Sophomore Sofia Day and junior Gillian Lovett finished 1-2, and Mainland placed four in the top 10 to win its 4th straight Atlantic County Championships Thursday.
Day ran 18:17 and Lovett 18:32 over 5,000 meters at Stockton University in Galloway Township, and Mainland outscored 2nd-place Egg Harbor Township, 29-41. Cedar Creek placed 3rd with 87 points. Day won the individual title last year as well with an 18:23 on the same course
Mainland also won county titles in 2018, 2019 and 2021. The meet was not held in 2020.
Day and Lovett recorded Mainland’s first 1-2 finish at the county meet since 2016, when Alyssa Aldridge and Emily Dirkes went 1-2 – both under 18 minutes – at Hammonton Lake Park.
Also for Mainland, junior Claudia Booth, junior Chloe Malone and sophomore Ava McDole placed 5th, 9th and 12th, Booth in 20:24, Malone in 21:12 and McDole in 22:01.
Junior Michaela Schlemo led EHT in 3rd place in 18:34, with sophomore Bithan Andemariam [6th in 20:41], junior Taylor Rooney [7th in 20:55] and freshman Page Pacquing [10th in 21:36] all in the top 10 and senior Raghd Mahmoud just five spots behind Pacquing in 22:23.
Also in the top 10 were Atlantic City senior Madline Dischert [4th in 19:06] and Hammonton sophomore Natalie Clauhs [8th in 21:05].
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 