The Glassboro boys on Saturday will attempt to do something only one South Jersey Group 1 school has done in the last 35 years: Place in the top 10 at a Meet of Champions.
Glassboro, ranked 7th in the most recent state MileSplit poll, placed 10th in a state meet merge with 507 points even though it wasn’t the Bulldogs’ best race. There is plenty of room for Glassboro to close up its 1:21 spread and lower its 17:08 average from its 2nd straight state Group 1 win.
Glassboro actually averaged 16:50 at Shore Coaches in October on the same course, and if they run in that range again they’ll have a very good chance of finishing in the top 10. Glassboro placed 12th in the Meet of Champions last year after winning its first state Group 1 title.
If you add up all five of the Holmdel PRs from Glassboro’s top group, you get a 16:45.24, which is a good time for the Bulldogs to shoot for if the course is running fast.
Glassboro is one of four South Jersey boys teams that will race Saturday. Cherokee won Group 4 and Haddonfield Group 2 and Ocean City qualified as a wild-card.
Only four South Jersey Group 1 schools have finished in the top 10 at a Meet of Champions – Haddonfield was 8th in 1986 with 240 points, Haddon Township was 6th in 1988 with 166 and Haddonfield placed 5th in 1989 with 189 points and was 9th a year later with 244 points.
That 1989 Haddonfield team is the last New Jersey Group 1 to finish in the top five at a Meet of Champions.
The last Group 1 before the 2014 Haddon Township team to reach the top 10 was Palisades Park, 10th in 1996. The last Group 1 to finish better than 10th was Bernards, 9th in 1995.
In all, 22 Group 1’s have placed in the top 10, including Bernards 12 times between 1974 and 1988, with wins in 1981 and 1982. Those are the only Meet of Champions a Group 1 has won.
Glassboro’s top 5 Saturday will be juniors Joe Saicic, Zacchaeus Harrigan, Aaron Johnson and Gavin Rakitis and freshman Christian Hughes. All will be back next year so whatever Glassboro does Saturday the Bulldogs will have a chance to improve on in 2027.
4th – Park Ridge, 1973 [175 points] (only five teams)
5th – Bernards, 1974 [203 points] (only eight teams)
3rd – Bernards, 1975 [146 points] (only seven teams)
7th – Bernards, 1976 [162 points]
10th – Kinnelon, 1977 [214 points]
2nd – Bernards, 1979 [116 points]
3rd – Bernards, 1980 [89 points]
1st – Bernards, 1981 [36 points]
1st – Bernards, 1982 [53 points]
9th – Bernards, 1983 [284 points]
4th – Bernards, 1984 [143 points]
6th – Bernards, 1986 [202 points]
8th – Haddonfield, 1986 [240 points]
4th – Bernards, 1988 [143 points]
6th – Haddon Twp., 1988 [166 points]
5th – Haddonfield, 1989 [189 points]
9th – Haddonfield, 1990 [244 points]
10th – Whippany Park, 1991 [245 points]
7th – Palisades Park, 1995 [245 points]
9th – Bernards, 1995 [263 points]
10th – Palisades Park, 1996 [268 points]
10th – Haddon Twp., 2014 [213 points]
