Junior Zachary Williams became Audubon’s first Shore Coaches winner ever Saturday morning, winning the Varsity G race by 20 meters over Paul VI senior Colton Johnson.

Williams covered the hilly Holmdel County Park 5,000-meter course in 16:36, a 54-second Holmdel PR for Williams. He ran 17:20 at states last year.

Williams is enjoying a true breakout season and has finished in the top five in every major meet he’s raced so far this fall. This is his second consecutive Saturday title. He won R.V.’s Ray Hoagland Invite two weeks ago in Eastampton by 40 meters over Gabe Rodriguez.

For the sake of comparison, last year Williams ran Shore Coaches in 17:44. He went on to place third at Group 1 sectionals and 13th at states, and he’s continued to build on that promise.

Overall, Audubon placed fourth with underclassmen in the top four spots. Junior Enrique Herrera was the Green Wave’s No. 2 runner in 18th place (in team scoring).

Also in the top 10 was Collingswood junior Josh Forrest, who ran 17:20.

Stephanie Palese, a senior from Clearview, helped Delaware win its own Delaware XC Invitational Saturday.

Palese placed ninth overall and was Delaware’s fourth runner as the Blue Hens outscored St. Joe’s 26-36 for the team title.

Palese ran 24:18 over 6,000 meters at White Clay Creek State Park in New Castle County, Delaware.

It appears that Palese only ran XC sporadically while at Clearview and was never on the Pioneers’ varsity at sectionals. She placed as high as seventh at sectionals in the pole vault.