Kingsway’s Aubrey Pierontoni and Clearview’s Abby Waddington renewed their rivalry Thursday, and for the first time this fall Waddington came out ahead, winning the Gloucester County Championships at West Deptford Park.

But Pierontoni’s Kingsway Dragons won their seventh straight team title, 37-67, over Clearview.

Pierontoni and Waddington have raced four times this year, and each time the two juniors have finished next to each other. 

Pierontoni edged Waddington in the first three meetings, but on Thursday, in the Gloucester County Championships, Waddington got the edge, covering the 5,000-meter course in 19:14. Waddington finished 60 meters ahead of Pierontoni, who ran 19:26.

Waddington became the first Clearview girl to win the Gloucester County XC title in 18 years, since Andrea Shute ran 18:52 to win the 2003 title on Kingsway’s course in Woolwich Township.  

Here’s a quick look at the four meetings so far this fall between Pierontoni and Waddington:

Sept. 15, Tri-County Batch Meet, at Cumberland Regional
1. Aubrey PIerontoni [Kingsway], 19:12
2. Abby Waddington [Clearview], 19:33
Oct. 2, Shore Coaches B race, at Holmdel County Park 
3. Aubrey PIerontoni [Kingsway], 19:41
4. Abby Waddington [Clearview], 19:49
Oct. 5, Tri-County Batch Meet, at Delsea 
1. Aubrey PIerontoni [Kingsway], 18:53
2. Abby Waddington [Clearview], 19:33
Oct. 14, Gloucester County Championships, at West Deptford Park
1. Abby Waddington [Clearview], 19:14
2. Aubrey PIerontoni [Kingsway], 19:26

Kingsway had three of the first six finishers and placed six runners in the top 15. Junior Nicole Lipieta was third in 19:46, junior Shelby Dyer 7th in 21:03, senior Erin Tracey 13th in 21:43 and sophomores Kendall Cramer and Cassidy Dunk placed 15th and 16th in 21:57 and 21:01. Junior Sarah Hover ran a season-best 24:25 for 25th. For team scoring purposes, Kingsway went 2-3-6-12-(13-24).

Last time Kingsway did not win the county title was 2014, when Clearview won 37-73 over Delsea. Kingsway was 3rd on a 6th-runner tiebreaker.

Other runners in the top 10: Clearview jun for Abby Kotran [4th in 20:39], West Deptford senior Hope Winer [5th in 20:51], Delsea junior Lillie Widmer [6th in 20:58] and Washington Township juniors Allyson Wernik, Gabrielle Maletta and Sophia Bostwick, who placed 8th through 10th, all between 21:07 and 21:16.

Haddon Township graduate Jacob Dinerman ran 15:51 to win the Penn Relays 5K Saturday in West Philly.

The 23-year-old Dinerman, who competed for one year at The College of New Jersey, edged former Muhlenberg runner Declan Walkush by two seconds for the win. They were the only runners who went sub-17 minutes on the 5,000-meter course that wound through Penns Park and finished inside Franklin Field.

We wrote last year about Dinerman, who at the time was competing for the Moody Park Track Club, after he ran a 4:08.49 indoor mile in Boston. You can find that story here.

Also, Greg Spellmeyer of Haddonfield was 5th in the 50-54 age group with a time of 21:57.

 

Syracuse freshman Ethan Wechsler finished 15th out of over 100 runners Saturday in the Penn State National Open in State College.

Wechsler ran 26:06 over 5.2 miles at Penn State’s Blue/White golf course, finishing just 40 seconds behind overall winner Evan Dorenkamp of Penn State, who ran 25:26.

Wechsler was the third freshman across the line, just seven seconds behind the first freshman, Cornell’s Damian Hackett.

Also racing was Rutgers sophomore Will Berger, a graduate of Lower Cape May Regional. He finished 64th overall in 27:31. He was Rutgers’ third finisher.

Senior Nicole Clifford edged Northern Burlington freshman Liliah Gordon to win her second straight individual title and lead Cherokee to the team title Friday at the Burlington County Open.

Cherokee went 1-3-4-7-10 for 25 points, topping 2nd-place Shawnee, who scored 54. Northern was third with 96. The team title was the third straight for Cherokee.

