Highland’s Princess Nwoga and Grace Wassell ran 1-2 overall, but the Mainland girls took the team title in a tight race with Clearview Saturday in the South Jersey Open morning pod.
Nwoga, a junior, and Wassell, a sophomore, were the only runners under 20 minutes on the 5K course at DREAM Park In Logan Township.
Nwoga ran 19:47 and Wassell 19:54 for Highland, but Mainland packed four runners in the top 12 and hung on for a 57-62 win over Clearview for the team title. Ocean City was third with 81.
Highland’s last individual winner at the South Jersey Open was Stacey Simon, who ran 17:51 to edge Ocean City’s Abbey Hartman to win the Division 3 race at Kingsway in 1996.
Freshman Claudia Booth placed third for Mainland in 20:04, and junior Lily Malone took 8th in 20:54. Freshman Gillian Lovett and senior Giselle Obergfell finished together in 21:23 in 11th and 12th place, and sophomore Sydney Luff completed Mainland’s scoring group with a 23:11 for 30th place.
It was Mainland’s second title in a row.
Also in the top 10 were Clearview sophomore Abigail Waddington [4th in 20:14], Schalick senior Julia Smith [5th in 20:30], Clearview senior Katherine Byrne [6th in 20:34], Cinnaminson sophomore Stephanie Renouf [7th in 20:40]. Cinnaminson junior Grace Coller [9th in 20:59] and Ocean City senior Alexa Palmieri [Ocean City] 21:10.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 