Cherokee senior Nico Grilli ran a personal best 16:01 on the DREAM Park course and was he first finisher in the seven-team Olympic Conference batch meet by over 100 meters Saturday morning.

Grilli’s previous PR on the Logan Township 5,000-meter course was 16:09 last October at the Olympic Conference Championships.

His 16:01 ties him for No. 5 performer in the three years the course has been used for major competitions.

Junior Billy Clewell of Camden Catholic, a first-year XC runner, placed second in 16:24.

Although team scoring wasn’t kept, Cherokee would have edged Washington Township 35-37 if it was.

Cherokee went 1-3-7-10-14, and Township went 4-5-8-9-11-13.

Cherokee also had senior Brett Shea [3rd in 16:28], sophomore Conor Jacob [7th in 16:52] and senior Dylan Odud [10th in 17:01] in the top 10.

Washington Township was led by seniors Cole Kolodziej [4th in 16:28] and Julian Lawson [6th in 16:29], with senior Mason Brewster [8th in 16:55] and junior Chris Colavita [9th in 16:59] also in the top 10.

Lenape sophomore Jake Buniva finished 6th in 16:50.

Led by junior Jacob Cobb and senior Zack Rhoda, the West Deptford boys went 1-2-4-5 to top Haddon Heights, 23-33, in a Colonial Conference dual meet Wednesday.

Cobb ran 16:52 and Rhoda 17:03 over 5,000 meters at West Deptford Park.

Haddon Heights senior Ritwik Tati took third in 17:27, but senior Tommy Thomasson and sophomore Zackery Assero ran 17:41 and 18:22 for 4th and 5th for the Eagles.

Heights then packed five runners from 6th through 10th – junior Leonardus Kittle, sophomore Jack Bolling, senior Ryan Wartenberg and sophomores Ryan Wartenberg and Ryan Wells – before West Deptford senior Matt Suarez clinched the team win by placing 11th.

On the same course, Gloucester topped Paulsboro, 25-34. Senior Alex Darpino edged Paulsboro soph Derrik Horton for the win.

Collingswood senior Sophie Steidle solo’d 19:29 at DREAM Park in Logan Township Tuesday in a dual meet with West Deptford.

West Deptford won the meet 27-28, but Steidle – the state Group 1 indoor 1,600 and 3,200 champion – opened her XC season in fine form with the No. 11 time in the brief three-year history of the DREAM Park 5,000-meter course.

In as close a dual meet as you could have, West Deptford went 2-3-5-8-9 and Collingswood 1-4-6-7-10.

West Deptford was led by senior Corinne Dorsett and junior Hope Siner in 21:41 and 21:50. West Deptford’s fifth runner, senior Guadalupe Santos, clinched the team win by beating Collingswood’s fifth runner.

West Deptford also scored against Audubuon, and although Dorsett and Siner went 1-2, Audubon won 25-34, with seniors Greta Davis, Rebekah Barnhardt and Natalie Slavin, junior Kathryn Brook and senior Kyla Hoinkis sweeping the 3rd through 7th spots.

Lindenwold raced Gateway/Woodbury Co-op, with Lindenwold junior Julia Arevalo taking first and Gateway/Woodbury senior Autumn Chambers taking second.

Shawnee sophomore Kate Ruona opened her season with a fast 5,000 in an Olympic Conference batch meet Saturday at DREAM Park in Logan Township.

Ruona, 8th in the state Group 4 meet last year, ran 19:23 and won by about 550 meters over the field.

No team scoring was kept five-team meet, but Shawnee went 1-8-9-11-12 and also 15-16 for seven of the top 15 finishers.

Seneca’s Emma Klouchek ran 20:58 for second, Eustace Arianna Cane 3rd in 21:25, Washington Township Maura Kane 4th and Eustace Carly Troy 5th in 21:53.

The rest of Shawnee’s scoring pack included freshman Nicole Tellechea [8th in 22:04], junior Madelyn Valasek [9th in 22:14], sophomore Sydney Kiernan [11th in 22:23] and senior Ashley Olson [12th in 22:49].

