Senior Jackson Sennhenn, sophomore Shaun Maloney, senior Owen Dybus and sophomore James Clauson all placed in the top 10, and Haddon Township rolled to the South Jersey Group 1 title Saturday.
Sennhenn led the way for the Hawks in 4th place in 17:19 over 5,000 meters at DREAM Park in Logan Township, Maloney was 6th in 17:39, Dybus placed 9th in 17:58 and Clauson ran 18:00 and finished 10th. Township’s 5th scorer was sophomore Luke Wolfram, who placed 19th in 18:53.
Haddon Township outscored 2nd-place Gloucester 48-92, with Schalick [105], Glassboro [106] and Audubon [144] also earning team invites to states Saturday at Holmdel.
Glassboro senior Elijah Whitaker blazed a 15:33.27 to win his 2nd consecutive individual title, this one by 170 meters over Audubon senior Aidan Williams, who placed 2nd in 16:08. More on Whitaker in a minute.
For Haddon Township, this is the 2nd sectional title in a row, 12th in the last 16 years and 22nd overall. That’s 2nd-most among South Jersey schools, behind only neighboring Haddonfield’s 42.
The Hawks won their first sectional title in 1968 in Group 3, led by individual winner Ken Medlin, then moved down to Group 2 and won titles in 1970, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1985 and 1986, then placed 1st in Group 1 in 1988, 1996, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2022 and this year.
Whitaker is the first Glassboro runner to win back-to-back sectional races since Tom Horne in 1993 and 1994, and his 15:33.27 makes him the 11th-fastest performer in course history and fastest – by far – by a Group 1 runner. The previous Group 1 record was a 16:07.47 by Audubon’s Scott Hubbard [who placed 2nd Saturday in the NJAC meet]. Both Whitaker and Williams went under that Saturday.
Whitaker’s time was 3rd-fastest among all races, behind Peyton Shute of Woodbury, who ran 15:09.97 to win Group 1, and Nick Kuenkel of Cherokee, who ran 15:23.05, to win Group 4.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 