Julia Flanagan became Holy Cross’s 1st Burlington County Open champion in 45 years and the Cherokee girls won their 7th team title in eight years Friday in Mansfield Township.
Flanagan won the race in 17:54 over 5,000 meters at Crystal Lake Park, the fastest winning time on any course since Megan Lacy won in 2010 at Mill Creek Park in 17:53.
Flanagan is Holy Cross’s first county champion since Michy Reinbold won the 1980 title in 19:01 at Burlington County College in Pemberton. Reinbold led a 1-2-3-4 Holy Cross sweep with Karen Fileshifter, Rachel McGuire and Mary Kay Zarrillo.
So far this fall, Flanagan has won titles at the Battle of Ocean County Park, Six Flags Wild Safari and Burlington County.
Cherokee packed its five scorers between 2nd and 8th place, with seniors Alyssa Suriano , Madeline Meder and Sofia Recinto running 18:23, 19:18 and 19:20 in 2nd through 4th, senior Maya Kumar 6th in 19:35 and sophomore Erin Healy 8th in 19:41. They were backed up by freshman Casey Leisse [12th in 20:34] and junior Gabrielle Urban [15th in 20:50].
This is Cherokee’s 3rd straight title and 10th overall. Cherokee scored 19 and Moorestown was 2nd with 50. Northern Burlington, with four freshmen in its top five, placed 3rd with 129 points.
The rest of the top 10 looked like this: Delran Ashley Doyle in 5th [19:31], Moorestown junior Sophia DiFiore in 7th [19:36], Maple Shade junior Juliana Catalani in 9th [20:00] and Moorestown sophomore Makayla Zell in 10th [20:07]
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 