Camden Catholic junior Billy Clewell led the way in a five-team Olympic Conference batch Saturday cruising to a 17:32 at DREAM Park in Logan Township.

Clewell, who ran 16:24 at DREAM Park last week, finished 12 seconds ahead of Cherokee freshman Nick Kuenkel, who was second in 17:44.

Team scoring was not kept and several top runners did not compete, but Shawnee went 4-5-10-11-12 and would have won with 42 points over Cherokee’s 46. Shawnee packed its first five in 30 seconds.

Sophomore Ryan Czechowski [17:58] and freshman Ryan Kaczur [18:15] led Shawnee in 4th and 5th, with seniors Robert Birdsall, Dylan Hansen and John Ruona all finishing together in 18:28.

Also in the top 10 were Eustace junior Anthony Faust [3rd in 17:50], Cherokee freshman Andrew Free [6th in 18:22], Eustace junior Ryan Carney [7th in 18:25, Camden Catholic sophomore Braelen Crump [8th in 18:26] and Cherokee freshman Julian Hatch [9th in 18:27].

Duke freshman Austin Gabay ran a big 8K PR Friday, placing 11th in the Panorama Farms Invitational.

Gabay, a freshman from Cinnaminson, ran 24:26 and was Duke’s fifth runner on the Panorama Farms course in Earlysville, Va., just outside Charlottesville.

Host Virginia edged Duke, 26-33, for the team title.

In his first collegiate 8,000, Gabay ran 25:41 three weeks ago at the Virginia Tech Invite in Blacksburg, Va., so he ran 15 seconds per mile faster over the nearly 5.0-mile course.

Duke senior Mike Ungvarsky, also from Cinnaminson, also ran an 8,000 PR, finishing in 24:49. His previous fastest all-course 8K time was 24:55 at a meet in Greenville, N.C., in October of 2018.

Washington Township packed its seven runners in 31 seconds in sweeping an Olympic Conference batch meet Saturday morning at DREAM Park in Logan Township.

Washington Township swept the top seven spots in the six-team batch meet. There was no team scoring, but if there were Paul VI would have edged Eastern for second place.

Junior Chris Colavita ran 17:20 for overall individual honors, with junior Charles Lant [17:32], junior Nate Kidwell [17:34], junior Sean Hice [17:36] and senior Mason Brewster [17:46] also scoring for the Minutemen. Seniors Julian Lawson [17:51] and Cole Kolodziej [17:51] were right behind.

Also in the top 10 were Eastern junior Andrew Shinkle in 8th [17:53] and junior Jake Buniva [18:15] and sophomore Colin Hermack [18:26] of Lenape in 9th and 10th.

Moorestown senior Kate Inglis opened her season by leading a 1-5 Moorestown sweep in a tri-meet with Riverside and New Egypt at Moorestown.

Inglis ran 20:40, winning by nearly a minute over senior teammate Anu Bezwada, who was second in 21:37.

Senior Maggie Goettle [21:57], freshman Mary Läufer [21:58] and senior Leah Rivenburgh [23:56] also were part of Mooretown’s scoring group.

Sophomore Cassidy Burr was New Egypt’s first finisher, taking sixth overall, and sophomore Ryah Fitzgerald was Riverside’s finisher.

Inglis, the 2018 BCSL Liberty Division champ, placed 12th at Central Jersey Group 3 sectionals last year at Thompson Park in Jamesburg.

Soph Alex Boyko ran an all-course PR of 17:18 to lead Cinnaminson to a team win in a four-time Burlington County Scholastic League  batch meet on his home course.

Boyko obliterated his previous 5K PR for any course of 18:27, set last October at the BCSL Patriot Division meet at New Egypt.

Boyko won by about 100 meters over Burlington Township senior Aydan Sherman, who ran 17:38.

Cinnaminson went 1-3-5-9-13 and outscored second-place Maple Shade 31-47.

Cinnaminson’s top three runners were sophomores. Matt McCarron was third in 17:38 and Tyler Schill was fifth in 17:49. All three times are PRs. Schill didn’t break 19:30 as a freshman last year.

Senior Sergey Boyko took 9th for the Pirates and another soph, Dean Clark, was 13th.

Also under 18 minutes were Delran senior Riley Maher [4th in 17:47] and Maple Shade junior Ryan Olesky [6th in 17:57]. Rounding out the top 10 were Delran junior Anthony Guarino in 7th, Maple Shade sophomore Chad Cloke in 8th and Maple Shade junior Brennen King in 10th.

Shawnee swept the first three spots in a five-team Olympic Conference batch meet Saturday, with senior John Ruona running a 5,000-meter all-course PR.

Ruona, senior Robert Birdsall and junior Alex Campagna took the top three spots, and Ruona’s 16:18 is his fastest 5K ever. Birdsall was 2nd in 17:05 and Campagna 3rd in 17:11.

Team scoring wasn’t kept, but Shawnee went 1-2-3-6-7 for what would have been 19 points. Sophomore Ryan Czechowski and freshman Ryan Kaczur were Shawnee’s 4th and 5th runners in 17:49 and 17:51.

Also in the top 10 at DREAM Park in Logan Township were Bishop Eustace junior Anthony Faust [4th in 17:25], Eastern junior Andrew Shinkle [5th in 17:41], Bishop Eustace junior Ryan Carney [8th in 18:03] and two Paul VI sophomores – Joseph Wigginton [9th in 18:24] and Owen King [10th in 18:30].

