The Cherokee boys finish second overall in Milesplit’s merge of the 168 full teams that competed in the seven varsity races at Shore Coaches on Saturday.

Cherokee finished third in Group A, 20 points behind West Windsor-Plainsboro North at Holmdel County Park. The Chiefs tied with Mendham for second but placed third when Mendham’s sixth runner finished six seconds ahead of Cherokee’s

And it was WW-P-N that won the New Jersey MileSplit merge, 128-184, over the Chiefs. Only Ridge (208), Mendham (225), Westfield (342) and North Hunterdon (357) were also under 400.

Cherokee averaged 16:35.8 for its five scorers, third-fastest overall behind WW-P-N (16:23.4), which had Luke Johnson run 15:32, and Mendham, which got a 15:50 from Jack Jennings.

Senior Ethan Wechsler led Cherokee at 16:00 for sixth overall in the merge, with Chase Miller 25th in 16:33, Tyler Jackson 34th at 16:40, Nico Grilli 43rd in 16:44 and Michael Gavio 76th in 17:02. Daniel Boria (17:16) and Robert Hackney (17:29) gave Cherokee all seven under 17:30.

Other South Jersey schools in the top-25 in the MileSplit merge were Cherry Hill East (8th at 424), Ocean City (10th in 526), Kingsway (17th at 726), Haddon Township (19th at 770) and Delsea (22nd at 812).

 

Buena graduate Kristin Siegle turned in a tremendous breakthrough race at Paul Short Saturday, placing 10th in the “Women’s Brown” race.

Siegle, a senior at Rider, ran 21:22.4 for on the 6,000-meter course through the cornfields of Lehigh’s Lower Campus in Bethlehem, finishing just five seconds out of fourth place in a field of 368 runners.

Siegle’s previous PR at 6,000 meters according to the college track and XC data base TFRRS, was 23:19.7 in a meet at Princeton last October. In her only previous race at Paul Short, she ran 24:33.7 in 2016 and placed 301st.

So she improved 291 places and more than three minutes!

THIS is why we love cross country! If you keep working, good things will happen!

Siegle has now PR’d in all three of her XC races this fall.

She ran 18:41.1 at Sienna in her season opener, breaking her 5,000 all-course record of 18:59.30 from last year, also at Siena. Then she lowered that to 18:36.1 two weeks ago in a meet at Monmouth.

“Siegle has been outstanding for us and she continued that today,” said Rider coach Bob Hamer, the 1989 Pennsylvania state XC champion at Council Rock in Newtown and a Big 10 Conference 5,000-meter champ for Penn State. “She is on a completely different level right now and we are very excited about the remainder of the season.”

Pleasantville graduate Nia Ali easily won her heat in the 100-meter high hurdles Saturday at the IAAF World Championships.

Ali ran 12.59 at Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Qatar, to automatically advance to the semifinals on Sunday afternoon. The first four in each of five heats and the new four-fastest advanced. Second place in Ali’s heat was Jamaican Megan Tapper, well back in 12.78.

Even unpressed, Ali posted the fourth-fastest time in Saturday’s heats, behind Gobi Amusan of Nigeria (PR 12.48), Jamaican Danielle Williams (12.51) and American Kendra Harrison (12.55).

Ali will race in lane 7 Sunday in the first of three semifinal races. The first two in each heat and the next two will race in an eight-lane final at 1:50 p.m. EST Sunday, the final individual event of the 10-day meet.

Ali ran within 4-100ths of a second of her season best of 12.55, which she ran into a 1.2-meters-per-second wind when she placed second at the U.S. Championships at Drake University in Des Moines in July.

Her PR is 12.48 from USATF Nationals in Des Moines in 2013.

Ali won the silver medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with a time of 12.59

 

Schalick graduate Samuel Gerstenbacher, a senior at Elizabethtown, ran an 8,000-meter PR Saturday and placed sixth in the “Brown Division” race at the Paul Short Invitational.

Gerstenbacher covered the two-time NCAA Championship course in Bethlehem, Pa., in 24:54.1 and finished behind only five Division 1 runners in the field of 323 runners.