Clifford ran 18:37 over 5,000 meters at the Rancocas Valley Sports Complex in Eastampton, finishing about 35 meters ahead of Gordon in the first head-to-head matchup of two of South Jersey’s top runners. Clifford ran 19:50 to win last year’s County Open on the same course.

Sophomore Olivia Parkinson and junior Kelsey Niglio placed 3rd and 4th for Cherokee in 19:15 and 19:45, sophomore Kerry O’Day ran 7th in 20:00 and freshman Megan Niglio was 10th in 21:01.

According to the MileSplit database, Clifford, Gordon and Parkinson all ran under the course record of 19:36, set in 2018 by Collingswood’s Sophie Steidle at the Ray Hoagland Invitational.

This is the second year the Burlco Open has been held at R.V.’s athletic fields after being held at Mill Creek Park in Willingboro from 1981 through 2019.

Cherokee runners have won the last four individual titles. Kate Rathman won in 2018 and 2019 and Clifford in 2020 and 2021.

Also in the top 10 were Cinnaminson junior Stephanie Renouf [5th in 19:51], Shawnee junior Kate Ruona [6th in 19:54], Shawnee senior Madelyn Valasek [8th in 20:43] and Cinnaminson senior Grace Coller [9th in 20:54].

Senior Scott Hubbard placed 3rd and junior Joseph Gaspari, senior Tyler Wells and senior Clifford Gilmore finished within three seconds of each other in 7th, 8th and 9th, and Audubon won its first Camden County XC title in 50 years Saturday.

Hubbard ran 17:15 over 5,000 meters at Timber Creek Park in Lindenwold and Gloucester Township. Gaspari was 7th in 18:08 and Wells and Gilmore 8th and 9th, both in 18:11. Junior Aaron Myers rounded out the Green Wave’s scoring pack with 16th place in 19:03, and sophomore Aiden Williams and freshman Leo Davis also raced for Audubon, placing 16th and 25th.

Audubon outscored 2nd-place Highland 32-54, with Camden Catholic (86) and Paul VI (92) also under 100.

Audubon’s only previous team title came in 1961, the second year the meet was held, when the Green Wave outscored Woodrow Wilson 39-81 for the team title. Audubon went 3-5-6 that year, with Gordon Shindle 3rd, Tony Benevento 5th and Mike Bruzzese 6th.

Audubon’s 32 points are the lowest winning total since Cherry Hill East won the 2013 race 27-90 over Cherry Hill West. 

Triton senior Dennis Fortuna, second last year in 16:30, ran 16:13, finishing 200 meters ahead of 2nd-place Billy Clewell of Camden Catholic, who ran 16:54.

Fortuna became the first individual winner from Triton since Robert Rawls ran 16:15 at Gloucester County College to win the 2010 race.

Others in the top 10 were Timber Creek Cole Mylan [4th in 17:20] and Highland junior Gavin Gallo [5th in 17;53], Pennsauken junior Joel Oquendo [6th in 18:04] and Cole Knoedler [10th 18:12].

Shawnee grad John Ruona, a freshman at Mt. St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg, Md., placed 15th out of nearly 300 runners Saturday at the Aubrey Shenk Gettysburg (Pa.) XC Invite.

Ruona ran 27:17 over 8,.000 meters on Gettysburg’s on-campus course and was the Mount’s 4th runner in a 45-65 team victory over Messiah College of Grantham, Pa.

Ruona was the first freshman across the line, finishing one second ahead of Kyle Costello of Messiah.

At Shawnee, Ruona placed 3rd in last year’s County Open XC race and 4th in the Olympic Conference Championships.

Gloucester Catholic grad Adam Stetser also raced for Mt. St. Mary’s.

Haddonfield grad Isabella Miller, a senior at Haverford, finished first of nearly 300 runners Saturday at Rowan University’s Border Battle at DREAM Park in Logan Township.

Miller ran 21:33 over 6,000 meters, finishing 35 meters ahead of Johns Hopkins sophomore Ashley Heidenrich, who was second in 21:41.

This was Miller’s second straight invitational win. She was first across the line last weekend at the Main Line Invitational over 5,000 meters at Haverford. She was also the first collegiate finisher in her first race, the Haverford Alumni Race last month.

