Katie Cottingham made history Wednesday, becoming the first Medford Tech girl ever to win a BCSL cross country title.

Cottingham, a freshman at Medford Tech, ran 21:49 — a PR for any 5,000-meter course — to run away with the Freedom Division race at the Burlington County Scholastic League championships at New Egypt High School.

Cottingham won by about 400 meters over Holy Cross junior Annemarie Donachie, second in 23:37.

The best previous finish by a Medford Tech runner at the BCSL meet came just last year, when Maria Jimenez placed third.

Cottingham’s previous 5,000 PR was 23:39 in a batch meet with Pennsauken, Burlington Township, Holy Cross and Riverside at Palmyra Cove Nature Park.

She ran exactly two minutes faster Wednesday than she ran five days earlier at the Burlington County Open at Mill Creek, which is a more challenging course but certainly doesn’t run two minutes faster than New Egypt.

Three other Medford Tech runner finished in the top 11. Junior Kiara Rivera ran eighth, sophomore Neradia Crespo was ninth and junior Briana Rivera placed 11th.

The Medford Tech boys program has had several conference XC champions: Jim Schneider in 1999, Edwin Winrow in 2000, Chase Compton in 2001, Norman Washington in 2013 and 2014 and T.J. Worthen in 2015.

Individual winner Ethan Wechsler led three Cherokee runners among the first four finishers to lead Cherokee to its fourth straight Olympic Conference XC title and 11th overall.

Wechsler, a junior, covered the 5,000-meter course at Dream Park in Logan Township in 15:41 Wednesday, finishing 50 meters ahead of Bishop Eustace senior Connor Melko for the  title.

This is the third straight year and eighth time in the last 18 years a Cherokee runner has won the individual title.

Cherokee, ranked No. 2 behind Haddonfield in South Jersey and No. 4 in the state, outscored second-place Camden Catholic 28-90.

Juniors Chris Spisak and Chase Miller finished third and fourth for Cherokee in 16:01 and 16:17, sophomore Brett Shea ran 16:29 for seventh, and junior Michael Gavio made it five runners in the top 13 with a 16:43.

Junior Tyler Jackson backed up Cherokee’s five scorers with an 18th-place finish in 16:48, and sophomore Nico Grilli nearly made it all seven runners under 17 minutes when he placed 26th in 17:02.

Scoring Cherokee against the entire field, Cherokee goes 1-3-4-7-13 and the field goes 2-5-6-8-9 for a 28-30 Cherokee win.

Cherokee averaged 16:14, which is fast no matter how flat the course is.

Also in the top 10 were Washington Township senior Austin Milou [5th in 16:23], Camden Catholic senior Richard Castaneda [6th in 16:26], Cherry Hill East junior Oliver Adler [8th in 16:33], Washington Township senior Evan Chu [9th in 16:34] and Camden Catholic senior Matt Coffey [10th in 16:36].

Cherokee, which joined the Olympic Conference in the fall of 2000, previously won Olympic Conference titles in 2000, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Here’s a look at Cherokee’s individual winners:

2005 … Greg Bredeck, 16:05 [Gloucester County College]
2006 … Alex Yersak, 15:58  [Gloucester County College]
2007 … Alex Yersak, 16:38  [Gloucester County College]
2011 … Shawn Wilson, 15:41 [Gloucester County College]
2012 … Shawn Wilson, 15:25 [Gloucester County College]
2016 … Jack Shea, 15:44  [Gloucester County College]
2017 … Justin Kelly,15:37 [Gloucester County College]
2018 … Ethan Wechsler, 15:41 [Dream Park]

Cherokee junior Katie Rathman ran the third-fastest time in Mill Creek Park history when she won the Burlington County Open on Friday.

Only Megan Lacy, a Foot Locker finalist for Cherokee, has ever run faster on the 5,000-meter layout in Willingboro with the two short but steep hills.

Since the course was extended from three miles to 5,000 meters in 1983, Rathman is only the fourth girl to break 19 minutes at Mill Creek.

When Deanna Germano ran 18:54 in 1985, the course was substantially different – the point where the runners turn left to head out of the woods after the trail parallel to the Rancocas Creek changed significantly. But we’ll include it here because the course is actually faster now than it was then.

In any case, Rathman won the race in 18:54, one second faster than Isabella Turner’s winning time for Shawnee last year. That would have been a heck of a race but sadly Turner is hurt right now and didn’t race.

