Freshman Molly Cataline placed 4th with a 53-second all-course PR and the Northern Burlington girls – with two freshmen, two sophomores and a junior in their top 5 – advanced to states with a 5th-place finish in the loaded Central Jersey Group 3 sectional in Jamesburg.
Cataline ran 18:00, dropping her all-course best from 18:53, which she ran when she won the Burlington County Open at Crystal Lake Park in Mansfield Township earlier this month.
Northern placed 5th, securing the final auto qualifying spot for the state Group 3 meet Saturday at Holmdel County Park. The top three schools in Central Jersey Group 3 are Middletown South, Princeton and Hopewell Valley, ranked 3rd, 5th and 14th in the state.
But Northern hung in there against some of the state’s best teams. Backing up Cataline were junior Kamiyah Vergo, 14th in 19:03, sophomore Abigail Leonard, 34th in 20:26, sophomore Adelina Floyd, 35th in 20:26, and freshman Mary-Kate Boyle, 40th in 21:00.
Middletown South won the team title, 45-57, over Princeton, with Hopewell Valley 3rd with 90 points, Colts Neck 4th at 103 and Northern finishing 10 points ahead of West Windsor-Plainsboro North, 127-137, to snag the final qualifying spot.
