Clearview’s Abby Waddington won the junior class race Saturday at the Cherokee Challenge for her first cross country individual title.

Waddington covered the 3,200-meter course at Cherokee in 11:44, winning by about 100 meters over Phillipsburg’s Brooke Hunter, who took second in 12:05.

Waddington’s time was 4th-fastest among all four class races at Cherokee and 3rd-fastest among South Jersey runners.

Here’s a look at the top-10 overall times from the four races at Challenge:

11:42 … ***Liliah Gordon [Northern Burlington]
11:43 … Nikki Clifford [Cherokee]
11:43 … Anna MacDonald [Germantown Friends]
11:44 … *Abby Waddington [Clearview]
11:45 … Lara Corta [Summit]
12:00 … *** Sofia Day [Mainland Regional]
12:04 … ** Olivia Parkinson [Cherokee]
12:05 … *Brooke Hunter [Phillipsburg]
12:07 … *Ananya Devpura [West Windsor-Plainsboro South]
12:09 … ***Zui Chinchalkar [West Windsor-Plainsboro North]

Waddington placed 9th at Group 4 sectionals last fall at DREAM Park in Logan Township for the third-place Pioneers. She ran 5:12.83 and 11:15.34 in the spring.

Woodstown graduate Xavier Seals, a Georgian Court freshman, placed second out of 50 runners Saturday in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Invitational.

In his second college XC race, Seals ran 28:55, finishing behind only Dan Forry of Jefferson College, who ran 28:31 over 8,000 meters at Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park.

Seals, a middle-distance runner, is showing great competing at a high level over longer distances. He was the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference champion at both 800 and 1,500 meters last spring, with PRs of 1:55.15 and 4:03.59.

At Woodstown, Seals ran 2:02.51 and 4:27.59. He placed second to Shore Regional’s Drew Maher at the 2018 state Group 1 meet at 1,600 meters at Franklin High School.

In XC, he was the Salem County champ in the fall of 2019 and placed 10th in the state Group 1 meet at Holmdel.

Georgian Court is coached by Cinnaminson native Mike Murawski, a three-time state high jump champion for Holy Cross.

Juniors Gavin Gallo and Cole Knoedler placed 4th and 5th overall and the all-underclass Highland High School boys won the team title Saturday at the St. Dominic Academy Invitational.

Gallo ran 16:32 and Knoedler 16:35 over 5,000 meters at Lincoln Park in Jersey City for Highland, which edged St. Peter’s Prep 53-55 for the team title, with Rahway (60) and East Brunswick (73) making it four schools within 20 points.

Sophomore Aziz Muhammad-Kane ran 10th for Highland in 16:52, junior Jake Smith was 12th in 17:04 and junior Anthony Imperatore took 22nd in 17:32. They were backed up by junior Dylan Carles, who ran 17:58 for 29th.

Highland senior Vanessa Marinero won the girls race in 19:13 and senior teammate Princess Nwoga was third in 19:44

Highland freshman Mason Wassell won the boys freshman race, covering the 2.25-mile course in 11:07 and teammate Andrew Kellem was 13th in the freshman race in 13:10. Madison Goodman placed seventh in the girls freshman race in 14:15.

Pennsville graduate Dan Wyshinski opened his collegiate cross country career Saturday by placing 14th among more than 200 runners in the Lebanon Valley College Dutchmen Invitational.

Wyshinski, a freshman at Wilmington College in Delaware, ran 27:32 over 8,000 meters at Union Canal Tunnel Park along the Quittapahilla Creek in Lebanon, Pa.

Wyshinski was the first runner across the line for Wilmington, which is located in New Castle, Del., and competes in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conferene and NCAA Division 2. 

It was his first race of any kind since January of 2020, when he ran 9:51.32 for 3,200 meters in meet at the Bubble in Toms River. It was his first XC race since November of 2019, when he ran 16:51 at Holmdel at the Meet of Champions.

Wilmington placed seventh out of 17 schools with 164 points. Messiah College of Grantham, Pa., scored 49 to win the team title.

