Moorestown graduate Natalie Cooper was the overall winner and led The College of New Jersey to its 31st team title Saturday at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships.
Cooper, a junior, ran 21:44 over the 6,000-meter course at Stockton University in Galloway Township to win the race for a second consecutive year.
Cooper finished 70 meters ahead of second-place Alicia Belko of Stockton, a Rancocas Valley graduate. Belko ran 21:59. TCNJ junior Erin Holzbauer (Robbinsville) placed third, and TCNJ’s Madeleine Tattory, a junior from Delran, placed fourth in 22:57.
Cooper, Belko and Tattory gave the Burlington County Scholastic League three of the top four finishers.
TCNJ outscored Stockton 20-47 to win its fourth title in the last five years.
Also scoring for TCNJ were Gabriella DeVito of Monmouth Regional [5th in 23:01] and Abigail Faith of Freehold Township [7th in 23:21].
Others in the top 10 were Jennifer Polo of Ramapo of Cliffside Park [6th in 23:02], Stockton’s Christina Welsh from Hamilton West [8th in 23:42], Ramapo’s Alex Kyros of Ridge [9th in 23:44] and Caitlin Glynn of Stockton and Union Catholic [10th in 23:54].
The College of New Jersey has won 31 of the 37 women’s NJAC titles contested. As Trenton State, the Lions won every meet from 1981 through 1991, and after Glassboro State won three straight titles, the last two as Rowan, Trenton State won in 1995 and then won 15 more consecutive titles as The College of New Jersey. Rowan won in 2011 and 2012 and Stockton won in 2016.
Cooper is the first repeat winner since Jena Peacock of Rowan and Our Lady of Mercy, who won in 2009 and 2010. TCNJ’s last repeat winner was Beth Vesey, a Ramsey High graduate who won three straight from 2001 through 2003.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 