From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

The Haddonfield girls packed their top five in 31 seconds and won its 10th state title by 50 points Saturday.

Sophomore Anna Earp, junior Sabrina Miller and senior Jess Goode finished 6th, 7th and 8th, and sophomore Audrey Naticchia, junior Helene Usher and sophomore Riley Slootsky placed 11th, 12th and 13th for Haddonfield, which is ranked No. 3 in the state.

Haddonfield finished with a 44-94 win over 2nd-place Metuchen to win its first state title since 2016. Haddonfield would almost certainly have won last year, but the state meet was not held.

Haddonfield’s 50-point margin of victory and its 44 points are both the best since 2012, when Voorhees won Group 2 34-103 over Bernards. Since the girls meet’s inception in 1976, the 44 points are 5th-lowest in Group 2 and the 50-point margin of victory is 10th-largest.

Haddonfield averaged 19:52 over the 5,000-meter course at Holmdel County Park. That’s 5th-fastest ever by a South Jersey team at Holmdel and fastest since Kingsway ran 19:45 at the 2017 Meet of Champions. The Bulldogs actually packed their first six finishers in 39 seconds.

Earp ran 19:46, Miller 19:46 and Goode 19:51 in Haddonfield’s first group of three, with Naticchia in 20:00, Usher 20:17 and Slootsky 20:17.  Sophomore Sarah Fetter also raced for Haddonfield.

Haddonfield previously won state titles in Group 1 in 1990, 1993 and 1998 and in Group 2 in 1994, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2016.

Only Red Bank Catholic (20), Bernards (12), Voorhees (11) and North Hunterdon (10) have won more state titles than the Haddonfield girls.

Cinnaminson junior Stephanie Renouf also advanced to states by placing 9th in 19:52, her first time under 20 minutes at Holmdel.