.Nicki Clifford won the senior race and Olivia Parkinson the sophomore race to lead Cherokee to the girls team title at the 25th annual Cherokee Challenge Saturday in Marlton.

The team title is the first ever for the Cherokee girls at their traditional season-opening home meet. Last year’s meet was cancelled.

Cherokee outscored Summit 14-45 and Conestoga High of Berwin, Tredyffrin Township, Chester County, Pa., was third with 51. Mainland Regional placed second among South Jersey schools with 69 points.

Team scoring is determined by adding together the place of each school’s top runner in each of four class races.

Cherokee is ranked No. 7 in New Jersey and No. 2 in South Jersey behind Haddonfield, which did not compete at Cherokee Saturday. Summit is ranked No. 13 in the state.

For Cherokee, Kelsey Niglio was fourth in the junior race in 12:11, and Kerry O’Day placed a non-scoring seventh in the sophomore race in 12:36. Megan Niglio took eighth in the freshman race in 13:11.

Clifford’s time was 2nd-fastest overall, behind Northern Burlington freshman Liliah Gordon, who ran 11:43. Parkinson was 7th-fastest overall and Niglio was 11th-fastest. They also ranked No. 2, No. 6 and No. 7 among South Jersey girls.

Clifford and Parkinson are Cherokee’s first class winners since 2011, when Megan Lacy ran 10:55 to win the senior race. Parkinson is Cherokee’s first sophomore winner since Lisa Burkholder in 2003.

Cherokee also won the combined boys and girls team scoring title with 71 points, ahead of second-place Summit with 45.

TOP 25 SOUTH JERSEY RUNNERS
11:42 … ***Liliah Gordon [Northern Burlington]
11:43 … Nikki Clifford [Cherokee]
11:44 … *Abby Waddington [Clearview]
12:00 … *** Sofia Day [Mainland Regional]
12:04 … ** Olivia Parkinson [Cherokee]
12:11 … * Kelsey Niglio [Cherokee]
12:20 … Sophia Staiger [Eastern]
12:30 … **Gillian Lovett [Mainland Regional]
12:31 … *Stephanie Renouf [Cinnaminson]
12:33 … *Ava Severino [Haddon Heights]
12:35 … ***Lily Malone [Mainland Regional]
12:36 … **Kerry O’Day [Cherokee]
12:37 … Madison McNiff [Cherry Hill East]
12:43 … *Abby Kotran [Clearview]
12:44 … **Claudia Booth [Mainland Regional]
12:47 … *Alexa Fisher [Williamstown]
12:53 … Kyra Birdsall [Shawnee]
12:55 … Grace Coller [Cinnaminson]
12:53 … *Madeline Dischert [Atlantic City]
12:54 … *Gabriella Maletta [Washington Twp.]
12:58 … ***Macie McCracken [Wildwood]
12:59 … *Meghan Lex [Haddon Twp.]
12:59 … **Chloe Malone [Mainland Regional]
12:59 … **Nicole Tellechea [Shawnee]
13:02 … Madelyn Valasek [Shawnee]
13:02 … *Sophia Bostwick [Washington Twp.]
13;02 … ** Michaela Schlemo [Egg Harbor Twp.]

Delea’s Andrew Littlehales led five runners under 10 minutes over 3,200 meters at the Cherokee Challenge and won the Senior Race with the fastest time of the day.

Senior Boys

Littlehales ran 9:46 and won by 50 meters over Ryan Banko of Salesianum School in Wilmington, Del.

Banko ran 9:55, Charles Stock of Westfield was third in 9:56 and Camden Catholic’s Billy Clewell was the second South Jersey finisher, fourth also in 9:56. Another Westfield runner, Conor Daly, took fifth in 9:59.

Littlehales’ time is fastest by a South Jersey runner at the Cherokee Challenge in seven years, since Luke Petela of Haddon Township won the Senior Race in 9:28.

