Sophomore Riley Tolson was the individual winner and the Ocean City girls won their 3rd straight sectional title and 14th overall Saturday morning in Logan Township
Tolson ran 18:29.19 over 5,000 meters at DREAM Park, leading a 1-2-3 Red Raider sweep with juniors Lillian Flora and Carly Godfrey. Flora placed 2nd in 18:56.03 and Godfrey was 3rd in 19:04.69.
Tolson was also the Cape May County and Cape-Atlantic champion. She hasn’t lost to a South Jersey girl this year, and the only race she hasn’t win was Shore Coaches, where she was 3rd.
Ocean City also plaed jiunior Peighton Clemens, freshman Bella Cera and sophomore Lenna Driscoll in the top 10, Clemens 8th in 19:39.53, Cera 9th in 19:40.65 and Driscoll 10th in 19:46.02. Seventh runner senior Gabrielle Henry made it seven in the top 12. Henry ran 19:53.65.
Moorestown put three in the top seven, with junior Sophia DiFiore, junior Catherine Hipple and sophomore Makayla Zell taking 4th, 5th and 7th. DiFiore ran 19:17.27, Hipple 19:19.38 and Zell 19:25.28.
Team scores haven’t been posted yet, but unofficially I have Ocean City with 23 points and Moorestown 2nd with 56. Also advancing to states it appears are 3rd-place Delsea [111], 4th-place Clearview [146] and 5th-place Mainland [149].
Also in the top 15: Highland senior Lyana Gutierrez [6th in 19:23.79], Highland junior Toni-Loren Powell [11thin 19:49.24], Clearview junior Julianne Roes [13th in 19:54.01], Mainland junior Cecilia Foreman [14th in 19:57.99] and Delsea sophomore Brooke Mashburn [15th in 20:00.52].
Ocean City also won South Jersey Group 3 in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1993, 2003, 2004, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023 and 2024.
Tolson became Ocean City’s 10th sectional champion, following Melody Sye [1982]. Mary Jo Dougherty [1986, 1987, 1988], Megan Hartman [1992, 1993], Abbey Hartman [1995], Brittany Sedberry [2002, 2003, 2004], Bridget Flynn [2013], Dvin Grisbaum [2014], Alexa Palmieri [2018] and Maeve Smith [2023, 2024].
The top five teams and the first 15 individuals advance to the state championships at Holmdel County Park next Saturday.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 