What an astonishing performance by the Haddonfield boys Saturday with a 9th-place at the Nike Cross Nationals!
Haddonfield, the first South Jersey school to qualify for the boys championship race, had four runners in the top 60 and scored 286 points.
Haddonfield beat the 3rd-, 6th and 9th-ranked teams in the DyeStat national rankings. Haddonfield went into the race ranked 16th.
They’re only the 2nd New Jersey public school ever to place in the top 10 at Nike Cross Nationals. West Windsor-Plainsboro North with the legendary Rosa twins was 5th in 2008.
As they have been all year, Haddonfield was led by their senior quartet of Luke Andresen, Peter Simpson, Ben Andrus and Ryan Gibson.
Andresen ran 15:59 over the 5,000-meter course at Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland, Ore., Simpson ran 16:11, Andrus 16:21 and Gibson 16:26. Michael Sinnes came up big as Haddonfield’s 5th man, running 17:07.
Senior Brandon Stoner and junior A.J. Blum also raced for Haddonfield.
Those five counted 22-38-48-59-119 in team scoring, and Haddonfield averaged 16:25 on a course that was muddy and waterlogged after it rained all day on Friday.
Christian Brothers Academy of Middletown Township, Ocean County, ranked 2nd nationally placed 3rd with 110 points, behind Niwot (Colo.) with 61 and Herriman (Utah) with 97.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 