Five boys teams, five girls teams, seven boys individuals and seven girls individuals will represent South Jersey at the 54th annual Meet of Champions Saturday at Holmdel County Park.
There are four ways to qualify for the Meet of Champions:
1) Winning teams: All 12 winning teams from states automatically qualify.
2) Wild-card teams: After the winning teams are removed from a merge of all the boys races and all the girls races, the eight teams with the lowest scores qualify as wild-card teams.
3) Top 10 individuals: The top 10 individuals in each race automatically qualify, regardless of whether their team advanced.
4) Wild-card individuals: The 30 fastest individuals in a merge after every runner who has qualified with his team also advances.
Here’s a look at all of South Jersey’s qualifiers. As always, if you see any errors or omissions please let me know ASAP!
BOYS
Team Winners
Glassboro, won Group 1|
16:51 … Joseph Saicic
17:05 … Zacchaeus Harrigan
17:12 … Jaeden Wesley
17:35 … Aaron Johnson
18:34 … Gavin Rakitis
18:38 … Jason Martin
Haddonfield, won Group 2
15:57 … Ryan Gibson
16:02 … Luke Andresen
16:16 … Benjamin Andrus
16:18 … Peter Simpson
16:18 … Michael Sinnes
17:20 … Andrew Blum
17:29 … Brandon Stoner
Wild-Card Teams [Finished in top eight in merge after team winners removed]
Cherokee, 2nd Group 4
15:54 … Jack Tindall
16:32 … Benjamin Realley
16:45 … Maximo Harada
17:01 … Gavin Danielewicz
17:25 … Leo Vyvyan
17:28 … Dominic Pileri
17:29 … Sean Sooy
Ocean City [2nd, Group 3]
16:29 … Nathan Aschmann
16:30 … Erik Preisner
17:25 … Benjamin McCarthy
17:35 … Michael Romano
17:38 … Keenan Neuman
18:40 … Hayden Tarves
19:52 … Nevin Millstein
Cherry Hill East [4th, Group 4]
16:27 … Milo Poerner
16:49 … Alvin Lin
16:51 … Cian Sherlock
17:34 … Braedan Sherlock
18:09 … Conan Poerner
18:23 … Aneesh Rajagopal
18:51 … Adam Billet
Auto Individual Qualifiers [finished in top 10, team didn’t advance]
17:16 … Jacob Marino [Woodstown], 9th Group 1
16:03 … Jacob Wickersham [Cinnaminson], 4th, Group 2
18:28 … Rutger Sochacki [Bishop Eustace], 6th, Parochial B
Wild-Card Qualifiers [top 30 in merge after auto qualifiers removed]
17:04 … Sean Martino [Cedar Creek], 14th, Group 2
16:56 … Vincent Perri [Winslow Twp.], 14th, Group 3
16:58 … Rex Takakjy [Cherry Hill West], 15th, Group 3
16:58 … **Trevor Szilier [Washington Twp.], 18th, Group 4
GIRLS
Team Winner
Ocean City [1st, Group 3]
19:14 … Riley Tolson
19:40 … Carly Godfrey
20:43 … Peighton Clemens
21:03 … Lenna Driscoll
21:04 … ***Bella Cera
21:31 … Gabrielle Henry
21:57 … Lillian Flora
Wild-Card Teams [Finished in top eight in merge after team winners removed]
Paul VI, 2nd in Parochial A
18:57 … Grace Gutowski
19:37 … Giovanna Mantuano
20:12 … Peyton Blake
20:31 … Morgan Kuzma
20:59 … Macy Huber
21:18 … Isabella Suarez
21:57 … Kara Salamone
Haddonfield [2nd, Group 2]
18:52 … Riley Austin
20:14 … Dylan Hosty
20:17 … Madison Kelsey
20:49 … Sofia Conrey
20:57 … Harper Benjamin
21:24 … Devon Gervasi
21:27 … Tatum Russo
Cherokee [3rd, Group 4]
19:56 … Alyssa Suriano
20:12 … Erin Healy
20:34 … Maya Kumar
20:41 … Madeline Meder
20:45 … Sofia Recinto
20:54 … Ava Guarini
22:38 … Gabrielle Urban
Cherry Hill East [4th, Group 4]
18:53 … Addison Weiss
19:59 … Ryleigh Budsock
20:21 … Emmie Wang
21:17 … Rebecca Tibbetts
21:19 … Gabriella Pizzo
21:34 … Katherine Grottini
21:41 … Ella Davidson
Auto Individual Qualifiers [finished in top 10, team didn’t advance]
18:44 … Julia Flanagan [Holy Cross], 1st, Parochial B
19:17 … Riley Fayer [Audubon], 3rd, Group 1
20:46 … Abby Marino [Woodstown], 10th Group 1
19:15 … Sophia Aldridge [Williamstown], 7th, Group 4
19:24 … *Aubrey Bishop [Kingsway], 9th, Group 4
Wild-Card Qualifiers [top 30 in merge after auto qualifiers removed]
20:08 … Lyana Gutierrez [Highland], 15th, Group 3
20:17 … Ashley Doyle [Delran], 20th, Group 2
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 