Maeve Smith became Ocean City’s 3rd individual winner of the day and ran the fastest time of the day Saturday when she won the senior class race at the 26th annual Cherokee Challenge.
Smith, 9th in the Meet of Champions last fall and 8th in the Meet of Champions 1,600 this past spring, ran 11:28 over two miles at Cherokee and won by 60 meters over Alli DeLisa of Penn Charter, who placed 2nd in 11:41.
Earlier, Riley Tolson of Ocean City won the freshman race in 12:07 and Carly Godfrey won the sophomore race in 11:57. Four of the eight-fastest times by South Jersey runners (four of 16 overall) were recorded by Ocean City runners. Ocean City’s 5th runner was Zoe Zammit, who plcae 16th in the senior race in 12:23, the 14th-fastest overall South Jersey performance.
In the senior race, the 2nd South Jersey finisher was Ocean City’s Chloe Care, who placed 4th in 11:46. Kaysie Luna of Sterling [5th in 11:53], Moorestown’s Gabrielle DeJoseph [6th in 11:53] and Cherokee’s Megan Niglio [10th in 12:07] also finished in the top 10.
There was no team scoring kept, but unofficially Ocean City would have won 58-110 over Pingry School of Bernards Township, Somerset County. Moorestown would have placed 4th with 187 and Cherokee 6th [229] out of 71 schools that fielded at least five runners in the four races.
Fastest South Jersey girls in the junior race were Julia Flanagan of Holy Cross [2nd in 11:55], Cherokee’s Madeline Meder [8th in 12:19], Williamstown’s Sophie Aldridge [9th in 12:22] and Collingswood’s Macie Straight [11th in 12:24].
In the sophomore race, Moorestown’s Sophia DiFiore placed 9th in 12:48, Egg Harbor’s Addison Lambert 10th in 12:53 and Lenape’s Audrey McCorkle 11th in 12:55.
Other than Tolson, the top South Jersey freshmen were Cherokee’s Erin Healy [6th in 12:31] and Moorestown teammates Hope Edwards [7th in 12:39] and Makayla Zell [8th in 12:42].
Here’s a look at every South Jersey girl that run 13:00 or faster in any of the four class races:
11:28.51 … Maeve Smith [Ocean City], 1st, senior race
11:46.29 … Chloe Care [Ocean City], 4th, senior race
11:53.13 … Kaysie Luna [Sterling], 5th, senior race
11:53.23 … Gabrielle DeJoseph [Moorestown], 6th, senior race
11:55.57 … Julia Flanagan [Holy Cross], 2nd, junior race
11:57.98 … Carly Godfrey [Ocean City], 1st, sophomore race
12:07.32 … Megan Niglio [Cherokee], 10th, senior race
12:07.36 … Riley Tolson [Ocean City], 1st, freshman race
12:09.17 … Nilaa Ponnappan [Camden Catholic], 11th, senior race
12:14.89 … Jonalee Adames [Sterling], 13th, senior race
12:15.50 … Lilliana Stack Maya [Moorestown], 6th, junior race
12:19.05 … Madeline Meder [Cherokee], 8th, junior race
12:22.82 … Sophie Aldridge [Williamstown], 9th, junior race
12:23.93 … Zoe Zammit [Ocean City], 16th, senior race
12:24.28 … Macie Straight [Collingswood], 11th, junior race
12:26..81 … Zoe Chou [Northern Burlington], 17th, senior race
12:31.59 … Erin Healy [Cherokee], 6th, freshman race
12:32.45 … Noelia Reyes [Moorestown], 22nd, senior race
12:34.60 … Juliana Sieminski [Delsea], 23rd, senior race
12:34.63 … Krystal Patel [Cherry Hill West], 24th, senior race
12:35.57 … Paige Pacquing [Egg Harbor Twp.], 16th, junior race
12:36.92 … Lilla Porter [Clearview], 27th, senior race
12:38.77 … Delaney Harbison [Williamstown], 29th, senior race
12:39.25 … Hope Edwards [Moorestown], 7th, freshman race
12:42.64 … Makayla Zell [Moorestown], 8th, freshman race
12:43.40 … Devyn Per [Egg Harbor Twp.], 17th, junior race
12:44.31 … Maya Kumar [Cherokee], 18th, junior race
12:44.59 … Sarah Brown [Moorestown], 32nd, senior race
12:45.53 … Kayla Leonhardt [Northern Burlington], 34th, senior race
12:47.54 … Ashley Doyle [Delran], 20th, junior race
12:48.11 … Sophia DiFiore [Moorestown], 9th, sophomore race
12:53.71 … Addison Lambert [Egg Harbor Twp.], 10th, sophomore race
12:55.95 … Audrey McCorkle [Lenape], 11th, sophomore race
12:58.74 … Natalie Clauhs [Hammonton], 37th, senior race
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 