For Catholic University, freshman Kate Inglis of Moorestown was first across the line in 60th place with a time of 24:09.

Top finisher for host Rowan was senior Lyndsay Boyd from Pitman, who ran 24:49 and placed 102nd overall.

Some 292 runners from 35 colleges raced Saturday morning.

Overall winner Patrick Ditmars led four Cherokee runners in the top six and the Chiefs rolled to their eighth straight Burlington County Open XC title.

Ditmars, a junior, ran 16:25 over the 5,000-meter course at the Rancocas Valley athletic fields in Eastampton, finishing 65 meters ahead of Rancocas Valley junior Ryan Smith, who was second in 16:38. RV senior Andre Faigal placed third in 16:43.

Cherokee took the next three spots, with junior Conor Jacob, sophomore Robert Poplau and senior Joseph Natoli running 16:46, 16:54 and 16:59. Senior Bradley Popler was Cherokee’s 5th man in 9th with a 17:06.

Cherokee packed its five scorers in 41 seconds, averaged 16:50 and scored 25 points. 

Cinnaminson, despite missing its top two runners with injuries and racing with just five entrants, all junior, was second with 86 points.

Last time Cherokee did not win the County Open was 2014, when Northern Burlington went 1-2 with Chris Martin and Harrison Scott.

Other runners in the top 10 were Lenape senior Jake Buniva [7th in 17:06], Lenape junior Colin Hermack [8th 17:06] and Delran senior Anthony Guarino [10th 17:16].

Cinnaminson placed second without a runner in the top 10 by packing its five scorers – Matt McCarron, Derek Coceano, Tyler Schill, Dean Clark and Ryan Coceano – all between 11th place and 22nd place and between 17:23 and 18:15.

Junior Grace Wassell was the overall winner, and senior Princess Nwoga and senior Vanessa Marinero finished 2nd and 5th to lead the Highland girls to their first Camden County XC title in 13 years.

Wassell ran 20:26 over 5,000 meters at Timber Creek Park in Lindenwold and Gloucester Township, Nwoga took 2nd in 20:39 and Marinero placed 5th in 21:27.

Haddonfield, which won the last four team titles, did not compete this year.

Freshman Madison Goodman placed 18th in 24:26 and sophomore Arianna Laster 27th in 25:30 for Highland, which outscored 2nd-place Paul VI 50-64. Camden Catholic was one point back in third with 65 points.

The team title is Highland’s first since 2008, when Megan Venables, Jenn Rawls and Gabrielle Prendergast swept the top three spots.

Other runners in the top 10 were Paul VI sophomore Shaelan McNally [3rd in 21:02], Eastern senior Sophia Staiger [4th  21:12], Camden Catholic junior Casey Bednarek [6th 21:59], Camden Catholic freshman Nilaa Ponnappan [7th 22:17]], Winslow Township senior Victoria Campbell [8th 22:23], Eastern senior Lauren Kenselaar [9th 22:28] and Eastern junior Sophia Gambescia [10th 23:06].

Terrific race Thursday between Kingsway senior Kyle Rakitis and Woodbury sophomore Peyton Shute at the Gloucester County Championships.

Rakitis ran 15:44 and Shute 15:51 over 5,000 meters at West Deptford Park to win the county title. Last year, Rakitis placed second to Shute’s older brother Brady over the same course, Shute running 15:59 and Rakitis 16:16.

Three other runners – West Deptford senior Jacob Cobb (16:23), Williamstown junior Nicholas Kool (16:45) and Washington Township senior Chris Colavita (16:47) also broke 17 minutes.

Washington Township edged Kingsway by one spot to win the team title, 45-46, going 5-7-9-10-14. Kingsway had won nine straight team titles since Clearview won in 2011. The championship is the first for the Minutemen since 2009, when they beat Delsea 43-55  at Gloucester County College.

Seniors Nate Kidwell, Charles Lant and Sean Hice all joined Colavita finished in the top 10 for Township, Kidwell 7th in 17:21, Lant 9th in 17:34 and Nice 10th in 17:46. Township’s fifth scorer was junior Tells McDonald, who placed 15th in 18:09.

Also in the top 10 were Kingsway senior Ryan Allen (6th in 17:03) and Kingsway junior Cesar Pedro (8th in 17:25).