The County Open was held at Mill Creek through 1993. It moved to Cherokee for five years, then back to Mill Creek in 1999, then to Freedom Park in Medford in 2000 and has been back at Mill Creek since 2001.

Let’s take a look at the top 10 performers and performances in Mill Creek history:

17:53 … Megan Lacy [Cherokee], 2010
18:53 …….. Lacy, 2011
18:54 … Katie Rathman [Cherokee], 2018
18:54 … Deanna Germano [Shawnee], 1985
18:55 … Isabella Turner [Shawnee], 2017
19:56 … Caitlin Orr [Lenape], 2009
18:58 … Natalie Ocasio [Lenape], 2012
19:02 ……. Rathman, 2017
19:04 ……. Lacy, 2009
19:05 ……. Orr, 2008
19:07 … Mara Schiffhauer [Seneca], 2013
19:09 … Lisa Syvertson [Shawnee], 1986
19:14 … Paige McCauley [Seneca], 2012
19:16 … Kara Bonner [Shawnee], 2013

Rathman became Cherokee’s first individual winner since Lacy won her second straight in 2011. Lacy set the course record of 17:53 in 2010. She was second to Lenape’s Caitlin Orr in 2009.

Other Cherokee winners are: Monica Olkowski [20:52 in 1988, 2015 in 1989], Madeline Hoos [19:31 in 1997], Megan O’Leary [20:05 in 2004], Lisa Burkholder [19:18 in 2005], Alison Weeks [19:26 in 2006], Angela Weeks [20:10 in 2007]

Cherokee raced very well at the Open, placing a close second to Shawnee, which finished with a 49-62 margin of victory.

Freshman Nicole Clifford ran 19:39 for fourth place, freshman Sophia DeLuca was 10th in 20:43 and junior Alyssa Blackmon took 15th in 21:05.

The Chiefs had three other underclassmen in the top 40, and if they can get one of them closer to those first four they will be very tough.

The Haddonfield boys took on some of the best cross country teams in the country and emerged with an impressive seventh-place finish in the Eastern States Championships race at the Manhattan Invitational Saturday.

Haddonfield averaged 13:04 on the historic 2.5-mile course at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. That was the seventh-fastest of more than 300 teams that competed in various races throughout the day at Vinny.

Junior Martin Riddell paced the Bulldogs with an 11th-place finish in 12:44, senior Greg Eisenhower was 21st in 12:49, senior Ethan Spellmeyer was 51st in 13:11, senior Derek Gess 60th in 13:18 and senior Sean Campiglia 65th in 13:21.

Haddonfield is ranked No. 2 in New Jersey behind Christian Brothers Academy of Lincroft, which placed fourth in the same race. CBA, ranked No. 6 nationally, averaged 12:58 and scored 190 points. Haddonfield scored 208 so wasn’t far behind.

Nationally 12th-ranked Bishop Hendricken of Warwick, R.I., won the team title 92-113 over nationally No. 2-ranked Fayetteville-Manlius, with No. 16 Claremont (Calif.) third with 117.

Imagine having seven of the first 13 finishers in a cross country invitational and … finishing second?

That’s exactly what happened to Cherry Hill East, which put together a monumental effort at the Camden County Championships, going 2-4-7-8-10-11-13 with its seven runners but still finished second to Haddonfield by a 25-30 score.

So East accounted for more than half of the first 13 runners across the line and still had to settle for a close second to Haddonfield.

Either way, this was too very good, very deep teams going head to head with championship season approaching.

Haddonfield overcame Cherry Hill East’s remarkable effort by going 2-3-5-6-9 and winning the team title 25-30 at Timber Creek Park in Lindenwold and Gloucester Township.

Sophie Steidle of Collingswood was the individual winner with a 19:57, and Nia Holden of Highland finished eighth overall, but neither was running with a full team so they don’t count in team scoring.

As for runners involved in team scoring, Cherry Hill East and Haddonfield accounted for the first 11 finishers.

Haddonfield and Cherry Hill East are ranked fourth and third in South Jersey.

Counting only team scorers, East went 1-4-7-8-10 to Haddonfield’s 2-3-5-6-9. Two very good teams at the top of their game.

For Haddonfield, sophomore Allison Colflesh and junior Lilly Sirover both ran 20:33, placing third and fourth overall, sophomores Lindsay Colflesh and Payton Weiner ran 21:05 and 21:20 for sixth and seventh, and sophomore Georgia Nussey clinched the win by taking 11th in 22:02.

