, Craig Forys and Briana Jackucewicz, who won handily last weekend at their own Cougar Invitational. There are 198 boys' teams and 187 girls' squads entered in six varsity races apiece at Holmdel and this includes all the major challengers for all-group honors in November. Heading the boys' list is Christian Brothers Academy, which will be running it's a team for the first time this fall in the A race. Topping the girls are Jackson in the A race and AG defender Roxbury and Morris Knolls in the B in their second of at least seven duels this season. Individually, the boys will be led by defending Gr. IV champ Brian Dennis of Hillsboro and Parochial A defender Chris Horel of CBA in the A race, while the girls are topped by AG defender Brittany Sedberry of Ocean City in the B race, Gr. II defender Vanessa Wright of Haddonfield in the D race and this fall's leader Amanda Marino---who finished 8th at the Great American race last weekend and has two wins under her belt this fall---in the A event. While CBA has not used its top six in two previous starts this fall, the performance of its B team at last weekend's Stewart This meet, the oldest invitational in the state, saw Jeff Perrella of Westfield win the A race by 70 yards from Dale Taylor of North Forys coasted to a 70-yard win over Brick Memorial soph The weekend action started on Friday night with the nocturnal Randolph Invitational. The state's No. 2 boys' team, Morris Hills, Pope John, a favorite in the E race at Holmdel, had a 1-2 finish from Anthony LaMastro and Justin Scheid as it won easily at the Also part of this race will be St. Benedict's soph Brandon Jarrett who led his team to its third win of the season in the Gr. III race The other team winners there were Clifton in Gr. IV. Hopatcong in II and Keansburg in I. Mike Crum led Hopatcong in 1 16:43 win, atoning for last year when he was late to the starting line and joined the race en route, winning but later being disqualified. The New Jersey presence in the boys' race at Great American was very light with Ryan VanAlstine of Midland Park turning in the fastest time in third place in the Red consolation race in 16:12. Matt Cowhey of Ocean City ran 14th in the seeded invitational in 16:22 with Todd Weston of Toms River North 23rd in 16:36. Roxbury and Morris Knolls had their first meeting of the season at the Passaic CC meet. To give an idea of how close this rivalry New Yorkers swept individual honors at the Randolph meet, Virginia Connor lead a 1-2-3-4 Bronxville finish in the B race in 18:42 and Mary Alice Howard making it a sweep for Somers in the A event in 18:55. Ridge, which has the unenviable task of facing Roxbury and Morris Knolls on Saturday, scored an easy win over visiting Cherokee in that one. Jackson finished a distant third to Saratoga in the championship race at Great American with Jen Clausen---still subpar after a The Pope John girls went 1-2-3 in the Xavier meet, Lara Heigis winning in 15:05. They ran without Lauren Bariexca, who will also be missing in the E race on Saturday, and Jenny Heigis, who won the frosh event in 10:00, but who will join her sister this weekend. In another New York meet, Ramsey placed second at the Red Raider Invitational with Stacey Bond and Jean Bain going 1-2 in 20:43 and 20:59. At the South Jersey shootout, Lindsay Bertulis of Millville won the seeded race by 50 yards from Ali Hehn of Toms River North, which won a close team race from Moorestown. Northeast Region Index page |
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