The Haddonfield boys and Paul VI girls lead a large South Jersey contingent headed this weekend to Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., for the Nike Cross East Regionals.
Haddonfield is coming off a dazzling performance at the Meet of Champions, where they placed 2nd for the second year in a row and averaged 16:08.54 at Holmdel County Park, fastest ever by any South Jersey school at Holmdel and 2nd-fastest ever by any New Jersey public school.
Seniors Luke Andresen and Benjamin Andrus, who placed 5th and 6th at the MoC, lead Haddonfield, with seniors Ryan Gibson, Peter Simpson and Michael Sinnes also in the top 5 and senior Brandon Stoner and sophomore Augustan Coley also in the lineup.
The Paul VI girls, who placed 3rd at the Meet of Champions, are led by junior Grace Gutowski and senior Giovanna Mantuano, who placed 14th and 21st at Holmdel last weekend. Sophomore Morgan Kuzma, senior Macy Huber and sophomore Peyton Blake are also in PVI’s usual top 5 and freshman Isabella Suarez and junior Kara Salamone will also race for the Eagles.
The top two teams in each race automatically advance to Nike Cross Nationals. Additionally, the 3rd- and 4th-place teams in each of the nine regions are eligible for four at-large bids. The top five individuals who aren’t part of a qualifying team also advance to Nationals.
Also entered in the boys race are Cherry Hill East, Ocean City and Glassboro, who placed 7th, 9th and 12th at the Meet of Champions.
Likely lineups: senior Milo Poerner, junior Cian Sherlock, senior Alvin Lin, senior Colin Moore, freshman Conan Poerner, junior Aneesh Rajagopal and senior Adam Billet for Cherry Hill East; Erik Priesner, Nathan Aschmann, Keenan Neuman, Michael Romano, Benjamin McCarthy, Nevin Millstein and Hayden Tarves for Ocean City; and Joe Saicic, Jaeden Wesley, Zacchaeus Harrigan, Aaron Johnson, Gavin Rakitis, Jason Martin and Tyler Santiago for Glassboro.
Joining Paul VI in the girls race will be Cherokee, Cherry Hill East and Ocean City, who placed 4th, 8th and 10th in the Meet of Champions.
Likely lineups: Freshman Ava Guarini, sophomore Erin Healy, senior Maya Kumar, senior Madeline Meder, senior Sofia Recinto, senior Alyssa Suriano and junior Gabrielle Urban for Cherokee; junior Ryleigh Budsock, senior Shaelea Conway, senior Ella Davidson, junior Katherine Grottini, junior Gabriella Pizzo, junior Rebecca Tibbetts and sophomore Emmie Wang for Cherry Hill East; and Bella Cera, Peighton Clemens, Lenna Driscoll, Isabella Edwards, Lillian Flora, Carly Godfrey and Riley Tolson for Ocean City.
Note that sophomore Addison Weiss, 3rd in the Group 3 state meet and 13th at the Meet of Champions, is not listed in Cherry Hill East’s entry, which could mean she’s racing instead the following weekend at Brooks Northeast Championships at Franklin Park in Boston.
Nike Cross Nationals is scheduled for Dec. 7 at Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland, Ore.
Brooks Championships, a continuation of the Kinney / Foot Locker / Eastbay series which traces its lineage back to 1979, are scheduled for Dec. 13 at Balboa Park in San Diego. The entry list for East Regionals isn’t available yet.
There are 13 races in all, with the boys championship race scheduled for 1:50 p.m. and the girls race at 2:25 p.m. Full race schedule is here: https://nxrne.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?do=title&title_id=219&event_id=301
BOYS
Haddonfield
Cherry Hill East
Ocean City
Glassboro
GIRLS
Cherry Hill East
Ocean City
Cherokee
Paul VI
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 