Abigail Waddington became Clearview’s first sectional champion in 33 years and paced the Pioneers to their 2nd consecutive South Jersey Group 3 title.
Waddington, a senior, ran 18:01 over 5,000 meters at DREAM Park in Logan Township near Glassboro, leading eight runners under 19 minutes, including teammates Abigail Kotran, a senior, and Margaret Wisniewski, a junior.
Wassington’s time is No. 2 in course history, behind only the 17:52 Isabella Turner of Shawnee ran at the 2018 South Jersey Shootout. Her time was fastest of the day by three seconds over Jessica Abbott, the Toms River North freshman, who won the Group 4 race.
Clearview, ranked No. 4 in New Jersey, outscored Ocean City 31-86 for the team title. Mainland Regional [93], Moorestown [114] and Toms River South [135] also earned lanes at the state Group 3 meet next weekend at Holmdel County Park.
Clearview’s last sectional champion was Michele Owen, who won South Jersey Group 2 titles in 1986 on her home course in Mullica Hill, in 1987 at Cherokee and in 1989 at Westampton Tech and placed 5th at Mill Creek Park in 1988, when teammate Carrie Thompson won.
Waddington led all five Clearview scorers in the top 11, with Kotran running 18:35 for 4th place and Wisniewski 18:45 for 6th place. Junior Allison Roes placed 9th in 19:16 and senior Aubrey Donahue ran 19:47 for 11th.
Clearview’s 31-point total is the lowest in South Jersey Group 3 since 1990, when Paul VI won 24-64 over Ocean City. The Pioneers’ 55-point margin of victory over 2nd-place Ocean City is the largest in SJ-3 since Seneca won over Highland by 67 points with Nicole McGrainer and Lyndsy Horn in 2008 (54-121).
The Pioneers averaged 18:53, which is 3rd-fastest in course history. Haddonfield averaged 18:19 to win the Group 2 race on Saturday and averaged 18:51 to win Group 2 last year.
Sophomore Sofia Day and junior Gillian Lovett led Mainland in 2nd and 3rd place, Day in 18:12 and Lovett in 18:26.
Ocean City sophomore Maeve Smith [7th in 18:47], Delsea senior Lillie Widmer [8th in 18:49] and Highland senior Grace Wassell [10th in 19:45] rounded out the top 10.
The rest of the top 15 included Moorestown junior Julia Brock [12th in 19:54], Winslow sophomore Ava Millner [13th in 19:56], Ocean City sophomore Chloe Care [14th in 20:10] and Delsea sophomore Juliana Sieminski [15th in 20:13].
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 