Senior Scott Hubbard placed second overall and senior Tyler Wells and junior Joseph Gaspari also placed in the top 14 and Audubon raced to its first state cross country title ever Saturday at Holmdel County Park.
Audubon outscored 2nd-place Kinnelon, 76-100, a week after outscoring Haddon Township 35-56 to win the South Jersey Group 1 title. Haddon Township placed 3rd Saturday with 134 points to advance to the Meet of Champions on the same course next weekend.
Hubbard ran 17:09 over the hilly Holmdel 5,000-meter course, finishing behind only Colin Riley, a junior at Jonathan Dayton in Springfield, Union County. Wells ran 10th in 17:40 and Gaspari 14th in 17:53.
Audubon placed three ahead of Kinnelon’s second runner and averaged 17:57 at Holmdel County Park.
Sophomore Aiden Williams and senior Clifford Gilmore finished together in 18:33 for the Green Wave, Williams credited with 29th place and Gilmore 30 (25 and 26 as far as team points). Senior Aaryn Myers and freshman Leo Davis also raced for Audubon.
Audubon’s best previous finish at states was 2nd place in 1978, when the Green Wave finished behind Bernards by a 59-111 score. That team was led by Ed Wickersham, who placed 7th at states in 17:00 at Holmdel.
Audubon also had top-5 finishes in 1987, 1988 and 2019. They finished 4th in 1988, 5th in 1988 and 5th in 2019, the last time a state meet was held.
This is the third straight meet a Colonial Conference school has won the state Group 1 title. Haddon Township won in 2018 and 2019. Township also won in 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Including titles by Pennsville in 2006 and Haddon Heights in 2007, South Jersey schools have won 10 of the last 15 Group 1 championships.
Also in the top 20 were Buena senior Kayden Platania [12th in 17:49], Haddon Township senior Ethan Bergmann [13th in 17:53] and Wildwood sophomore Jorge Cruz Valle [20th in 18:14].
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 