Senior Lauren Krott, sophomore Ashlynne Burke and junior Emily Pierontoni all finished in the top 10 to lead the Kingsway girls to their ninth sectional XC title and fourth in a row.
Krott placed fourth in 19:25, Burke sixth in 19:28 and Pierontoni ninth in 19:39 and Kingsway rolled to a 56-96 win over Shawnee in the girls Group 4 race at Delsea.
Junior Allie Pierontoni and freshman Allison MacFarland also scored for Kingsway, placing 15th and 22nd in 19:59 and 20:15. That’s a 50-second gap for the Dragons, with sixth and seventh runners Kennedy Waterson and Caroline Heino, both juniors, not far back in 20:23 and 20:32 in 26th and 30th.
Kingsway won five S.J. Group 2 titles from 1987 through 1992, then went 24 years without a sectional title before starting its current streak in 2015.
Shawnee senior Isabella Turner, in her first race in more than a month, won the individual title in 18:39 and became the first Shawnee girl since Liz Moore from 1992 through 1994 to win back-to-back sectional XC titles.
Turner missed several weeks of training with a stress fracture. This was her first race since she won the South Jersey Open on Sept. 29.
Others in the top 10 included Cherokee junior Kate Rathman (2nd in 18:58), Cherry Hill East senior Sarah Pierce (3rd in 19:23), Cherokee freshman Nicole Clifford (5th in 19:28), Egg Harbor junior Olivia Shafer (7th in 19:29), Clearview sophomore Katherine Byrne (8th in 19:31) and Toms River North sophomore Meagan Mahon (10th in 19:41).
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 