Cherry Hill East used some tremendous pack running to win the Varsity A team title at the Six Flags Wild Safari Invitational Saturday in Jackson.
The Cougars packed all five scorers between 8th and 16th and all seven runners in the top 20 and edged Conestoga of Tredyffrin Township, Chester County, Pa., by one point – 62-63. Colts Neck – ranked 7th in New Jersey – was 3rd with 70 and Manalapan – ranked 13th – was 4th with 81 points.
Cherry Hill East is not ranked in the most recent MileSplit poll but obviously should be and most likely will be next week.
Raine Guidarelli, Nikhil Raman, Brody Bogos, Cole Pizzo and Colin Moore packed in 23 seconds in wet, rainy conditions at Great Adventure.
Guidarelli led the Cougars in 8th place in 16:37.2, with Raman also in the top 10 in 10th place in 16:41.3. Bogos ran 16:49.2 for 13th, Pizzo was 15th in 16:59.8 and Moore 16th in 17:00.5.
They were backed up by Alvin Lin [17th in 17:01.4] and Brandon Lyons [20th in 17:15.2], giving East seven finishers in 38 seconds.
It takes seven runners to make a team, and this race is exactly why. After four runners, Conestoga led Cherry Hill East 36-46. But Pizzo, Moore, Lin and Lyons all finished ahead of Conestoga’s 5th runner, and that was the difference in the team standings.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 