Northern Burlington’s Liliah Gordon, Glassboro’s Ty Blackman and the Haddonfield boys will take on some of the best runners in the country Sunday at the 52nd annual Manhattan College Invitational at legendary Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.
There will be 42 races in all, including varsity, freshman, JV and middle school events, but the signature events at the Manhattan Invitational will be the boys and girls Eastern Championship races.
Gordon will race in the girls Easterns race at 2:56 p.m. Blackman, who placed 2nd in the Shore Coaches F race with a 16:31 at Holmdel last weekend, is entered as an individual in the boys Easterns race, along with Haddonfield, rank No. 2 in New Jersey.
Gordon ran 10:22.20 for 3,200 meters last spring and won the Varsity C race at Shore Coaches Saturday in her 2024 XC debut with an unpressed 18:21, 2nd-fastest time among all girls in all six races.
All races at Vanny are 2 ½ miles. Only when Foot Locker Northeast Regionals are held at Van Cortlandt is the 5,000-meter course used.
https://www.manhattancollegexcinvitational.com/race-course-site-map
Gordon will be chasing the South Jersey best on the historic course, 14:10.4 set by Haddonfield’s Briana Gess at the 2015 Manhattan Invitational.
Other top Vanny times by South Jersey girls: Haddonfield’s Vanessa Wright ran 14:30.4 in 2004, Mainland’s Alyssa Aldridge 14:34.6 in 2015, Haddonfield’s Erin Donohue 14:42.2 in 1998 and Ocean City’s Devin Grisbaum 14:42.5 in 2014.
Haddonfield, which held its top group out of Shore Coaches to be fresh for Manhattan, races at 2:44 p.m. The Bulldogs’ top group will include junior Luke Andresen, senior Bennett Wright, junior Ryan Gibson, junior Benjamin Andrus and junior Peter Simpson.
Haddonfield set the South Jersey team record on Van Cortlandt’s 2 ½-mile course at 13:20 at the 2018 Regis Invitational with Greg Eisenhower, Martin Riddell, Derek Gess, Stephen Kasko and Griffin Weiner.
The South Jersey course record is held by Woodbury’s Peyton Shute with his 12:18.10 from last year, when he was 2nd to CBA’s Joe Barrett. Shute broke a 36-year-old record of 12:20.5 set by Pau VI’s Jason DiJoseph back in 1987. Others from South Jersey who’ve run sub-12:30: Aaron Groff of Cherry Hill East [12:24.3, 6th in 2015], Jonathan Vitez of Haddonfield [12:25.60, 1st in 2009] and Highland’s Kevin Pumphrey [12:28.4, 3rd in 1985].
Also scheduled to race at Vanny on Sunday: Ocean City girls are in the Varsity D race at 2:23 p.m., the Ocean Boys are in the Varsity A race at 1:32, Haddonfield’s girls at in the C race at 2:08 p.m., Williamstown boys race at 3:08 p.m. in the D race and Williamstown girls start at 3:56 p.m. in the F race.
The Manhattan Invitational has been held off and on since the early 1930s. The current meet has been held every year since 1972 with the exception of 2020.
Races will run Sunday from 9:03 a.m. until about 4:30 p.m.
Full race schedule can be found here, and race assignments are listed here. The link for live results should pop up here at some point.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 
Great Article! I wanted to add that Peyton Shute ran 12:18.10 last year to finish 2nd to Joe Barrett in the Eastern States race.
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I knew that haha! Thanks for the heads up, made the change. I guess the list I was working off was never updated! Hope you’re doing well!
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