In his second college race, Mainland Regional graduate Kevin Antczak took nearly a minute and a half off his 8,000-meter time for North Carolina State.
Antczak, a Wolfpack freshman, ran 24:23 over 8,000 meters at the Wolfpack Invitational at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C.,, just outside Raleigh.
In his collegiate debut last month, Antczak ran 25:48 at a meet at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg and was N.C. State’s No. 7 runner.
This time, he was N.C. State’s No. 6 runner and missed the top 5 by one second.
Virginia edged N.C. State 28-31 to win the team title.
The Wolfpack’s top runner, senior J.P. Flavin, is a graduate of Toms River North, where he had a PR of 9:27.30 for 3,200 meters. He placed second in 23:35, three seconds behind Virginia’s Rohann Asfaw.
Antczak was hurt most of the indoor season last year and all of outdoors, so this is really the first time he’s run healthy since last XC season, when he placed second in the Meet of Champions with a 15:29 at Holmdel – No. 14 in course history – and then took 8th at Foot Locker Nationals, the best performance by a South Jersey boy at Foot Locker in 31 years.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 