Northern Burlington sophomore Liliah Gordon, Paul VI junior Shaelan McNally and Mainland Regional sophomore Sofia Day ran three of the fastest times at the Manhattan Invitational Saturday.
Gordon, McNally and Day all ran between 15:10 and 15:17 over the hilly 2 ½-mile course at historic Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.
McNally won the Varsity B race in 15:11, finishing half a meter ahead of 2nd-place Tsadia Bercuvitz, an 8th-grader who competes for Ithaca (N.Y.) High School. In New York State, 7th- and 8th-graders are permitted to compete for the high school in their district.
Day ran 15:17 and placed 4th in the Varsity C race, with junior teammate Gillian Lovett 11 seconds back in 6th place.
Gordon ran 15:10 to lead all South Jersey runners. She was 12th in the Eastern States Championship race.
Gordon, McNally and Day were New Jersey’s three-fastest runners in the various races Saturday.
Their times ranked 15th, 16th and 22nd out of 1,157 runners in a merge of the seven girls races.
Mainland, ranked 17th in New Jersey, placed 2nd in the Varsity C race on a 6th-runner tiebreaker with Padua Academy of Wilmington, Del. Both finished with 88 points.
Joining Day and Lovett in Mainland’s scoring group were junior Claudia Booth, junior Chloe Malone and sophomore Ava McDole, who finished together – Booth 28th in 17:15, Malone 29th in 17:17 and McDole 30th in 17:18.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 