Led by senior Liam Dougherty, junior Bennett Wright and sophomore Ryan Gibson all in the top 10, Haddonfield won its 21st state cross country championship – and 6th in a row – Saturday at Holmdel County Park.
Haddonfield packed its five scorers in a ridiculous 18 seconds and raced past Bernards 39-68 in a showdown of the top-two small-school programs in New Jersey history.
Bernards and Haddonfield have won the most state championships by any public schools in state history – 23 for Bernards and now 21 for Haddonfield. Only CBA, with 32 (including the one they’ll win later today), has won more.
Since 2000, Haddonfield has won nearly twice as many state Group 2 titles [15] as every other team combined [8]. The meet wasn’t held in 2020.
Bernards sophomore Brody Watt won the race in 16:19, but Dougherty, Wright and Gibson all finished ahead of Bernards’ 2nd runner.
Sophomore Benjamin Andrus placed 11th in 16:52 and sophomore Luke Andressen 14th in 16:54. Senior 6th man Matthew Sullivan ran 17:13 for 22nd place, and senior Reid Gervasi made it seven Haddonfield runners in the top 35 with a 17:32.
Haddonfield won its first state championship in 1978 and also won Group 2 in 1980 before moving down to Group 1, where the Bulldogs won in 1985, 1987, 1989 and 1990 before returning to Group 2. They’ve since won Group 2 in 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Collingswood senior Elijah Forrest ran 16:22 for 3rd place and was the top South Jersey finisher in the race. Haddon Heights junior Reggie Hernandez finished 19th in 17:03.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 