Sophomore Riley Tolson, junior Carly Godfrey, junior Lillian Flora and freshman Bella Cera swept the top four spots and the Ocean City girls won their 8th consecutive Cape-Atlantic Conference Championship Tuesday.
Tolson ran an all-course lifetime-best 18:01 over 5,000 meters at Egg Harbor Township High School. Her previous best was 18:16 at Six Flags Wild Safari Invitational in Jackson last month.
Godfrey ran 18:20 in 2nd, Flora 18:35 in 3rd and Cera 18:53 in 4th. Junior Peighton Clemens placed 7th in 19:06.
Sixth runner sophomore Lenna Driscoll placed 9th in 19:25 and 7th runner senior Gabrielle Henry was 15th in 20:06.
Ocean City outscored host EHT 17-51, with Mainland Regional 3rd with 108 points. The Red Raiders have won every meet since 2017. There was no meet in 2020. The last school other than Ocean City to win the CAL meet was Egg Harbor in 2016 by one point over Mainland.
Egg Harbor was led by junior Meghan Johnson in 5th place in 19:03, and Mainland was paced by Cecilia Foreman in 6th in 19:04. Two more EHT runners placed 8th and 10th – senior Devyn Per in 19:23 and junior Addison Lambert in 19:26.
Also under 21 minutes: Vineland junior Olivia Masucci [11th, 19:28], Egg Harbor sophomore Molly Rooney [12th, 19:33], Middle Township senior Olivia Orton [13th, 19:43], Mainland sophomore Ella Mokienko [14th, 20:02], Egg Harbor freshman Corinne Conley [16th, 20:07], Absegami senior Samia Ghazaz [17th, 20:10] and Mainland junior Lauren LaMonaca [18th, 20:29].
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 