Led by overall winner Ryleigh Budsock, Cherry Hill East put all five scorers in the top 11 and rolled to the Division 3 team title Saturday morning at the South Jersey Open.
Budsock, a sophomore, ran an all-course lifetime-best 19:11 over 5,000 meters at DREAM Park in Logan Township and topped Winslow senior Ava Millner for the win. Millner placed 2nd in 19:28.
Senior Cate Feudtner, sophomore Gabriella Pizzo, junior Ella Davidson and junior Shaelea Conway placed 3rd, 5th, 7th and 11th, Feudtner in 19:45, Pizzo 19:53, Davidson 19:58 and Conway 20:23. They were backed up by junior Keira Conway in 13th [20:43] and sophomore Katherine Grottini in 15th [20:55].
So East went 1-3-5-7-11-13, which is about as well as seven runners can possibly do without a single one finishing in an even-numbered place.
Team scoring isn’t listed in the results but it looks like East outscored 2nd-place Vineland 27-60 with Clearview 3rd with 87 points.
Cherry Hill East – ranked 16th in New Jersey – averaged 19:50.30, very close to their fastest average time ever on the course. East averaged 19:46.76 at the 2019 Olympic Conference meet. On a perfect morning for running, it’s the 13th-fastest team average since the course near Glassboro opened in 2018.
Winslow’s Millner, a 2:18 half-miler last spring,. ran an all-course PR in 2nd place. She just broke 20 minutes for the first time with a 19:48 at Stockton University last month.
Also in the top 10 were Vineland seniors Kylee Black [4th in 19:49] and Gabrielle Brown [6th in 19:53], Hammonton senior Natalie Clauhs [8th in 20:01], Vineland sophomore Olivia Masucci [9th in 20:12] and Clearview senior Lilla Porter [10th in 20:13].
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 