Ruona moved into the No. 11 spot on the all-time DREAM Park course, which has been in use for three years now. He ran 16:38 on the same course earlier this month. His time is 3rd-fastest this year at DREAM Park, behind Cherokee senior Nico Grilli [16:01] and Cherry Hill East senior Aidan Groff [16:17].

Kaczur’s time is No. 6 all-time by a freshman on the DREAM Park course and second-fastest this year, behind Nick Kuenkel of Cherokee, who ran 17:34 last week.

In his second college race, Mainland Regional graduate Kevin Antczak took nearly a minute and a half off his 8,000-meter time for North Carolina State.

Antczak, a Wolfpack freshman, ran 24:23 over 8,000 meters at the Wolfpack Invitational at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C.,, just outside Raleigh.

In his collegiate debut last month, Antczak ran 25:48 at a meet at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg and was N.C. State’s No. 7 runner.

This time, he was N.C. State’s No. 6 runner and missed the top 5 by one second.

Virginia edged N.C. State 28-31 to win the team title.

The Wolfpack’s top runner, senior J.P. Flavin, is a graduate of Toms River North, where he had a PR of 9:27.30 for 3,200 meters. He placed second in 23:35, three seconds behind Virginia’s Rohann Asfaw.

Antczak was hurt most of the indoor season last year and all of outdoors, so this is really the first time he’s run healthy since last XC season, when he placed second in the Meet of Champions with a 15:29 at Holmdel – No. 14 in course history – and then took 8th at Foot Locker Nationals, the best performance by a South Jersey boy at Foot Locker in 31 years. 

https://sjtrackblog.com/2019/12/14/kevin-antczak-destroys-it-at-balboa-park-earns-all-america-status-with-best-foot-locker-finish-by-s-j-boy-in-22-years/

Haddonfield’s Anne Earp, Sarah Fetter and Ava Thomas swept the top three spots in the freshman girls race at the Cougar Invitational Saturday.

Earp ran 12:07, Fetter 12:42 and Thomas 12:46 over the 3,200-meter course at Buck Mill Park in Colts Neck.

Earp’s time would have been good enough to place 19th out of 58 runners in the freshman boys race.

And in a race featuring the top programs in the state, nobody finished within 10 seconds of that Haddonfield trio.

All three were running their second career high school XC race.

Haddonfield outscored Summit, 18-37, to win the team title. Riley Slootsky also ran under 13 minutes for Haddonfield, taking 5th in 12:59, and Clementine Thayer was Haddonfield’s fifth runner, in 13th place overall.

 

Haddonfield sophomore George Andrus and Cheer Hill East senior Gabe Rodriguez mixed it up with some of the fastest runners in the state and the results were impressive Saturday at the Cougar Invite.

Andrus placed 6th in 16:02 and Rodriguez was 7th in 16:05 over 5,000 meters at Buck Mill Park in Colts Neck.

Colts Neck senior Matt Bogdan won in 15:24 and junior Jackson Barna of Ridge was second in 15:25. Full results here.

Andrus’s time is No. 2 in course history by a sophomore behind only the legendary Craig Forys of Colts Neck, who ran 15:28 at the 2004 Cougar Invitational. 

Junior Tobias Janssen and senior Caleb Clevenger finished 16th and 17th, both in 16:30, for Haddonfield, and senior Sean Eisenhower also dipped under 17 minutes in 16:52.

Cherry Hill East had three of the top 14 finishes with Rodriguez 7th, senior Aidan Groff 11th in 16:10 and senior Aidan Eyre 14th in 16:21. Junior Dylan Hagan and senior Justin Whitney ran 16:57 and 16:58.

No. 1 CBA won the team title 70-89 over Ridge, followed by No. 9 Westfield [92] and No. 7 Colts Neck [97], with No. 4 Cherry Hill East [103] and No. 17 Haddonfield [107] taking 5th and 6th in the loaded field.

Sophomore Kate Ruona ran the No. 3 time at DREAM Park Saturday morning in a six-team Olympic Conference batch meet.

Ruota torched the 5,000-meter course in Logan Township, Gloucester County, in 18:29, a personal-best on that course. The only faster girls at DREAM Park are recorded by Ruona’s former teammate, Isabella Turner, who ran 17:52 at the 2018 South Jersey Shootout, and Cherokee’ Kate Rathman, who ran 18:22 at the 2018 Olympic Conference Championships.

No team scoring was kept, but Shawnee had five in the top 13 and unofficially would have finished with a close 45-53 decision over Eastern, with Paul VI a close third with 66 points.

Ruona won by over a minute and a half over Paul VI freshman Shaelan McNally, who was second in 20:00. Also under 21 minutes were sophomores Arianna Cane [20:50] and Elena Cicchini [20:53] of Eustace and Eastern junior Lauren Kenselaar [20:54]

The rest of Shawnee’s pack consisted of junior Kyra Birdsall [9th in 21:37], junior Madison Koveloski [10th in 21:43], senior Ashley Olson [12th in 21:49] and junior Madelyn Valasek [13th in 21:15].

Also in the top 10 were Eastern senior Morgan Bromley [6th in 21:04], Paul VI senior Katie Sparks [7th in 21:24] and Eustace freshman Carly Troy [8th in 21:30].