Cherokee placed all five scorers among the top 27 girls to win the Varsity A race at the 47th annual Shore Coaches Invitational Saturday at Holmdel County Park.
Cherokee, ranked 19th in the state, edged No. 7 Freehold Township 80-86 to win its 2nd Shore Coaches title. The Chiefs also won in 2021.
Senior Megan Niglio and junior Madeline Meder ran 19:30 and 19:37 and placed 4th and 5th for Cherokee. Freshman Erin Healey ran 20:55 for 18th and junior Maya Kumar 21:07 for 26th.
After four runners, Cherokee and Freehold Township were tied with 53 points, Cherokee with 2-5-18-26 and Freehold Township with 2-9-14-28.
But Cherokee’s 5th runner, senior Grace Wojciechowski ran 21:09 and finished 27th, nine seaconds and six spots ahead of Freehold Township’s 5th runner, providing the winning margin.
It was the first 5,000-meter race this fall for each of the Cherokee runners.
When Cherokee won in 2021, Niglio was the Chiefs’ 5th runner. Cherokee averaged 20:25 when it won in 2021 and 20:25 Saturday, their two-fastest times ever at Shore Coaches. They averaged a South Jersey-record 19:23 when they won the 2021 Meet of Champions.
Eastern junior Natalie Dumas, the national 400-meter hurdles champ, ran 20:29 and placed 10th in her first race ever at Holmdel.
Also in the top 20 were Cherry Hill East sophomore Ryleigh Budsock [11th in 20:32], Washington Township Kaylee Russen [16th in 20:49], Egg Harbor Township junior Paige Pacquing [19th in 20:57] and EHT junior Devyn Per [20th in 21:00].
Cherry Hill East [4th with 144] and Egg Harbor Township [5th with 175] also placed in the top 5 in Varsity A.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 