Sophomore Riley Austin and senior Riley Slootsky finished in the top 10 to pace Haddonfield to a dramatic team title in the Varsity 1 race at the Bowdoin Park Classic in Wappingers Falls, N.Y.
Took day to track down the results, but we finally have them, and Haddonfield had a fantastic race in its first big race this fall, edging Pingry and Corning, N.Y, 81-85-86.
Haddonfield, ranked No. 2 in New Jersey and No. 1 among public schools, packed its five scorers in the top 25 and all six of its finishers in the top 30.
Austin placed 7th in 20:20.7 over 5,000 meters and Slootsky 9th in 20:27.9 for the Lady Bulldogs. Then senior Anna Stolarick, junior Katherine Asher and junior Dylan Melcher all packed between 21:05 and 21:18 in 20th, 21st and 25th.
With four runners across, Corning had 53 points, Haddonfield 57 and Pingry 58
Melcher provided the difference in the final score, finishing one place ahead of Pingry’s 4th runner and three places in front of Pingry’s 5th runner and nine spots ahead of Corning’s 5th runner.
Freshman Harper Benjamin backed up Haddonfield’s top five, finishing 31st overall in 21:35.6. She was the 2nd freshman finisher.
Haddonfield had the low score as well in a merge of the two varsity races with 124 points, one fewer than Pingry and four fewer than Corning.
Mainland Regional won the Varsity 2 race with 60 points and was 5th in the merge. More on the Mustangs’ race soon!
The same Bowdoin Park course located along the East Bank of the Hudson River an hour north of the Tappan Zee Bridge is used for the Nike Cross Country Northeast Regional in November.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 