The Haddonfield boys extended their remarkable streak of Meet of Champions top-8 finishes to seven in a row Saturday with their 7th-place finish in the 51st annual MoC at Holmdel.
Including the 2020 race, which was technically an exhibition, Haddonfield has placed 7th or better seven straight years, 10 of the last 11 years and 15 of the last 18 years. Overall, Haddonfield has placed in the top 10 a remarkable 21 times since 1980. Only eight times since 1980 – a span of 44 years – has Haddonfield not raced at the Meet of Champions as a full team.
This is not a parochial school that hand-picks the fastest hotshot middle school runners from a 50-mile radius. This is a small Group 2 school in a community of about 13,000 residents.
Haddonfield was led Saturday by juniors Luke Andresen and Bennett Wright, who placed 45th and 49th in 16:34 and 16:42. Sophomore Ryan Gibson ran 16:49 for 63rd, sophomore Benjamin Andrus ran 16:54 for 71st and senior Liam Dougherty 17:02 for 84th.
Soph Matt Sullivan ran 17:13, giving Haddonfield five underclassmen between 16:34 and 17:13, and junior Reid Gervasi wasn’t far behind at 17:20.
Haddonfield’s 28-second gap from 1 through 5 was smallest in the field of 15 teams. The Bulldogs averaged 16:48 over the hilly, windy 5,000-meter Holmdel County Park course
Haddonfield’s Meet of Champions finishes year-by-year:
2023: 7th
2022: 6th
2021: 3rd
2020: 4th
2019: 3rd
2018: 2nd
2017: 6th
2016: 13th
2015: 4th
2014: 5th
2013: 7th
2012: 13th
2011: —
2010: 2nd
2009: 4th
2008: 4th
2007: 3rd
2006: 3rd
2005: 13th
2004: —
2003: —
2002: 13th
2001: 1st
2000: 10th
1999: —
1998: 11th
1997: 16th
1996: 15th
1995: 10th
1994: —
1993: 18th
1992: —
1991: —
1990: 9th
1989: 5th
1988: 13th
1987: 14th
1986: 8th
1985: 11th
1984: 12th
1983: 19th
1982: 14th
1981: —
1980: 8th
1979: 13th
1978: 12th
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 