Also in the top 10 were Washington Township sophomore Allyson Wernik [6th in 21:58] and junior Amariah Beasley [7th in 22:03] and Lenape junior Grace Boltz [10th in 22:21].

Washington Township seniors Cole Kolodziej and Julian Lawson and Shawnee senior John Ruona all ran 16:38 to lead the field in a five-team season-opening Olympic Conference batch meet Saturday.

Kolodziej was first across the line – Tomahawk’s FAT camera had him in 16:38.19 – with Lawson running 16:38.75 and Ruona 16:39.92. That’s three finishers in less than 3/4 of a second!

Washington Township went 1-2-5-6-9, with junior Chris Colavita [17:03], senior Mason Brewster [17:13] and junior Nate Kidwell [17:40] also in the scoring pack.

Shawnee senior Robert Birdsall also broke 17 minutes, finishing 4th in 16:59.

Also in the top 10 over 5,000 meters at DREAM Park in Logan Township were Lenape junior Jake Buniva [7th in 17:18], Lenape sophomore Colin Hermack [8th in 17:24] and Shawnee junior Alex Campagna [10th in 17:42].

Lenape senior Brett Boyle [17:53] and junior Washington Township’s Sean Hice [17:58] also broke 18 minutes.

Cherry Hill East, ranked No. 4 in the state, opened its 2020 XC season by placing six runners at in the top 10 in a seven-team Olympic Conference batch meet Saturday.

Seniors Aidan Groff, Gabe Rodriguez and Aidan Eyre placed 2nd, 3rd and 4th of 46 finishers, Groff in 16:17, Rodriguez 16:20 and Eyre 16:39 for East.

Cherokee senior Nico Grilli was the overall winner, covering the 5,000-meter layout at DREAM Park in Logan Township in 16:11.

Rounding out the 10 top were Camden Catholic senior Aeden Rosolia [5th in 16:43], Cherokee senior Brett Shea [6th in 16:48], Cherry Hill East sophomore Michael McCurdy [7th in 16:51], Cherokee sophomore Conor Jacob [8th in 16:54], then junior Dylan Hagan [9th in 17:04] and senior Justin Whitney [10th in 17:14],  both of Cherry Hill East.

Cherokee packed the next four finishers, all under 18 minutes – senior Dylan Odud [17:22], sophomore Patrick Ditmars [17:47], junior Bradley Poplar [17:48] and sophomore Thomas Bromley [17:51].

Team scoring wasn’t kept, but unofficially Cherry Hill East would have finished with a 25-38 margin over Cherokee.

The Cherry Hill East and Cherokee girls, two of the top XC teams in South Jersey, met in the season opener for both teams Saturday in a six-team Olympic Conference batch meet at DREAM Park in Logan Township.

Racing against Paul VI, Camden Catholic, Winslow and Eastern, Cherokee and Cherry Hill East swept nine of the top 10 places.

Although team scoring wasn’t kept, Cherokee went 2-5-6-8-10 for 31 points unofficially, and Cherry Hill East went 1-4-7-9-11 for 32 points.

Cherry Hill East sophomore Alexis Tepper ran 19:57 on the 5,000-meter course, finishing first overall, 16 seconds ahead of Cherokee junior Nicole Clifford.

Senior MaryKathleen McCurdy [4th in 20:23], junior Madison McNiff [7th in 20:49], sophomore Inesa Grace Linker [9th in 21:12] and senior Sabrina Rounds [11th in 21:24] rounded out Cherry Hill East’s top five.

Cherokee backed up Clifford with sophomore Kelsey Niglio [5th in 20:35] and three freshmen running their first high school race – Kerry O’Day [6th in 20:39], Alaina Bromley [8th in 20:57] and Olivia Parkinson [10th in 21:15].

The only runner from a school other than Cherokee or Cherry Hill East in the top 10 was Paul VI freshman Shaelan McNally, who was 3rd in 20:17.