Gerstenbacher’s previous personal-best on any 8,000-meter course was a 25:20.4 at the NCAA Division 3 Championships at Lake Breeze Golf Club in Winneconne, Wis., last November.

The next Division 3 finisher was Bryce Descavish, a senior at Dickinson.

Haddon Township packed its five scorers in the top 25 and coasted to the Varsity E team title at Shore Coaches Saturday.

It was Township’s fourth Shore Coaches team title.

Delbarton went 1-5, but Township got five across the line before Delbarton’s third runner and won 66-105 over the Morris County school.

Township averaged 17:22 for its five scorers.

Senior Jake Aylmer ran 16:45 over the hilly 5,000-meter Holmdel County Park layout for third, sophomore Luke Overbeck took 11th in 17:10, sophomore Ethan Bergmann was 17th in 17:37 and senior Ian McCauley and junior Matt Conway finished two seconds apart in 21st and 23rd in 17:40 and 17:42.

Haddon Township also won Group C in 1972 behind individual winner Mark Yellin, Group E in 1994 and Group F in 2014 with individual winner Luke Petela.

Mainland Regional senior Kevin Antczak won the Varsity A race at Shore Coaches Saturday afternoon in historic fashion.

With a late kick on the final straightaway, Antczak reeled in West Windsor-Plainsboro North senior Nick Johnson and crossed the line in 15:32.

That’s the fastest time by a South Jersey runner in 31 years at Holmdel and second-fastest ever, behind the legendary 15:16 that Jason DiJoseph of Paul VI ran to win the 1988 Meet of Champions.

It’s also No. 17 in course history.

The previous fastest time on Holmdel County Park’s legendary 5,000-meter course by an Atlantic County runner was Louis Corgliano’s 15:35 when he was third behind CBA’s Mike McClemens and Freehold Township’s Dylan Tarpey at the 2013 Meet of Champions.

The previous Mainland course record was Greg Hughes’ 15:39 when he was second to Mohamad Khadraoui of JFK Paterson at the 2003 Meet of Champions.

Antczak’s previous PR at Holmdel was a 16:01 when he was eighth at last year’s Meet of Champions. He ran 16:04 at last year’s Shore Coaches.

Antczak is Mainland’s first winner at Shore Coaches since Hughes won Group B in 2002 and 2003. Kurt Wayton (Group C in 1993) and Scott Keyser (Group C in 1995) also won individual titles for Mainland.

Luke Jackson of West Windsor-Windsor Plainsboro North was also credited with a time of 15:32 when he finished just behind Antczak. And Liam Murphy of Allentown won the Group C race in 15:32.  So the three-fastest times in Shore Coaches history came on the same day!

The previous fastest time at Shore Coaches in Holmdel was a 15:33 in 2010 by Jeremy Elkaim of Livingston.

The meet moved from Brookdale Community College in nearby Lincroft to Holmdel County Park in 1979.

Cherry Hill East senior Oliver Adler and Cherokee senior Ethan Wechsler both also finished in the top 10, Adler in fourth in 15:58 and Wechsler in fifth in 16:00.

Adler’s time is second-fastest ever by a Cherry Hill East runner behind only Aaron Groff, whose Holmdel PR was a 15:37 at Group 4 states in 2015, when he was second behind 2016 Meet of Champions 3,200 winner Matt Grossman of Millburn. Wechsler has a 15:56 to his credit from last year’s Meet of Champs.

The Haddonfield girls won their first Shore Coaches team title in 11 years Saturday, easily outscoring second-place Voorhees in the Varsity D race.

All five Haddonfield scorers finished in the top-15, and the Lady Bulldogs outscored Voorhees 38-88.

Haddonfield and Voorhees went into the race sharing the No. 8 spot in the New Jersey MileSplit top-10 rankings.

It was Haddonfield’s seventh team title all-time at Shore Coaches.

Juniors Sarah Naticchia and Payton Weiner placed third and fourth in 19:14 and 19:40, senior Lilly Sirover was ninth in 20:10, junior Linsday Colflesh ran 20:33 for 12th and senior Evie Andrews took 15th in 20:53.