In the 25-year history of the Cherokee Challenge, Littlehales is the first Delsea boy to win any of the class races. His 9:46 is the fastest by a Delsea runner at Cherokee since Nick Costello ran 9:38 and placed second to Cherokee’s Shawn Wilson in the Senior Race in 2012.

Here’s a look at the fastest South Jersey runners at Cherokee this morning!

TOP 25 SOUTH JERSEY TIMES
9:46.22 … Andrew Littlehales [Delsea]
9:49.15 … **Nick Kuenkel [Cherokee]
9:55.98 … **Peyton Shute [Co-op Gateway / Woodbury]
9:56.77 … Billy Clewell [Camden Catholic]
10:06.09 … *Patrick Ditmars [Cherokee]
10:10.93 … Chris Colavita [Washington Twp.]
10:17.88 … *Jack Bolling [Haddon Heights]
10:17.93 … Jake Buniva [Lenape]
10:17.93 … *Andrew Dove [Lenape
10:19.91 … Owen Ritti [Ocean City]
10:22.84 … Jacob Cobb [West Deptford]
10:23.94 … *Colin Patterson [Haddon Heights]
10:24.62 … Sean Hice [Washington Twp]
10:26.10 … Cole Mylan [Timber Creek]
10:34.98 … Anthony Faust [Bishop Eustace]
10:35.70 … Andre Faigal [Rancocas Valley]
10:36.35 … *Nick Scarangelli [Ocean City]
10:37.05 … **Ethan Mitnick [Mainland Regional]
10:37.97 … *Ryan Taylor [Egg Harbor Twp.]
10:38.35 … Bradley Popler [Cherokee]
10:38.40 … Linden Wineland [Mainland Regional]
10:38.50 … Ethan Bergmann [Haddon Township]
10:42.19 … *Nick Krol [Williamstown]
10:43.11 … *Colin Hermack [Lenape]
10:43.98 … *Joel Oquendo [Pennsauken]

* Junior Race
** Sophomore Race
*** Freshman Race

Northern Burlington freshman Liliah Gordon opened her high school cross country career by posting the fastest time of the four class races Saturday at the 25th annual Cherokee Challenge.

Gordon ran 11:42 to win the 3,200-meter freshman race by about 100 meters over Mainland Regional’s Sofia Day, who ran 12:00.

Gordon’s time is fastest by a freshman at the Cherokee Challenge since Haddonfield’s Briana Gess ran 10:55 in 2013 and it’s 7th-fastest ever by a freshman in the Cherokee Challenge.

Gordon is no newcomer to high-level racing. The Chesterfield resident ran 5:18.06 for a full mile as an 8th-grader last year and finished 4th in the New Jersey Middle School XC Championships in the fall of 2019 as a 7th-grader. Last year, she placed 5th over 4,000 meters in the AAU National Cross Country Championships.

Here’s a look at the fastest freshman times in meet history. Three Olympians on this list, which is pretty wild!

10:55 … Briana Gess [Haddonfield], 2013
11:18 … Aislinn Devlin [Downington West], 2013
11:28 … Erin Donohue [Haddonfield], 1997
11:31 … Haley Pierce [Tatnall], 2008
11:36 … Chelsea Ley [Kingsway], 2006
11:38 … Vanessa Wright [Haddonfield], 2002
11:42 … Liliah Gordon [Northern Burlington], 2021
11:43 … Ajee Wilson [Neptune], 2008
11:45 … Elizabeth Edwards [Unionville], 2013
11:45 … Caroline Kellner [West Windsor-Plains. South], 2008
11:47 … Kate Hastings [Tatnall], 2010
11:47 … Natalie Ocasio [Lenape], 2009
11:48 … Marielle Hall [Haddonfield], 2006
11:49 … Catie Skinner [Penn Charter], 2009

Gordon is the third Northern Burlington girl to place in the top three in any girls race at the Cherokee Challenge.

In 1996, the first year the meet was held, Meghan Spence placed second in the sophomore race, and in 2003, Suzanne Bumbera took third in the freshman race.

