Shawnee’s Madelyn Valasek placed 4th overall to lead the Stockton women over Rowan in the season-opening Stockton Invite on the Ospreys’ home course in Galloway Township.

Valasek, a sophomore, ran 20:14.5 over 5,000 meters and was Stockton’s No. 2 runner, behind overall winner Kayla Kass, who won the race in 19:42.5. Valasek ran 34 seconds faster Friday than she ran on the same course as a freshman last fall.

Stockton went 1-4-5-6-12 and edged Rowan 28-33 to win the team title. Stockton is ranked No. 3 in the Metro Region by the USTFCCCA behind only Widener and The College of New Jersey and Rowan is No. 7.

Anna Sasse, a junior from Williamstown, was Rowan’s top runner in 2nd place in 20:04, and freshman Allyson Wernick was the Profs’ second finisher in her first collegiate race, taking 8th overall out of 75 runners in 20:31. She was the top freshman in the race and teammate Mackenzie Saber of Williamstown was the 2nd freshman finisher in 17th overall in her first college XC race (she ran track last year but not XC). The 3rd freshman finisher was Holy Family’s Maya Harper from Pleasantville.

Seniors Amanda McNally from Seneca and Cameron Wright from Cherry Hill East placed 9th and 11th and were Rowan’s 4th and 5th finishers, McNally in 20:34 and Wright in 20:40.

Valasek, Wright and Saber finished 4th, 5th and 6th in the 5,000 last spring at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships at Ramapo in Mahwah.

Haddonfield graduate Seth Clevenger, a sophomore at Iowa State, placed 5th overall Friday in the Cyclone Preview on the Cyclones’ home course in Ames.

Clevenger covered the 6,000-meter course in 18:22.8, which is 15:18 pace for 5,000 meters with another 1,000 at the same pace.

Clevenger raced unattached but was the fourth Iowa State runner overall, finishing 25 seconds behind overall winner Silas Winders, who ran 17:57.

Last spring, Clevenger ran 3:48.23 for 1,500 meters and 8:15.16 for 3,000 meters.

Haddonfield graduate Helene Usher opened her college career in style Friday, leading the La Salle pack at the season-opening Temple Invitational.

Usher ran 15:50.1 over the 4,000-meter course at Temple’s Ambler campus in Upper Dublin Township, Montgomery County. She placed 7th overall and was the first freshman across the finish line, five seconds ahead of teammate Amelia Artz from Monroe Township High.

Villanova sophomore Kinsey Pogue was the overall winner, crossing the line in 15:16.9.

La Salle, ranked 13th in the Mid-Atlantic Region by the USTFCCCA, finished 3rd with 49 points, behind Villanova (33) and Temple (42)

La Salle assistant women’s coach Meghan Malloy is a former Cinaminson and Haddonfield runner.

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.