From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Ben Andrus, Luke Andresen, Peter Simpson and Ryan Gibson ran within five seconds of each other and led Haddonfield to 2^nd place in the Nike Northeast Regional Saturday and a berth at the Nike Cross Nationals.

Andrus placed 18^th in 16:06.4, Andresen 20^th in 16:09.1, Simpson 21^st in 16:09.6 and Gibson 23^rd in 16:11.6.

Michael Sinnes ran 17:07.4 for 109^th and 74^th in team points, giving Haddonfield 133 points – 31 fewer than State College for 2^nd place. Also in Haddonfield’s lineup were senior Brandon Stoner [17:47.6] and junior Andrew Blum [17:49.4].

Haddonfield averaged 16:20.8 over 5,000 meters at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls and placed 2^nd only to U.S. No. 4 Christian Brothers Academy of Lincroft, who went 2-3-7-9-12 for 33 points.

As top-two team finishers, both will represent the Northeast Region at Nike Cross Nationals Dec. 6 at Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland, Ore.

Although Haddonfield didn’t have a finisher in the top 10, their 4^th runner – Gibson – finished ahead of the 2^nd runner from 25 of the 27 other schools that entered.

Haddonfield is the first South Jersey boys team ever to reach Nike Cross Nationals. The Kingsway girls made it in 2017 and Cherokee girls in 2021.

Andrus, Andresen, Simpson and Gibson ran the 5^th, 7^th, 8^th and 10^th-fastest times ever by South Jersey athletes at Bowdoin Park. The sub-16:15 list is below.

It’s been a remarkable season for Haddonfield, which won its 23^rd state Group 2 title, ran the 2^nd-fastest average time at Holmdel ever by a public school and is now headed to Oregon to face the top schools in the country.

Hadonfield joins CBA, Don Bosco, Westfield and West Windsor-Plainsboro North as the 5th New Jersey school to reach Nike Cross Nationals.

Also Saturday, Cherry Hill East placed 10^th and Ocean City 14^th .

For Cherry Hill East, Junior Cian Sherlock, senior Alvin Lin and senior Milo Poerner placed 52^nd, 60^th and 67^th in 16:35.0, 16:41.7 and 16:46.5 – they were 31^st, 38^th and 43^rdin team scoring.

Freshman Conan Poerner [17:36.9], junior Aneesh Rajagopal [17:38.4] and senior Colin Moore [17:54.4] also raced for East. Poerner was the 7^th freshman across the line.

Ocean City was led by senior Erik Preisner [68^th in 16:46.8], junior Nathan Aschmann [90^th in 16:55.8], junior Keenan Neuman [105^th in 17:05.5] and sophomore Nevin Millstein [121^st in 17:12.5]. For team scoring purposes, they were 44^th, 60^th, 61^st and 81^st.

Sophomore Benjamin McCarthy [17:52.6], junior Michael Romano [18:03.6] and sophomore Hayden Tarves [18:46.8] also ran for Ocean City.

15:41.5 … Jonathan Vitez [Haddonfield], 2009
15:52.7 … Aaron Groff [Cherry Hill East], 2015
16:02.9 … George Andrus [Haddonfield], 2022
16:05.0 … Jack Shea [Cherokee], 2015
16:06.4 … Benjamin Andrus [Haddonfield], 2025
16:06.9 … Ethan Wechsler [Cherokee], 2019
16:09.1 … Luke Andresen [Haddonfield], 2025
16:09.6 … Peter Simpson [Haddonfield], 2025
16:11.4 … Ben Potts [Haddonfield], 2009
16:11.6 … Ryan Gibson [Haddonfield], 2025
16:12.5 … Patrick Ditmars [Cherokee], 2022