Senior Nicole Clifford edged Northern Burlington freshman Liliah Gordon to win her second straight individual title and lead Cherokee to the team title Friday at the Burlington County Open.

Cherokee went 1-3-4-7-10 for 25 points, topping 2nd-place Shawnee, who scored 54. Northern was third with 96. The team title was the third straight for Cherokee.

Clifford ran 18:37 over 5,000 meters at the Rancocas Valley Sports Complex in Eastampton, finishing about 35 meters ahead of Gordon in the first head-to-head matchup of two of South Jersey’s top runners. Clifford ran 19:50 to win last year’s County Open on the same course.

Sophomore Olivia Parkinson and junior Kelsey Niglio placed 3rd and 4th for Cherokee in 19:15 and 19:45, sophomore Kerry O’Day ran 7th in 20:00 and freshman Megan Niglio was 10th in 21:01.

According to the MileSplit database, Clifford, Gordon and Parkinson all ran under the course record of 19:36, set in 2018 by Collingswood’s Sophie Steidle at the Ray Hoagland Invitational.

This is the second year the Burlco Open has been held at R.V.’s athletic fields after being held at Mill Creek Park in Willingboro from 1981 through 2019.

Cherokee runners have won the last four individual titles. Kate Rathman won in 2018 and 2019 and Clifford in 2020 and 2021.

Also in the top 10 were Cinnaminson junior Stephanie Renouf [5th in 19:51], Shawnee junior Kate Ruona [6th in 19:54], Shawnee senior Madelyn Valasek [8th in 20:43] and Cinnaminson senior Grace Coller [9th in 20:54].

Senior Scott Hubbard placed 3rd and junior Joseph Gaspari, senior Tyler Wells and senior Clifford Gilmore finished within three seconds of each other in 7th, 8th and 9th, and Audubon won its first Camden County XC title in 50 years Saturday.

Hubbard ran 17:15 over 5,000 meters at Timber Creek Park in Lindenwold and Gloucester Township. Gaspari was 7th in 18:08 and Wells and Gilmore 8th and 9th, both in 18:11. Junior Aaron Myers rounded out the Green Wave’s scoring pack with 16th place in 19:03, and sophomore Aiden Williams and freshman Leo Davis also raced for Audubon, placing 16th and 25th.

Audubon outscored 2nd-place Highland 32-54, with Camden Catholic (86) and Paul VI (92) also under 100.

Audubon’s only previous team title came in 1961, the second year the meet was held, when the Green Wave outscored Woodrow Wilson 39-81 for the team title. Audubon went 3-5-6 that year, with Gordon Shindle 3rd, Tony Benevento 5th and Mike Bruzzese 6th.

Audubon’s 32 points are the lowest winning total since Cherry Hill East won the 2013 race 27-90 over Cherry Hill West. 

Triton senior Dennis Fortuna, second last year in 16:30, ran 16:13, finishing 200 meters ahead of 2nd-place Billy Clewell of Camden Catholic, who ran 16:54.

Fortuna became the first individual winner from Triton since Robert Rawls ran 16:15 at Gloucester County College to win the 2010 race.

Others in the top 10 were Timber Creek Cole Mylan [4th in 17:20] and Highland junior Gavin Gallo [5th in 17;53], Pennsauken junior Joel Oquendo [6th in 18:04] and Cole Knoedler [10th 18:12].

Shawnee grad John Ruona, a freshman at Mt. St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg, Md., placed 15th out of nearly 300 runners Saturday at the Aubrey Shenk Gettysburg (Pa.) XC Invite.

Ruona ran 27:17 over 8,.000 meters on Gettysburg’s on-campus course and was the Mount’s 4th runner in a 45-65 team victory over Messiah College of Grantham, Pa.

Ruona was the first freshman across the line, finishing one second ahead of Kyle Costello of Messiah.

At Shawnee, Ruona placed 3rd in last year’s County Open XC race and 4th in the Olympic Conference Championships.

Gloucester Catholic grad Adam Stetser also raced for Mt. St. Mary’s.

Haddonfield grad Isabella Miller, a senior at Haverford, finished first of nearly 300 runners Saturday at Rowan University’s Border Battle at DREAM Park in Logan Township.

Miller ran 21:33 over 6,000 meters, finishing 35 meters ahead of Johns Hopkins sophomore Ashley Heidenrich, who was second in 21:41.

This was Miller’s second straight invitational win. She was first across the line last weekend at the Main Line Invitational over 5,000 meters at Haverford. She was also the first collegiate finisher in her first race, the Haverford Alumni Race last month.

For Catholic University, freshman Kate Inglis of Moorestown was first across the line in 60th place with a time of 24:09.

Top finisher for host Rowan was senior Lyndsay Boyd from Pitman, who ran 24:49 and placed 102nd overall.

Some 292 runners from 35 colleges raced Saturday morning.

Overall winner Patrick Ditmars led four Cherokee runners in the top six and the Chiefs rolled to their eighth straight Burlington County Open XC title.

Ditmars, a junior, ran 16:25 over the 5,000-meter course at the Rancocas Valley athletic fields in Eastampton, finishing 65 meters ahead of Rancocas Valley junior Ryan Smith, who was second in 16:38. RV senior Andre Faigal placed third in 16:43.

Cherokee took the next three spots, with junior Conor Jacob, sophomore Robert Poplau and senior Joseph Natoli running 16:46, 16:54 and 16:59. Senior Bradley Popler was Cherokee’s 5th man in 9th with a 17:06.

Cherokee packed its five scorers in 41 seconds, averaged 16:50 and scored 25 points. 

Cinnaminson, despite missing its top two runners with injuries and racing with just five entrants, all junior, was second with 86 points.

