Senior Ethan Worst was the overall winner and junior Quenton Gannone the pivotal 6th man as Clearview won the South Jersey Open Division 3 title on a tiebreaker with Gloucester Township Tech.
Worst won the race in 16:34 – his 1st lifetime XC invitational victory – and Clearview’s top 5 went 1-9-17-23-29 over 5,000 meters at DREAM Park in Logan Township.
With five runners in, Clearview and Gloucester Township Tech were tied with 79 points, but Gannone finished 45th, ahead of GTT’s 6th runner, giving the Pioneers the team title on a 6th-man tiebreaker.
Cherry Hill East took 3rd with 89 points without its top group, Eastern was 4th with 97 and Winslow 5th with 98 points, so there were five schools within 20 points of each other.
The rest of Clearview’s pack included senior Ryne Handley [9th in 17:13], senior Sun Daniel [17th in 17:59], sophomore Jack Sokorai [23rd in 18:11] and junior Richard Buckman [29th in 18:28].
Winslow went 2-3 with senior Dominic Bassey – a 1:52 half-miler last spring – and junior Vincent Perri in 16:47 and 16:51.
Also in the top 10 were Camden County Vo-Tech Sicklerville senior Julian Rich [4th in 17:00], Bridgeton senior Kevin Gonzalez [5th in 17:01], Gloucester County Tech senior Connor Auge [6th in 17:01], Eastern sophomore Timothy Shack [7th in 17:10], Eastern senior Ryan Haefele [8th in 17:11] and Bridgeton sophomore Alex Chavez Santiago [10th in 17:34].
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 