Hopefully, the results now available from Holmdel County Park are all correct, but after the catastrophic timing issues at states Saturday who knows?

Either way, this is our best attempt at a New Jersey sub-21 list from the various state races. Any errors or omissions please let us know as always in the comments section!

18:55 … Olivia Shafer, Egg Harbor Township
19:05 … Kate Rathman, Cherokee
19:06 … ***Kate Ruona, Shawnee
19:15 … *Sarah Naticchia, Haddonfield
19:28 … Allie Pierontoni, Kingsway
19:32 … *Payton Weiner, Haddonfield
19:43 … ***Grace Wassell, Highland
19:50 … *Maura Keane, Washington Township
19:55 … **Keira Mansure, Northern Burlington
19:56 … *Alexa Palmieri, Ocean City
20:01 … Casey McLees, Ocean City
20:02 … **Allison MacFarland, Kingsway
20:06 … ***Aubrey Pierontoni, Kingsway
20:07 … *Sydney Watts, Kingsway
20:08 … *Sophie Steidle, Collingswood
20:15 … *Allison Colflesh, Haddonfield
20:16 … *Julia Smith, Schalick
20:20 … Claire Hauser, Shawnee
20:21 … *Katie Sparks, Paul VI
20:25 … *MaryKathleen McCurdy, Cherry Hill East
20:27 … Isabella Turner, Shawnee
20:37 … *Isabel Slimm, Cherry Hill East
20:38 … Marleigh Puglia, Schalick
20:39 … **Madison McNiff, Cherry Hill East
20:41 … Lilly Sirover, Haddonfield
20:42 … **Nicole Clifford, Cherokee
20:43 … ***Alexis Tepper, Cherry Hill East
20:45 … *Carly Nicholson, Delsea
20:46 … ***Juliana Grasso, Timber Creek
20:47 … ***Kelsey Niglio, Cherokee
20:48 … Alyssa Blackmon, Cherokee
20:52 … **Allison Helkowski, Kingsway
20:54 … *Lindsay Colflesh, Haddonfield

We just looked at the Parochial A boys results and saw a Washington Township runner listed, so obviously there are still some issues with the results. We looked again a minute later and he had been removed.

So this list could very well be incomplete or incorrect. BUT … based on all the information that was available as of 9 p.m. on Saturday, this should be a pretty close approximation to a list of all South Jersey boys who broke 17 minutes at Holmdel County Park Saturday in the various state championship XC races.

Lots of PRs, but a shout-out in particular to Triton sophomore Dennis Fortuna, who was South Jersey’s top sophomore with a 16:33 in his first race ever at Holmdel!

15:48 … Austin Gabay, Cinnaminson
15:51 … Ethan Wechsler, Cherokee
15:52 … Kevin Antczak, Mainland
16:01 … Oliver Adler, Cherry Hill East
16:08 … Martin Riddell, Haddonfield
16:11 … Sebastien Reed, Pitman
16:12 … Andrew Gostovich, Haddonfield
16:31 … *Anas Bensaoud, Clearview
16:33 … **Dennis Fortuna, Triton
16:33 … Chase Miller, Cherokee
16:34 … *Aidan Eyre, Cherry Hill East
16:34 … Tyler Jackson, Cherokee
16:37 … *Zachary Williams, Audubon
16:38 … Jake Aylmer, Haddon Township
16:39 … Stephen Kasko, Haddonfield
16:40 … Dan Wyshinski, Pennsville
16:40 … *Gabe Rodriguez, Cherry Hill East
16:47 … *Brady Shute, Gateway-Woodbury
16:48 … *Brett Shea, Cherokee
16:48 … **Seth Clevenger, Haddonfield
16:48 … Luke Kramer, Ocean City
16:51 … Xavier Seals, Woodstown
16:55 … *Stone Caraccio, Kingsway
16:56 … *Zack Rhoda, Zack, West Deptford
16:59 … Thomas Flear, Clearview Regional

Olivia Shafer became the first Egg Harbor girl under 19 minutes at Holmdel County Park with her 4th-place finish at the state Group 4 meet.

Shafer ran 18:55, 40 seconds faster than her 19:35 at last year’s Meet of Champions, which had stood as the previous-fastest time by an EHT runner at Holmdel.

Older sister Abby Shafer previously held the mark at 19:45 from the 2011 state Group 4 meet. The fastest EHT girl outside the Shafer family is Michaela Pomatto, who ran 20:37 last month at Shore Coaches.