Last time Cherokee did not win the County Open was 2014, when Northern Burlington went 1-2 with Chris Martin and Harrison Scott.

Other runners in the top 10 were Lenape senior Jake Buniva [7th in 17:06], Lenape junior Colin Hermack [8th 17:06] and Delran senior Anthony Guarino [10th 17:16].

Cinnaminson placed second without a runner in the top 10 by packing its five scorers – Matt McCarron, Derek Coceano, Tyler Schill, Dean Clark and Ryan Coceano – all between 11th place and 22nd place and between 17:23 and 18:15.

Junior Grace Wassell was the overall winner, and senior Princess Nwoga and senior Vanessa Marinero finished 2nd and 5th to lead the Highland girls to their first Camden County XC title in 13 years.

Wassell ran 20:26 over 5,000 meters at Timber Creek Park in Lindenwold and Gloucester Township, Nwoga took 2nd in 20:39 and Marinero placed 5th in 21:27.

Haddonfield, which won the last four team titles, did not compete this year.

Freshman Madison Goodman placed 18th in 24:26 and sophomore Arianna Laster 27th in 25:30 for Highland, which outscored 2nd-place Paul VI 50-64. Camden Catholic was one point back in third with 65 points.

The team title is Highland’s first since 2008, when Megan Venables, Jenn Rawls and Gabrielle Prendergast swept the top three spots.

Other runners in the top 10 were Paul VI sophomore Shaelan McNally [3rd in 21:02], Eastern senior Sophia Staiger [4th  21:12], Camden Catholic junior Casey Bednarek [6th 21:59], Camden Catholic freshman Nilaa Ponnappan [7th 22:17]], Winslow Township senior Victoria Campbell [8th 22:23], Eastern senior Lauren Kenselaar [9th 22:28] and Eastern junior Sophia Gambescia [10th 23:06].

Terrific race Thursday between Kingsway senior Kyle Rakitis and Woodbury sophomore Peyton Shute at the Gloucester County Championships.

Rakitis ran 15:44 and Shute 15:51 over 5,000 meters at West Deptford Park to win the county title. Last year, Rakitis placed second to Shute’s older brother Brady over the same course, Shute running 15:59 and Rakitis 16:16.

Three other runners – West Deptford senior Jacob Cobb (16:23), Williamstown junior Nicholas Kool (16:45) and Washington Township senior Chris Colavita (16:47) also broke 17 minutes.

Washington Township edged Kingsway by one spot to win the team title, 45-46, going 5-7-9-10-14. Kingsway had won nine straight team titles since Clearview won in 2011. The championship is the first for the Minutemen since 2009, when they beat Delsea 43-55  at Gloucester County College.

Seniors Nate Kidwell, Charles Lant and Sean Hice all joined Colavita finished in the top 10 for Township, Kidwell 7th in 17:21, Lant 9th in 17:34 and Nice 10th in 17:46. Township’s fifth scorer was junior Tells McDonald, who placed 15th in 18:09.

Also in the top 10 were Kingsway senior Ryan Allen (6th in 17:03) and Kingsway junior Cesar Pedro (8th in 17:25).

Eric Reitinger, a 2002 Shawnee graduate, placed 224th out of more than 20,000 runners Monday in the 124th annual Boston Marathon.

Reitinger had a chip time of 2:38.56, a 6:04 per-mile average over the historic 26-mile, 385-yard course from Hopkinton to Boston.

Reitinger hit 5K in 18:46, 10K in 37:02, 15K in 55:04, 20K in 1:13.23, the halfway point in 1:17.18, 25K in 1:31.35, 30K in 1:50.11, 35K in 2:09.18 and 40K in 2:29.17.

As a senior at Shawnee, Reitinger placed 4th in the Burlington County Open XC race with a 16:38 at Mill Creek Park, 9th in the Group 4 sectionals at Williamstown in 16:19 and 23rd at states at Holmdel in 17:13.

Two decades later, he averaged 18:50 per 5K over the equivalent of about 8 1/2 5Ks.

Kingsway juniors Aubrey Pierontoni and Nicole Lipieta swept the top two places in the Varsity E race Saturday at the Manhattan Invitational.

Pierontoni ran 15:24 and Lipieta 15:59 over the historic and challenging 2 1/2-mile course at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York.

Kingsway scored 85 points and took second out of 18 teams, behind only East Islip, which scored 54.

Sophomore Cassidy Dunk, junior Shelby Dyer and Erin Tracey also scored for Kingsway, Dunk 25th in 17:27, Dyer 28th in 17:32 and Tracey 40th in 17:58. They were backed up by sophomore Kendall Cramer, who was 45th in 18:16.

Pennsville graduate Dan Wyshinski and Audubon grad Jason Hyland finished 11th and 12th of over 125 runners Saturday in the Jack St. Clair Memorial Invitational at Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park.

Wyshinski, a freshman at Wilmington College in Delaware, ran 28:47 over the very challenging 8,000-meter course, and Hyland, a freshman at Rutgers-Camden, ran 28:57.

Wilmington placed 4th among 15 teams with 122 points, behind a post-collegiate club – Philadelphia Runner Track (20 points) – Lebanon Valley (80) and Jefferson of Philly (83).

Top runner for Chestnut Hill College of Philadelphia was Chris Nelson, a sophomore from Kingsway, and their fourth runner was Damir Kee, a freshman from Sterling.

In the women’s race, Kingsway grad Sydney Watts, a freshman at Chestnut Hill College, placed 15th in 25:56, and junior Kirstin Slater, a Haddon Heights graduate, was Rutgers-Camden’s top runner, placing 34th overall in 27:58.