Monmouth’s Sebastien Reed, a junior from Pitman, broke up nationally ranked Princeton’s pack Friday at the New Jersey Jam at the Princeton XC Course in West Windsor.
Princeton, ranked No. 2 behind Villanova in the USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region poll and No. 24 nationally in NCAA Division 1, went 1-2-3-4-6-7-8-9, with Reed placing 5th and just half a second out of 3rd place.
Reed covered the 5.6-kilometer course in 16:59.0, finishing less than 10 seconds behind winner Anthony Monte, an NCAA qualifier in both track at 10,000 meters and in cross country.
A 16:59 for 5.6K equals 15:09 pace for 5,000 meters.
Reed, who ran for former Westfield legend Matt Elmuccio at Pitman High, ran 14:15.94 for 5,000 meters at the Penn Relays in April, only three seconds off the school record of 14:12.67 set by Nick Pellegrino of Marlboro at the 2004 IC4A Championships at Yale University in New Haven.
Rutgers sophomore Zeb Hinker from Lower Cape May Regional and Rider senior Gobi Thurairajah from Egg Harbor Township both also finished in the top 20. Hinker ran 17:35 for 18th place and was Rutgers’ top finisher, and Thurairajah was Rider’s No. 2 finisher.
In the women’s race, Monmouth junior Isabella Leak from Egg Harbor, Rider freshman Maddie Dischert of Atlantic City, Monmouth junior Allie Pierontoni from Kingsway all finished in the top 20. Leak ran 14:39.9 over 4,000 meters for 13th, Dischert ran 14:41.0 for 15th and Piertontoni 14:59.6 for 18th.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 