Madison Pratt, in her first lifetime cross country race, was Stockton’s 2nd finisher in the Ospreys’ season-opening race at the Stevens Back to the Bowl Invitational Saturday.
Pratt, who didn’t run cross country at Absegami, placed 10th out of 74 runners, covering 5,000 meters on the challenging Holmdel County Park course in 21:48.3.
Pratt ran track at Absegami with PRs of 5:46.21 for 1,600 meters and 13:31.09 for 3,200 meters. But she helped Stockton place 4th Saturday out of 10 teams.
Stockton’s first four finishers are all from South Jersey high schools.
Moorestown graduate Paige McCabe, a sophomore with freshman eligibility, was Stockton’s first finisher, taking 8th overall in 21:24. It was her first XC race since the 2023 state Group 3 meet over the same course. McCabe placed 6th in South Jersey Group 3 sectionals as a senior at Moorestown.
Junior Sarah Rutledge from Egg Harbor placed 12th in 21:52 and freshman Grace Wojciechowski from Cherokee was 13th in 21:57.
Stockton is ranked 5th in the USATFCCCA preseason Metro Region poll and 3rd among NJAC schools, behind No. 2 TCNJ and No. 3 Rowan.
Several of Stockton’s top runners, including four-time All-America middle-distance runner Kayla Kass and Shawnee’s Maddy Valasek, the NJAC 5,000 and 10,000 runner-up, as well as Evelyn Austin and Guinevere Kennedy, did not race Saturday.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 