Eastern’s Theresa Albertson opened her sophomore year with a big win in an Olympic Conference batch meet Tuesday at DREAM Park in Logan Township.
Albertson, who placed 7th in the Olympic Conference meet and South Jersey Group 4 sectionals as a freshman, ran 20:21 and was 1st of 57 runners from Eastern, Lenape, Seneca, Shawnee and Rancocas Valley.
Junior Natalie Dumas, in her first race since winning the 400-meter hurdles national title at the West Philly Nationals at Franklin Field in 58.32 – 4th-fastest in state history – placed 2nd in 22:17. It was her first cross country race ever.
Senior Annelise Shack, sophomore Jordyn Waterman and senior Sarah Haefele – none of whom ran XC last year – finished 6th, 7th and 8th, all between 24:08 and 24:10, giving Eastern five of the first eight finishers and 24 team points if there were team scoring.
Lenape sophomore Audrey McCorkle, who also didn’t run XC last year, placed 3rd [22:53], and junior Mary Casano [23:15] and senior Haley Wasson [23:30] of Rancocas Valley finished 4th and 5th.
Sophomore Danica DiPerna and senior Kayla Dilks of Shawnee rounded out the top 10, DiPerna in 9th and Dilks in 10th in 24:11 and 24:12.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 