Junior Allison Colflesh and sophomore Jess Goode made it seven finishers in the top 21 for Haddonfield.

The Haddonfield girls averaged 20:06 over the hilly Holmdel County Park course. Naticchia was racing Holmdel for the first time.

Andrews, Haddonfield’s fifth runner, finished ahead of the second runner from 19 of 20 other teams – all but Summit, whose second runner was 12th overall.

Haddonfield won four straight Group E team titles from 2005 through 2008. They also won Group B in 1982 (shared with Ocean City) and Group E in 1993.

Nattachia’s 19:14 is seventh-fastest ever by a Haddonfield girl and Wiener’s 19:40 is eighth-fastest, behind Briana Gess (17:45), Marielle Hall (18:17), Vanessa Wright (18:22), Erin Donohue (18:28), Shelby Cain (18:41) and Meghan Malloy (18:50).

Cinnaminson senior Austin Gabay broke 16 minutes at Holmdel for the first time on Saturday morning and won his second consecutive individual title at the Shore Coaches Invitational.

Gabay tore up the hilly Holmdel County Park course in 15:58, finishing 225 meters ahead of second place in the Varsity E race.

Gabay is the third Cinnaminson runner to break 16 minutes at Holmdel, joining Jon Anderson, who ran 15:51 in 2003, and Michael Ungvarsky, who ran 15:57 in 2016.

He’s the 33rd South Jersey runner to break 16 minutes.

Gabay, who ran 1:54.73, 4:16.02 and 9:15.13 on the track last year, had a previous Holmdel PR of 16:01 when he won Shore Coaches last year.

He’s the first to win the Varsity E race in back-to-back years since Patrick Rono of Lyndhurst in 2009 and 2010 and the first South Jersey runner to win at Shore Coaches in consecutive years since Ungvarsky won Group D in 2015 and Group E in 2016.

Previous Cinnaminson winners at Shore Coaches are Bill Mason in 1998, Anderson in 2002, Ungvarsky twice and Becky Leon in the girls Group C race in 1991.

Gabay finished 43 seconds ahead of second-place Jesse Campoverde of Lakeland Regional.

Also in the top 10 were Camden Catholic senior Matthew Denton, 5th in 17:14, and Haddonfield sophomore Tobias Janssen, 10th in 17:34.

Brady Shute ran a 51-second Holmdel PR and Jake Aylmer ran a 34-second PR and both finished in the top three Saturday morning in the Varsity F race at Shore Coaches.

Shute, a junior from Gateway-Woodbury co-op, took second in 16:30, and Aylmer, a senior from Haddon Township, placed third in 16:45.

Shute’s previous Holmdel PR was 17:21 last year at Shore Coaches. Aylmer’s previous Holmdel PR was 17:19 at last year’s state Group 1 meet.

Stephen Daly of Delbarton won the race in 16:23.

Other South Jersey runners in the top 10 were senior Dan Wyshinski of Pennsville, sixth in 16:59, and junior Ritwik Tati of Haddon Heights, who placed 10th in 17:09. The time was a four-second Holmdel County Park PR for Wyshinski and more than a two-minute Holmdel PR for Tati, a 4:34 miler last spring.

Brady Shute ran a 51-second Holmdel PR and Jake Aylmer ran a 34-second PR and both finished in the top three Saturday morning in the Varsity F race at Shore Coaches.

Shute, a junior from Gateway-Woodbury co-op, took second in 16:30, and Aylmer, a senior from Haddon Township, placed third in 16:45.

Shute’s previous Holmdel PR was 17:21 last year at Shore Coaches. Aylmer’s previous Holmdel PR was 17:19 at last year’s state Group 1 meet.

Stephen Daly of Delbarton won the race in 16:23.

Other South Jersey runners in the top 10 were senior Dan Wyshinski of Pennsville, sixth in 16:59, and junior Ritwik Tati of Haddon Heights, who placed 10th in 17:09. The time was a four-second Holmdel County Park PR for Wyshinski and more than a two-minute Holmdel PR for Tati, a 4:34 miler last spring.