With just one senior in its seven-man pack, Bishop Eustace Prep rolled to a commanding 29-point win over Pingry Saturday in the state Parochial B cross country championships at Holmdel County Park.

Pingry packed its five scorers in 32 seconds, but Eustace placed four runners ahead of Pingry’s second runner and coasted from there.

Sophomore Connor Melko placed third overall in 16:54, junior Nick Hutchison ran sixth in 17:05 and senior Michael Dziubawas 10th in 17:34, giving Eustace three of the top 10 finishers overall.

Sophomore Andrew Massaro was just behind Dziuba, 11th in 17:39, and another sophomore, Brian Hutchison, closed out Eustace’s scoring, placing 20th in 17:57. Another sophomore, Grant Melko, was the top sixth man in the race, finishing 25th in 18:16. Soph Sean May (49th in 18:57) gave Eustace all seven in the top 50, placing 47th overall.

Eustace outscored Pingry 50-79 in winning its sixth state cross country title overall. Eustace also won state titles in 1980, 1982, 2002, 2010 and 2011.

The only non-public schools in history to win more state titles than Eustace are Christian Brothers Academy, which won its 27th on Saturday; Pingry and St. Benedict, with nine each; and Paul VI with seven. Essex Catholic, St. Rose and and Mater Dei have also won six.

Only Haddonfield, Haddon Township and Paul VI have won more state titles among South Jersey schools than Eustace.

15 Haddonfield
10 Haddon Twp.
7 Paul VI
6 Bishop Eustace
5 Cherokee
4 Overbrook
4 Saint Augustine
3 Mainland

This is Eustace’s first time back in Parochial B since 2011 after four years in Parochial A. The Crusaders have won Parochial B the last three times they’ve been assigned to the smaller group.

 

 

 

Junior George Denenberg and sophomore Colin Kane placed fifth and sixth and helped Delsea Regional win its first sectional cross country title in 19 years Saturday.

Denenberg ran 16:29 and Kane 16:31.

The Crusaders outscored second-place Ocean City 53-77 to win the South Jersey Group 3 XC title on their flat 5,000-meter home course in Franklinville.

How dominating was Delsea? They had five runners in the top 15 and nobody else had more than two runners in the top 15.

Delsea’s last sectional title was Group 3 in 1997, when the Crusaders beat Mainland by 19 points, led by Steve Preite in second place and Brian Thibault and Will Webekind also in the top 10. Their only other team title was Group 2 in 1982.

Juniors William Mayhew and Dylan Senatore and sophomore Daniel Antonelli gave Delsea five runners in the top-15. They placed 13th, 14th and 15th in 16:49, 16:52 and 16:58.

That’s a crazy 29-second gap between first and fifth. Nobody else in the race was under a minute betweeen first and fifth.

This is Delsea’s fifth straight finish in the top four in South Jersey Group 3.

Seniors Rachel Vick and Destiny Stanford led four Kingsway runners in the top 15, and the Dragons roared to a 21-point win over Shawnee for their second straight South Jersey Group 4 cross country title.

Kingsway finished with a 69-90 margin of victory over Shawnee, with Toms River North a close third with 97 points. Kingsway defeated Shawnee by 34 last year.

Cherry Hill East sophomore Sarah Pierce was first overall in 18:05, becoming East’s first individual winner in 33 years — since Lori Watson in 1983.

But Vick was second in 18:15 and after Toms River North freshman Jade Tricomy took third in 18:38, Stanford crossed the line in 18:39.

Junior Alexis Malarkey and sophomore Lauren Krott placed 14th and 15th for Kingsway in 19:29 and 19:30, and senior McKenzie Nugent closed it out for Kingsway, taking 34th in 20:11.

Kingsway is ranked No. 1 in South Jersey and No. 3 in New Jersey, and Shawnee is No. 2 in South Jersey and No. 7 in the state poll.

The win was Kingsway’s second in a row and second all-time. Seven schools have won all the South Jersey Group 4 girls titles in the last 27 years — Shawnee from 1990 through 2001, plus 2013 and 2014, Toms River East in 2002, Cherokee in 2003, Toms River North in 2004 plus 2007 through 2010, Cherry Hill East in 2005 and 2006, Lenape in 2011 and 2012 and Kingsway now in 2015 and 2016.

Shawnee was led by senior Kara Bonner and freshman Isabella Turner, sixth and seventh in 18:50 and 18:52. They were backed up by junior Claire Rankin (19th in 19:45), sophomore Lauren Tenet (26th in 20:00) and junior Laura Mavracic and sophomore Grace Kearns, who took 32nd and 33rd in 20:10 and 20:11.

 

 

Cherokee placed three runners under 16 minutes and eked out a six-point win and its first sectional cross country title since 2011 Saturday.
The Chiefs, ranked No. 6 in New Jersey, outscored Kingsway 60-66 in the closest South Jersey Group 4 finish since 2009, when Shawnee defeated Southern Regional by one point.

Jack Shea was first across the line in 15:37 over the flat 5,000-meter course at Delsea Regional High School in Franklinville. Nick Falk placed third in 15:48 and Justin Kelly was fourth in 15:51, giving the Chiefs three of the first four finishers.

Junior Brandon Marks was 12th for Cherokee in 16:26.

Joe Grandizio of Kingsway was second, and the Dragons placed their second, third, fourth and fifth runners all between Marks and Cherokee’s fifth runner, junior Joe Falk, who placed 40th in 17:02.

This is the first time in 13 years three runners from the same school broke 16 minutes at the South Jersey Group 4 sectionals.
In 2003, Greg Hughes, James Wyner and Spencer Popeson from the legendary Mainland Regional team all ran 15:46 or faster. That team went on to win the Meet of Champions.

This is the first time one school has had two runners under 16 in the South Jersey Group 4 race Connor Herr (15:26) and Peter Murray (15:59) of Shawnee went 1-3 in 2011.

The team title is Cherokee’s first since 2011, ends Cherry Hill East’s three-year hold on team honors, and gives coach Steve Shaklee his his seventh South Jersey Group 4 title overall since 1997 to go with three when he was at Shawnee.

Kingsway, ranked 12th in New Jersey, placed all seven of its runners in the top 30 and all ran 16:48 or faster … and all are underclassmen!

After Grandizio, junior Jonathan Connor was 13th (16:28), junior Brian Mangiaracina 15th (16:33), sophomore Kieran Burns 16th (16:34), junior Cade Hindley 20th (16:44), junior Cole Hindley 23rd (16:45) and sophomore Gavin Wagner 29th (16:48).

This is the first time Cherokee has had both the individual winner and a team title since 2007, when Alex Yersak won his third straight race and Cherokee won 52-90 in the team race over Cherry Hill West.

This is also Cherokee’s 20th consecutive year finishing in the top six in the South Jersey Group 4 race and 16th time in that 20-year span in the top three. That 20 years includes seven 1sts, six 2nds, three 3rds, three 4ths and a 6th.

Overall, this was Cherokee’s eighth South Jersey Group 4 title, which ties the Chiefs for second-most in South Jersey boys history behind Cinnaminson, which goes into today’s Group 2 race with 11 titles (including one in Central Jersey).

Cherokee’s 16:09 average is the sixth-fastest since the meet moved to Delsea
For a complete sectional history of team and individual winners in every group and in every section, click here.