Shafer’s time is second-fastest ever by an Atlantic County girl, behind only Mainland’s Alyssa Aldridge, who ran sub-19 eight times at Holmdel, including a 17:55 in 2016.

The only other Atlantic County girl to run under 19 at Holmdel County Park is Holy Spirit’s Monique Purcell, who ran 18:59 in 1978 – the first year the current course at Holmdel went into use.

With her 4th-place finish, Shafer advances to the Meet of Champions Saturday on the same course.

There were three South Jersey girls in the top 10, with Shafer, Cherokee senior Kate Rathman [7th, 19:05] and Shawnee freshman Kate Ruona [9th, 19:06].

All the results aren’t in yet, so we can’t put together a list of South Jersey’s fastest times at the various state meets

Kingsway placed third in Group 4 team scoring behind North Hunterdon and Ridgewood. We’ll have more on Kingsway later, but the Dragons presumably will advance to the Meet of Champions as a wild card with an average time of 19:57.

Cherokee outscored Ridge 94-121 Saturday to win its first state XC title in 12 years and sixth overall.

Cherokee’s six state titles are 12th-most in state history. The Chiefs have the third-most Group 4 titles, behind only Westfield (15) and Passaic (8) and fourth-most among South Jersey schools, behind Haddonfield (18), Haddon Township (12) and Paul VI (7). Haddon Township and Haddonfield also won state titles on Saturday.

Senior Ethan Wechsler ran a Holmdel PR 15:51, finishing two seconds behind Jackson Braddock of Southern Regional.

Wechsler, whose previous Holmdel PR was 15:56 at Shore Coaches, ran 15:51, 6th-fastest in Holmdel history by a Cherokee runner.

Here’s the all-time Cherokee Holmdel top 10:

15:40 … Shawn Wilson, 2012
15:43 … Marc Pelerin, 2001
15:45 … Keith Krieger, 2002
15:46 … Jack Shea, 2015
15:51 … Ethan Wechsler, 2018
16:09 … Joe Halin, 1999
16:12 … Justin Kelly, 2016
16:13 … Tom Yersak. 2004
16:14 … Greg Malloy, 2010
16:18 … Greg Bredeck, 2005
16:20 … Alex Yersak, 2007

Unfortunately, because of the inexcusable day-long timing issues at Holmdel County Park we don’t have any other information about Cherokee’s team title and who knows when we will.

But all in all it was a very good day for the Chiefs, and we’ll add more details as soon as we have them.

If we ever do.

The Haddonfield Bulldog XC machine keeps rolling!

Haddonfield won its 3rd straight state title, 9th in the last 14 years and No. 18 overall Saturday.

Of course official results aren’t available, so we don’t have any details, but at least we know from legendary Jim Lambert at the finish line reporting for N.J. MileSplit that Haddonfield did win the Group 2 team title.

Only CBA [30] and Bernards [23] have won more state titles than Haddonfield in meet history. Only Haddon Township [12] has even won half as many in South Jersey history.

Here’s a look at Haddonfield’s incredible record at states:

Group 1: 1985, 1987, 1989, 1990
Group 2: 1978, 1980, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019

Haddonfield has now had two separate recent winning streaks in Group 2 — five straight from 2006 through 2010 and three straight from 2017 through this year.

No other school has won three straight in Group 2 since Voorhees from 1981 through 1983.

In all, that’s 18 titles in the last 42 years for the Bulldogs!

Austin Gabay became Cinnaminson’s fifth state XC champion Saturday, winning the state Group 2 title at Holmdel County Park in a blazing 15:48 — fastest ever by a Cinnaminson runner at Holmdel!

Gabay’s previous-best at Holmdel was 15:58 last month at Shore Coaches. The 15:48 makes him the No. 19 South Jersey performer ever at Holmdel County Park and 5th-fastest in Burlington County history behind four Cherokee runners (and tied with a 5th).

The fastest previous time at Holmdel by a Cinnaminson runner belonged to Jon Anderson, who ran 15:51 in 2003.

Here’s the all-time Burlington County Holmdel sub-16 list:

15:40 … Shawn Wilson [Cherokee], 2012
15:43 … Marc Pelerin [Cherokee], 2001
15:45 … Keith Krieger [Cherokee], 2002
15:46 … Jack Shea [Cherokee], 2015
15:48 … Keith Krieger [Cherokee], 2002
15:48 … Austin Gabay [Cinnaminson], 2019
15:51 … Jon Anderson [Cinnaminson], 2003
15:56 … David Forward [Shawnee], 2008
15:56 … Ethan Wechsler [Cherokee], 2018
15:57 … Connor Herr [Shawnee], 2010
15:57 … Michael Ungvarsky [Cinnaminson], 2016
15:58 … Jack Shea [Cherokee], 2016

Gabay, third last year joins Dave Zamichieli in 1987 [16:45], Bill Mason in 1988 [16:37], Jon Anderson in 2003 [16:19] and Mike Ungvarsky in 2016 [15:58] at the top of the podium for the Pirates. All five won their state titles at Holmdel.