The only other times a freshman posted the fastest time of the day were 1997, when Haddonfield’s Erin Donohue ran 11:28; 2002, when Vanessa Wright of Haddonfield ran 11:38; and 2013, when Haddonfield’s Briana Gess ran 10:55.

Cherokee’s Nick Kuenkel ran the second-fastest time in the meet’s 25-year history Saturday, winning the 3,200-meter sophomore race at the Cherokee Challenge in 9:49.

Kuenkel edged Peyton Shute of Gateway/Woodbury Co-Op by six seconds in the first sophomore race in meet history where two runners dipped under 10 minutes.

Racing in perfect conditions, Kuenkel missed the sophomore race course record of 9:48 by one second. That was set in 2012 by Steve Garrett of Tatnall School in Wilmington, Del.

Here’s a look at the top-10 sophomore times in meet history:

9:48 … Steve Garrett [Tatnall School], 2012
9:49 … Nick Kuenkel [Cherokee], 2021
9:55 … Peyton Shute [Woodbury/Gateway], 2021
9:55 … Matt Nelson [Barnegat], 2010
9:56 … Mike Vitez [Haddonfield], 2007
9:59 … Zach Michon [Robbinsviolle], 2013
9:59 … Chris Spisak [Cherokee], 2017
10:00 … Dave Forward [Shawnee], 2007
10:00 … Marc Pelerin [Cherokee], 1999
10:02 … Sebastien Reed [Pitman], 2017

Other South Jersey runners in the top 10 in the boys sophomore race were Ethan Mitnick of Mainland [4th in 10:37], Owen Karsch of Eastern [8th in 10:46] and Robert Poplau of Cherokee [10:47 for 10th].

Erika Kemp won her second national title Monday morning when she out-raced the field at the USATF 20K Championships in New Haven.

Kemp, a 2013 Rancocas Valley graduate, was part of a breakaway group of four runners that also included Emily Durgin, Lindsay Flanagan and Makena Morley halfway through the 12.4-mile race.

Flanagan eventually dropped off the pace, and with two miles to go, Kemp pulled away from Durgin and Morley and won by more than half a minute over Morley.

Kemp ran 1:06.20 over the road course through the streets of New Haven, and Morley was second in 1:6.59.

Because it’s web site is the worst site on the planet, the USATF does not have full results available of one of its own national championship events. Inexcusable.

Kemp earned $9,000 for her first-place finish.

The race was Kemp’s first race since the U.S. Olympic Trials, where she raced both the 5,000 and 10,000.

Kemp’s time is No. 39 on the all-time world 20,000-meter road course performance list on the World Athletics web site and No. 5 in U.S. history.

Kemp’s previous U.S. title came at 15,000 meters in Jacksonville in 2019, where she ran 50:54.

She actually ran faster for 20,000 meters today than she did for 15,000 meters two years ago.

Her mile pace for 9.3 miles in Jacksonville was 5:27.7, and her mile pace for 12.4 miles in New Haven was 5:20.3.

Kemp ran a track 5,000 PR of 15:10.10 this year in Attleboro, Mass., which ranks No. 14 in the U.S. this year and No. 52 all-time.

She set her 10,000 PR of 31:35.63 last year in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. That ranks No. 35 in U.S. history.

Haddonfield’s Allison Colflesh, a freshman at Maryland, opened her collegiate XC career with an 11th-place finish at the Mount St. Mary’s University Duals.

Colflesh covered the 5,000-meter course in Emmitsburg, Md., in 19:48 and was Maryland’s second finisher, behind another freshman, Katie Altieri, who took eighth in 19:15.

George Washington swept the top five spots and outscored Maryland 15-61, with Maryland-Baltimore County third (85) and Catholic University of Washington, D.C., fourth (134).

For Catholic, Moorestown graduate Kate Inglis, a freshman, ran 20:59 for 21st place, and freshman Georgia Nussey, Colflesh’s former Haddonfield teammate, placed 39th in 22:36.