For East, junior Sarah Pierce was ran 20:25 and took second overall (first among team scorers), and sophomore MaryKathleen McCurdy was fifth in 20:51. Cherry Hill East then had four of five finisher between 21:45 and 22:12, with senior Dani Lazarus ninth, junior Aliza Kotzen 10th, sophomore Tabitha DiDonato 12th and sophomore Isabel Slimm 13th.

Haddonfield’s five-point win was the closest in the Camden County championships since 2010, when Bishop Eustace won a sixth-race tiebreaker with Eastern after they both had 48 points with five runners scored.

Austin Gabay and Ethan Wechsler locked up Friday in a titanic battle at the Burlington County Open the resulted in the fastest 1-2 finish at Mill Creek Park since the course was extended from three miles to 5,000 meters in 1984.

Gabay, a Cinnaminson junior, edged Wechsler, a Cherokee junior, with both going under 16 minutes.

Gabay won in 15:56.02 and Wechsler ran the fastest non-winning time in course history when he took second in 15:57.46, about eight meters back.

Their times are No. 4 and No. 5 in course history. Wechsler’s time breaks the record for second place set in 2002 by Jon Anderson, who ran 16:01 behind Keith Krieger’s course record.

Here’s a look at every time under 16:10 in course history. All the times are from the County Open except Urie Ridgeway’s 16:06, which comes from the 1988 Group 3 sectionals, the only time sectionals were run at Mill Creek. Incredible that 10 of the 11-fastest times in course history belong to Cinnaminson and Cherokee runners.

15:43 … Keith Krieger [Cherokee], 2002
15:56 … Justin Kelly [Cherokee], 2017
15:56 … Shawn Wilson [Cherokee], 2012
15:56 … Austin Gabay [Cinnaminson], 2018
15:57 … Ethan Wechsler [Cherokee], 2018
15:59 … Mike Ungvarsky [Cinnaminson], 2016
16:01 … Jon Anderson [Cinnaminson], 2002
16:04 … Dave Forward [Shawnee], 2008
16:05 … Bill Mason [Cinnaminson], 1998
16:06 … Chris Spisak [Cherokee], 2017
16:06 … Steve Grabowski [Cinnaminson], 2005
16:06 … Urie Ridgeway [Bridgeton], 1988
16:07 … Eric Lorenz [Holy Cross], 1986
16:08 … Eric Lorenz [Holy Cross], 1987

Gabay is the fifth Cinnaminson runner to win the County Open XC title, joining Bill Mason (1998), Anderson (2003), Steve Grabowski (2004) and Mike Ungvarsky (2016).

Cherokee scored 27 points and won its fifth straight team title, 27-51, over Lenape.

The Chiefs have won 20 Burlington County Open titles, including 18 of the last 24.

Cherokee raced without Chris Spisak, last year’s runner-up. But even without Spisak, Cherokee went 2-3-5-6-11. The Chiefs would have beaten the field [1-4-7-8-9] by a 27-29 figure.

Junior Chase Miller was third in 16:32, sophomores Brett Shea and Nico Grilli ran fifth and sixth in 16:48 and 16:51 and junior Michael Gave took 11th in 17:08. Sophomore Dylan Odud was Cherokee’s sixth man in 14th in 17:24.

Lenape placed senior James Vizzard [4th in 16:46], junior Matt Richardson [8th in 16:57], senior Zaven Kazandjian [9th in 16:57] and senior Nick Morris [10th in 17:02] in the top 10 in its second straight second-place finish.

Lenape’s 51 points are the lowest second-place total in 16 years, since Cherokee edged Cinnaminson 39-41 in the 2002 meet.

Shawnee’s third-place finish was its best since it was third in 2009. Senior Tim Warren led the Renegades with a seventh-place finish in 16:54.

How much has Richie Castañeda improved?

A year ago, he ran 17:48 at the Camden County Championships and placed seventh. On Friday, on the same 5,000-meter course at Timber Creek Park in Lindenwold and Glocuester Township, he ran 16:51, ran away with the individual title and led Camden Catholic to the team title at the Camden County championships.

Castañeda and Matt Coffey, two seniors, finished 1-2 to lead the Irish to a 33-60 win over Paul VI.

