Overall winner senior Peter Simpson, senior Brandon Stoner and junior Andrew Blum finished 1st, 2nd and 4th and the Haddonfield boys cruised to their 22nd consecutive sectional cross country title Saturday.
Haddonfield, at less than full strength, still scored just 34 points, out-racing 2nd-place Woodbury, which scored 97.
Simpson won the race in 15:39.10, with Stoner 3rd in 16:15.84 and Blum 4th in 16:29.81.
Junior Owen Snyder, freshman Augustan Coley and senior John Leibrandt placed 12th, 14th and 15th for the Bulldogs in 16:49.44, 16:58.97 and 17:00.99.
Ben Andrus, Ryan Gibson and Luke Andressen, 1st, 5th and 8th last year at the state Group 2 meet, were not in Haddonfield’s lineup.
Haddonfield won its first sectional title in 1967 in Group 3, then moved down to Group 2 and won four straight from 1977 through 1980. Then it was down to Group 1 and eight titles in the next nine years – 1982 through 1987 and 1989 and 1990 after Haddon Township won in 1988.
After a four-year dry spell, Haddonfield won Group 2 in 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002. Since finishing 2nd to Cinnaminson in 2003, the Bulldogs have won 22 in a row. Overall, the Bulldogs have won 43 sectional titles. No other school has won 30.
The top 15 individuals and top five teams qualify for the state Group 2 meet next Saturday at Holmdel County Park.
Also in the top 15: Cedar Creek senior Sean Martino [2nd in 16:14.58], Middle Township junior Jamar Mack [5th in 16:34.76], Woodbury senior Curtis Stokes [6th in 16:37.35], Cedar Creek senior Ryan McCann [7th in 16:38.80], Cedar Creek senior Vincenzo Vecchio [8th in 16:38.80], Sterling junior Giovanni Fuchs [9th in 16:40.14], Woodbury senior David Houck [10th in 16:42.85], Gloucester senior Vincent Kelly [11th in 16:48.55] and Collingswood Landon Forero [13th in 16:51.80].
Pretty cool that McCann and Vecchio, senior teammates at Cedar Creek, finished in a dead heat, both in 16:38.80 with the photo camera operators not breaking the tie. Cedar Creek placed 3rd with 102 points, so McCann and Vecchio will now advance to states along with their teammates.
Also heading to states as a full team are 4th-place Sterling [106] and 5th-place Collingswood [172].
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 