Glassboro senior Ty Blackman was the individual winner and Highland the team champion in the Tri-County Conference Showcase Wednesday in Upper Deerfield Township.
Blackman covered 5,000 meters at Cumberland Regional in 15:49, and Highland packed its first four runners in the top 13 to out-distance 2nd-place Williamstown.
It was an unusual race with the top seven finishers all coming from different schools. Blackman’s 15:49 is an all-course PR, 10 seconds faster than he ran earlier this onthg at a batch meet at Salem Tech in Mannington Township.
Blackman finished about 50 meters ahead of Delsea junior Matthew Littlehales, who placed 2nd in 16:00.
Kingsway sophomore Ryan Duffy [3rd in 16:17], Highland senior Mason Wassell [4th in 16:26] and Williamstown junior Dominic Burgio [5th in 16:29] also crossed the line under 16:30.
Also under 17 minutes were Clearview senior Ethan Worst [6th in 16:33], Washington Township senior Hunter Bostwick [7th in 16:36], Williamstown senior Dylan Saber [8th in 16:40], Highland junior Andrew Dopkin [9th in 16:49], Williamstown junior Logan Pavelik [10th in 16:52] and Woodstown senior Cole Lucas [11th in 16:54].
Highland finished with a 63-89 margin of victory over Williamstown, with Kingsway a close 3rd with 96 points.
After Wassell and Dopkin, freshman Andrew Kellem [12th in 17:10], sophomore Colin Roznowski [13th in 17:10] and sophomore Pierce Dopkin [25th in 17:32] also scored for Highland, with sophomore 6th man Liam Murphy [26th in 17:38] not far off. Junior Daniel Gee was 35th in 18:08 for the Tartans.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 