Coffey took second in 17:09, a 32-second improvement of his own over his race at Timber Creek Park last fall.

Senior Ray Derman and junior Matt Denton gave Camden Catholic four finishers in the top 10. Derman ran 17:28 for sixth and Denton 17:38 for ninth. Senior Denny Kelly clinched the team title with a solid 15th-place finish in 18:03.

The team title is Camden Catholic’s second in a row.

How well did Camden Catholic race? Scoring against the field, they would have lost only by six points. That’s with Camden Catholic going 1-2-6-9-15 for 33 points and the field going 3-4-5-7-8 for 27 points.

Camden Catholic’s 33-point total is the lowest at the Camden County meet in five years, since Cherry Hill East won the 2013 meet with 27 points.

Losing one of the best runners in the state hasn’t slowed down the Shawnee girls.

The Renegades won their sixth straight Burlington County Open XC title Friday and 24th overall, edging a rapidly improving Cherokee team 49-62 over 5,000 meters at Mill Creek Park.

With defending sectional champ Isabella Turner sidelined, Shawnee showed its depth, placing three runners in the top 10 and six runners in the top 20.

Turner, who won the Open in 2016 and 2017, hasn’t raced since an 18:03 at Delsea, fastest time of the day at the South Jersey Open on Sept. 29.

But junior Claire Hauser led the way Friday with a 19:30 for second place behind Cherokee junior Kate Rathman, and senior Grace Kearns [8th in 20:23], freshman Sarah Kochanski [9th in 20:32], freshman Madison Koveloski [12th in 20:50] and junior Maddy Yeager [18th in 21:15] gave Shawnee a top-5 average of 20:30.

Cherokee actually led after four runners, so Yeager was the difference for Shawnee, and she was backed up four seconds later by Shawnee’s sixth runner, senior Lauren Tenet, who was 19th in 21:19.

The last time Shawnee didn’t win the Open was 2012, when Seneca went 2-3-5-8-10 for the team title with just 28 points.

Shawnee won five straight Open titles from 1982 through 1986, 11 straight from 1988 through 1998 and two more in  2002 and 2003 before starting its latest streak in 2013.

In all, Shawnee has won 24 of the last 37 girls team titles.

Elizabethtown junior Samuel Gerstenbacher, a Schalick graduate, outraced Bryce Descavish of Dickinson to win the Dickinson Short Course Invitational Saturday over 4,000 meters in Newville, Pa.

Gerstenbacher and Descavish both covered the 4,000-meter course in 12:10, with Gerstenbacher getting the win after their times were compared down to the 1,000th of a second — Gerstenbacher was credited with a 12:10.530 and Descavish a 12:10.532 after the timers examined the photo.

Literally a hair’s difference.

Gerstenbacher, the Landmark Conference champion last fall, led Elizabethtown to a second-place finish in the Dickinson Short Course Invite by a 14-18 score, with only the first three runners for each team scoring.

At Schalick, Gerstenbacher ran 4:20.31 for 1,600 meters and was a Group 1 sectional runner-up and state medalist as a senior and won numerous Salem County and Sri-County titles in both track and XC.

Sophomore Ashlynne Burke led five Kingsway runners in the top 25 and the Lady Dragons easily won the Varsity B race at Shore Coaches Saturday, outscoring second-place Mendham 49-75.

It was the fourth Shore Coaches team title in school history and the second in a row.

Kingsway is ranked No. 1 in South Jersey and No. 2 in the state.

Burke ran 19:27 to place fifth, and sophomore Sydney Watts [9th in 20:00], senior Lauren Krott [10th in 20:05 and junior Emily Pierontoni [12th in 20:12] gave Kingsway four of the first 12 runners. Kingsway averaged 20:08, 25 seconds per person faster than Mendham.

Pierontoni was Kingsway’s fourth runner Saturday, but she finished ahead of the second runners from every other school in the race.

Freshman Allison MacFarland completed Kingsway’s scoring, taking 24th in 20:58.

Juniors Kennedy Watterson and Allie Pierontoni both broke 22 minutes for Kingsway, Waterson taking 43rd in 21:40 and Pierontoni 52nd in 21:57.

Kingsway outscored Ridge 77-81 last year to win its first Shore Coaches team title in 27 years.

The Dragons won their first two Shore Coaches team championships in 1988 and 1990, when Lori Townsend won the individual title in Varsity D leading Kingsway to the team title both years.