Senior Cate Feudtner and sophomores Ryleigh Budsock and Gabriella Pizzo all broke 20 minutes over 5,000 meters, and the Cherry Hill East girls – ranked 5th in the state – finished 3rd in a merge of class races at the Battle at Ocean County Park in Lakewood.
Feudtner placed 6th in the senior race in 19:45 and Budsock and Pizzo ran 9th and 10th in the sophomore race in 19:49 and 19:55.
Cherry Hill East’s top-5 also included Ella Davidson [13th in junior race in 20:30] and Shaelea Conway [19th in junior race in 20:56]. Katherine Grottini ran 21:05 for 17th in the sophomore race.
The Eastern girls took 5th in the merge, led by Theresa Albertson [6th in sophomore race in 18:36, fastest among all South Jersey runners], Natalie Dumas [11th in junior race in 19:59], Sarah Haefele [30th in senior race in 21:22], Jordyn Waterman [21st in sophomore race in 21:30] and Emi Loverdi [36th in senior race in 21:53].
Shawnee’s Paige Cline ran 20:01 for 9th in the senior class race, and Winslow’s Ava Millner [10th in 20:06], Hammonton’s Natalie Clauhs [11th in 20:11] and Cherry Hill East’s Krystal Pagtel [13th in 20:34] also placed in the top 20.
Also under 21:30 were Shawnee’s Ava Nix, who placed 24th in the senior race in 20:56, and teammate Kayla Dilks, who was 29th in 21:15.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 