| New Jersey
Top 10 1. Old Bridge
2. Haddonfield Memorial
3. Toms River North
4.
Mainland
5. Hunterdon Central
6. Cherokee
7. Don Bosco
8. Paul VI
9.
Red Bank
10.Holmdel
10.CBA Honorable Mention - Mt. Olive, Cranford,
Ocean City,
Scotch Plains, Morristown, West Milford, Milddletown
South Shawnee Team
of the weekend: Cherry Hill East. For the first
time since I can remember,
CHE has qualified for the
state Group meet by finishing 5th at the South Jersey
Group
IV sectioanl meet. Congrats. Before I begin with anything I would
like to say thank
you to those who responded to my last poll. Some of
your
insights were helpful. This week's poll is based
primarily on how each team
performed at their
sectional meet. Lots of moveement on the poll so lets get
started.... Old Bridge - my #1 team in the state. Lots of people
feel
I am wrong but I think this weekend gave some
insight as to why I have them
#1. They easily defeated Hunterdon
Central for the Group IV Central Crown.
More
impressive was how Old Bridge won. They finished 2,4,8,9,10 - ran a
team
avg. time of 16:47 at Holmdel and had an
incredible spread of 17 seconds between
their first and fifth runner. Old
Bridge is coming together at the right time.
Their tight,
fast pack is going to be hard to beat. They should
walk away
with the Group IV crown but will receive
more competition from Toms River North
than they saw from
Hunterdon Central. Haddonfield - still my #2
team. They easily won the
Group II South crown over an up and coming Ocean
City
team. Platt, Stiles and Bonetter were absolutly amazing -
Platt 15:37,
Stiles 15:38 and Bonnette 15:56 - making
for an incredible front 3. I have
not seen a front 3 run
that fast in a long time. Haddonfield's 4 and 5 however,
did
not run where they could and should have. If there 4
and 5 run in the
16:40's and 16:50's on a flat course,
they might have trouble against an Old
Bridge squad than
can avg. 16:40's at Holmdel. Nothing is etched in
stone.
They will easily win the Group II crown with Platt and
Stiles going 1,2.
I also think we will see a better
performance from Haddonfield's 4th and 5th
runners. Toms River North - wow! That is all I can say. I
have
had a good feeling about this team all year and
this weekend they put a good
one together. They won the Group IV
south crown, narrowly defeating a refocused
Cherokee
squad. Pete Hess has emerged as a potential MOC winner with
his
second place performance of 15:32. The rest of
their pack was just outstanding,
ranging from 16:14-16:41. This
is going to be a team that continues to shock
people
all the way to MOC. I think they will beat Hunterdon Central
for
second place at the State Group IV meet. Mainland - wow! They impressed
me as much as TRN did.
They won the Group III south crown in dominatin
fashion
finishing, 3,5,6,7,9. The times speak for themselves:
16:05, 16:27, 16:32,
16:35 and 16:43. They should
walk away from Holmdel as the Group III State
Champions. This
team just continues to improve. Hunterdon Central
- I was let down a bit by how they
ran. They finished 2nd to Old Bridge, which
was where
I figured they would finish, but they did not give Old
Bridge
a challenge. Fox ran well, defeating Dan
Harding in at time of 16:31 on Holmdel's
tough course. Their #2
and #3 also ran well both breaking 17. Their 4th and
5th
however, were too far back. They are going to have
rough time winning anything
with guys running in the
17:20's and 17:30's. HC better get heir act in gear
or they
could have long day at the state Group meet. Cherokee
- and people thought they were down and out.
Not the case. Pelerin - 15:24
- course record; enough
said. Krieger and Mueller both ran well finishing 15:53
and
16:04 respectively. But the story for Cherokee was
Ridenour who ran
16:54 and McLaughlin who ran 16:57. For the
first time all season Cherokee
had a respectable 4 and
5. Things are beginning to look better for coach Shaklee.
Mueller appears to be coming back. If he can keep
improving he can be right
next to Krieger at the Group meet.
More importantly Ridenour showed signs
of being back
in the game. If he can gain confidence from this race and keep
up
his momentum, Cherokee could be more of a factor at
the Group meet. If
everything goes right for Cherokee, I see
them finishing 3rd , ahead of Hunterdon
Central,
possibly TRN if they are really on fire. However, if Ridenour and
Mueller
do not show up like they did at Sectionals, HC
will easily take 3rd place and
the last Group IV team birth
to the MOC. If things go right for the chiefs,
I think people
may be surprised at the outcome of the Group meet. Paul
VI - won South Jersey Parochial divison. Went
1,2,4,5,10. Nice tight pack.
Should be able to take the PAR A
title from CBA. Red Bank - won
the Group III Central Crown led by
Dennis Robbie who won the race in 16:25.
5th man hurt
them as he did not break 18 minutes. Should finish second at the
state
Group III meet. Holmdel - won the Group II Central Crown. Segal won
the
race in a quick 16:26. Had a solid pack of guys
behind him who ran between
17:08 - 17:21. Still lacking a 5th
man. Will get second behind Haddonfield
at the State
Group II meet. Segal could give Plat, Stiles and Bonette their
first
real test of the season.
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