Gabay was second to Allentown’s Liam Murphy, the indoor Meet of Champions 3,200 winner, at the Thompson Park Class Meet in Jamesburg in September but is unbeaten since, with wins at Shore Coaches, Burlington County Open, BCSL, sectionals and now states.

This is Gabay’s second state title. He won Group 2 states in the 1,600 last spring with a 4:16.02

We’ve finally got some official Group 1 boys results!

What a day for Haddon Township!

The Hawks won the state Group 1 title with the largest margin of victory in 38 years!

Senior Jake Aylmer placed 4th in 16:38, and the Hawks got all five scorers across the line among the first 22 finishers — the first 15 in team scoring — to swarm the field on the way to their 13th state title.

Sophomore Luke Overbeck was 12th in 17:14, senior Ian McCauley 16th in 17:28, sophomore Ethan Bergmann 21st in 17:40 and junior Matt Conway 22nd in 17:42. Senior Justin Merkh [28th in 17:51] gave Township a solid 6th man, just a few seconds behind their 5th runner.

Haddon Township had six across the line before second-place Shore Regional’s second runner.

Haddon Township finished with a 53-142 win over Shore, a massive 89-point advantage.

The 53 points are the lowest winning score since Haddon Township topped Pennsville 31-76 in 2014. The 89-point margin of victory is the largest since Bernards won by 95 points in 1981, 15-110 over Henry Hudson.

Township won its first state title in 1968 in Group 3, then won Group 2 in 1971, 1972 and 1976. The Hawks won Group 2 in 1986 and Group 1 in 1988, then didn’t win another title until the current run began in 2008. Since then, Township has won Group 1 in 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and the last two years.

Only CBA (29), Bernards (23), neighboring Haddonfield (17) and Westfield (15) have won more state boys cross country championships in state history.

It’s more than five hours since the last race finished at the state XC championships in Holmdel and complete officials results are finally available.

Great job getting these results out before the Meet of Champions starts!

Boys Group 1
Boys Group 2
Boys Group 3
Boys Group 4
Boys Non-Public A
Boys Non-Public B
Girls Group 1
Girls Group 2
Girls Group 3
Girls Group 4
Girls Non-Public A
Girls Non-Public B

Robert Abrams earned a berth in the NCAA Division 3 cross country nationals Saturday with a 9th-place finish in the Atlantic Regional Championships.

Abrams, a College of New Jersey junior from Cherry Hill West, placed ninth in the 8,000-meter race at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., running 25:30 in very cold windy conditions.

The top seven finishers not on one of the two automatically qualifying teams automatically qualify for nationals. SUNY Geneseo and RPI placed first and second, and Abrams was the second individual finisher not from one of those schools.

Abrams finished just 17 seconds behind overall winner Noah Falasco of RPI and only three seconds out of sixth place. He was first among NJAC runners and actually the only NJAC runner who finished in the top 24.

The NCAA Division 3 National Championships are scheduled for Nov. 23 at E.O. Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky.

Abrams placed 94th at Regionals as a freshman and 82nd last year. This will be his first trip to the NCAA Championships in track or cross country.

Four hours after the race ended, we still don’t have any girls Group 1 results, but we do know that Schalick ran extremely well and according to Jim Lambert of N.J. Milesplit, who’s at the finish line, placed second in the team race.

New Providence won Group 1 by two points, 76-74, over the Cougars.

Junior Julia Smith placed fourth overall in 20:16 and was the top South Jersey finisher, and senior teammate Marleigh Puglia was eighth in 20:38.

The second-place finish matches Schalick’s best ever. The 2002 team, led by Sara Copare, placed second to Shore Regional.

If the timing company ever figures out how to get results posted we’ll add some details!

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OK … we finally have official results from Group 1, and it really was a terrific day for Schalick.

In addition to Smith and Puglia, junior Chloe Gerstenbacher was 18th in 21:27, sophomore Mia LaMarra 36th in 22:12 and sophomore Autumn Heaton 53rd in 22:43.

But as far as team points, it was 3-5-10-24-36, which is impressive.

Smith and Puglia were the only South Jersey girls in the top 10.