Woodbury senior Peyton Shute cruised to his first state cross country title Saturday with a dominating performance in the Group 3 race at Holmdel.
Shute, 2nd to Rahway’s Micah Lawson last year, ran 15:47 – 7th-fastest among all six state championship races. He finished 115 meters ahead of Summit senior Nate Roberts, who placed 2nd in 16:10.
He’s Woodbury’s first state cross country champion in 81 years, since Browning Ross won the 1942 overall public school race in 13:29.5 over 2 1/2 miles in Elizabeth. Ross finished 100 meters ahead of John Serrie of Bayonne.
Shute ran 15:43 at Shore Coaches, which broke the Gloucester County best at Holmdel County Park. Mike Mantini of Gateway won the 1978 Group 2 race in 15:54.2, edging Haddonfield’s Jim Smith.
The state title is Shute’s 4th overall. He won the 3,200 last winter at the indoor state Group 1 meet at the Bennett Center in Toms River and the 800 and 3,200 at the outdoor state meet at Franklin.
Shute returns to Holmdel Saturday for the Meet of Champions. He placed 11th last year in 16:05.
Highland senior Aziz Muhammad-Kane placed 5th in 16:23 to punch his ticket to the Meet of Champions.
Ocean City placed 4th with 131 points with senior Matt Hoffman 16th in 16:43 and junior Ethan Buck 18th in 16:45.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 