Ocean City junior Maeve Smith placed 11th out of nearly 200 runners Saturday in the Nike Cross Country Nationals Northeast Regional.
Smith ran 19:03.7 and was named to the Northeast All-Region second team. She was the 4th underclassman in the race and the 3rd junior.
Smith’s time is 3rd-fastest ever by a South Jersey girl on the course that’s been used for years for Nike Northeast Regionals. Briana Gess of Haddonfield ran 18:22.6 when she won the 2014 Bowdoin Classic, and Kingsway’s Rachel Vick ran 18:46.6 when she was 6th in the 2016 Nike Northeast Regionals.
Smith this fall won the South Jersey Group 3 race and was 3rd at states and 9th at the Meet of Champions.
Cherokee finished 9th in team scoring with 285 points, with senior Kerry O’Day leading the way in 18th place in 19:19.7. Junior Megan Niglio [47th in 20:10.6], senior Alaina Bromley [97th in 20:52.6], senior Olivia Parkinson [100th in 20:57.1] also broke 21 minutes for the Chiefs.
Mainland junior Sofia Day ran 19:46.2 and placed 31st out of 196 finishers and senior teammate Gillian Lovett was just behind in 44th with a 20:06.6.
Williamstown’s Sophia Aldridge was the 15th sophomore in the race, running 20:29.6 and placing 74th overall.
Top South Jersey finisher in the boys race was Ocean City senior Matt Hoffman, who place 75th out of nearly 300 runners in 17:08.0. Cherry Hill East junior Brody Bogos ran 17:17.9 for 94th.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 