Other girls under 22 minutes in the varsity race were Camden Catholic sophomore Casey Bednarek [12th in 21:45] and Eastern senior Sierra Feeney [13th in 21:52].

Two girls in the JV race broke 22 minutes – Paul VI freshman Gisella Croge won in 21:40, which would have taken 12th in the varsity race, and Cherokee freshman Allison Rathman ran 21:54.

The Haddonfield girls, ranked 8th in the state, opened their XC season Friday with eight girls running under 20 minutes over 5,000 meters in a Colonial Conference batch meet at Pennypacker Park.

Two of the sub-20 group were running their first high school career race.

Haddonfield swept Sterling 15-50, taking the top 13 spots overall.

Seniors Allison Colflesh, Sarah Naticchia and Payton Weiner, Haddonfield’s top three runners on last year’s team 4th-place Meet of Champions team, were joined in the top five by sophomore Sabrina Miller in her first varsity race and junior Jess Goode.

Colflesh, Naticchia and Weiner all ran 19:27 or 19:28, Miller crossed in 19:38 and Goode in 19:42.

Freshman Anne Earp, senior Lindsay Colflesh and sophomore Helene Usher also broke 20 minutes for Haddonfield.

Goode never run faster than 20:28 on any course last year and Usher never broke 20:54.

Senior Olivia Stoner, freshman Riley Slootsky, freshman Ava Thomas, senior Georgia Nussey and freshman Sarah Fetter rounded out Haddonfield’s lead group.

Senior Rylie Mansfield was Sterling’s first finisher.

Also, Audubon had 6 of the first 9 finishers in a 21-37 win over Haddon Heights.

Seniors Greta Davis and Natalie Slavin went 1-2 for Audubon. Sophomore Victoria Cerini was Haddon Heights’ top runner, in third place.

We’re not going to write about every dual meet this year, but I think we’re all so happy to have cross country back today that I want to celebrate the start of the season as much as possible!

There was a series of Colonial Conference dual meets today at Pennypacker Park in Haddonfield, and Haddon Township junior Luke Overbeck ran 16:24, fastest time of all the meets.

Six Colonial Conference schools raced Thursday, and Haddon Township went 1-4-5-7-9 to edge West Deptford, 26-31. Key man for Haddon Township was 5th runner Grant Overbrook, a freshman competing in his first high school race.

Luke Overbeck, 12th in the state Group 1 meet, led West Deptford’s Zach Rhoda and Jacob Cobb, who finished 2nd and 3rd and also broke 17 minutes.

Ethan Bergmann [17:00] and Matt Conway [17:28] took 4th and 5th for Haddon Township, Max Tomashek was 7th [18:18] and Overbeck placed ninth [18:53]. 

Haddon Township placed seven in front of West Deptford’s fifth, with Ryan Erhart and Jackson Sennhen taking 10th and 11th overall. Tommy Thomasson was 6th for West Deptford in 18:01 and Zackery Assero 8th in 18:34.

Haddonfield swept the top eight spots in a 15-50 win over Sterling, with George Andrus [16:46], Caleb Clevenger [16:47], Tobias Janssen [16:47], John Hurly [16:53] and Sean Eisenhower [17:03] taking the top five spots. Sterling was led by Alex Brown, 9th in 18:47.

Very close meet between Audubon and Haddon Heights, with Audubon winning 28-29. Audubon went 1-3-4 with Zachary Williams running 16:38 and winning by about 150 meters over Haddon Heights’ Ritwik Rati, second in 17:10. Tyler Wells [17:44] and Joseph Gaspari [17:46] were 3rd and 4th for the Green Wave.  

Jack Bolling, Ryan Wartenberg and Leonardus Kittle took 5th, 6th and 7th for Heights.

In a girls meet, Regan Shemeley and Meghan Lex went 1-2 in 21:01 and 21:09 to lead Haddon Township past West Deptford, 21-40. Corinne Dorsett and Hope Siner ran 3-4 for West Deptford before Township had the next six across the finish line.