Sophomore Lyana Gutierrez and junior Audrey Musmeci placed 3rd and 4th to lead the Highland girls to the Camden County Championship.

Gutierrez ran 22:10 for 3rd place and Musmeci 22:40 for 4th place, and Highland outscored 2nd-place Camden Catholic, 37-52, to win the team title, with Winslow Township a close 3rd with 61 points.

Highland also won the 2021 team title with a completely different group of seven girls in the lineup.

Camden Catholic junior Nilaa Ponnappan ran 20:51 over 5,000 meters at Timber Creek Park in Gloucester Township to win the individual title. She became the first Camden Catholic girl in 28 years to win a Camden County title. Kacy Corbett ran 19:47 at Gloucester County College in Deptford to win the 1995 race.

For Highland, sophomore Addison Costello placed 9th in 24:03, sophomore Priscilla Guerrero Sanchez 11th in 24:47 and senior Elexis Swen 13th in 25:09.

Also in the top 10 were Winslow junior Ava Millner [2nd in 21:25], Gloucester junior Dejia Robert [5th in 23:25], Cherry Hill West senior Mia Gerace [6th in 23:30], Camden Catholic senior Briana Deiwert [7th in 23:33], Camden Catholic sophomore Brynn Deiwert [8th in 23:41] and Winslow freshman Tristan Hughes [10th in 24:11].

Senior Nick Kuenkel won his second straight title and Cherokee pitched the first County Open shutout in history Friday over 5,000 meters at Mill Creek Park in Willingboro.

Kuenkel joined Alex Yersak and Nick Falk as Cherokee’s 3rd repeat winner and led a 1-2-3-4-5 Cherokee finish for a perfect 15-point total. The Chiefs finished with a 15-56 advantage over 2nd-place Shawnee, with Rancocas Valley 3rd with 95 points.

The team championship is Cherokee’s 11th in a row and 25th overall. Last time Cherokee did not win was 2013, when Northern Burlington – led by a 1-2 finish from Chris Martin and Scott Harrison – scored 52 points and topped Lenape, who had 78. Cherokee was 3rd with 84.

The previous low score in the County Open’s 54-year history was Cherokee’s 20 in 1999 and again in 2019.

Kuenkel won the race in 16:03, followed by senior Robert Poplau in 16:19, sophomore Logan Bromley in 16:21, junior Liam Tindall in 16:25 and freshman Benjamin Realley – in his first major varsity race – in 16:42. Junior Benjamin Weiner also finished in the top-10, taking 8th overall in 16:54 and finishing ahead of every other team’s 1st finisher other than Shawnee and Moorestown.

That’s a 39-second gap between Cherokee’s 1st and 5th runners.Cherokee’s 16:21 average looks like a course record, although I don’t have complete results for some early years. But considering that the course is running much faster than it used to, it’s hard to imagine a faster average. The fastest I found was Cherokee’s 16:31 in 2017.

Reilly’s time is the fastest at Mill Creek by a freshman as far back as the MileSplit database goes, which is 2000 (and probably ever). The previous fastest freshman time on record is a 16:50 by Shawnee’s Connor Herr in 2008 when he placed 8th.

Others in the top 10: Moorestown sophomore Peter Simpson [6th in 16:46], Shawnee Yanni Ekatomatis [7th in 16:52], Shawnee Noah Stapleton [9th in 16:58] and Rancocas Valley Christian Rouzard [10th in 17:12].

Here’s a look at all the repeat winners in meet history:

Eric Lorenz [Holy Cross], 1986, 1987
Jason Capelli [Rancocas Valley], 1992, 1993
Brad Bisinger [Lenape], 1996, 1997
Adam Ambrus [Shawnee], 1999, 2000
Alex Yersak [Cherokee], 2006, 2007
David Forward [Shawnee], 2008, 2009
Nick Falk [Cherokee], 2014, 2015
Austin Gabay [Cinnaminson], 2018, 2019
Nick Kuenkel [Cherokee], 2022, 2023

Delsea’s Noah Deckert ran a big 8,000 PR Friday morning and placed 34th out of more than 300 runners in the IC4A Championships at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.

Deckert, a St. Joe’s senior, ran 24:40.7 and was the Hawks’ first finisher. His previous all-course 8K personal best was a 25:06.9 at Paul Short last year at Lehigh.

St. Joe’s placed 6th among 34 teams in the race with 246 points. Stony Brook won with 81, edging Boston University with 97.

Colton Johnson, a junior from Paul VI, was St. Joe’s 2nd finisher in 42nd place in 24:48.7, and Matt Coffey from Camden Catholic was the Hawks’ 5th finisher in 71st place in 25:06.2. Johnson’s time was also an 8K PR and also broke his previous PR of 24:50.1 from last year’s Paul Short.

Kingsway graduate Sydney Watts, a junior at Chestnut Hill College in Philly, placed 2nd Wednesday in the Cairn Cup on the Highlanders’ campus in Langhorne Manor borough and Middletown Township, Bucks County.

Watts ran 26:16.5 over 6,000 meters, finishing behind only Clarisse Hayden of Cairn, who ran 26:04.4.

Cairn won the team title with 39 points and Chestnut Hill College was 2nd with 60. Cairn’s 6th runner was Lumberton’s Kate O’Brien, who attended Trinity Prep in Medford.

Senior Alyssa Boucher and sophomore Sophia Aldridge finished 1-2 Thursday to lead the Williamstown girls to their first Gloucester County Championships title in 15 years.

Boucher won the race in 19:36 and Aldridge was 2nd in 19:46, and Williamstown placed all five scorers in the top 15 on the way to a 38-52 win over Clearview.

Boucher became Williamstown’s first individual champion since Vicky Ajimoko won the 2012 race at Gloucester County College in in Deptford in 18:49.3. The 1-2 Williamstown finish was the first in the meet’s 44-year history.

It’s Williamstown’s first team title since 2008, when the Braves outscored Kingsway 61-77 with Maria Ruiz 2nd and Kristin Mathis 6th, also at Gloucester County College.

Junior Delaney Harbison, freshman Julia Burgio and senior Paige Franklin rounded out Williamstown’s top-5, Harbison in 12th in 21:44, Burgio 14th in 21:56 and Franklin in 15th in 22:03.

Also in the top 10 were Weat Deptford freshman Taylor Sierzega [3rd in 20:09], Clearview senior Margaret Wisniewski [4th in 20:22], West Deptford senior Isabella Mackey [5th in 20:26], Kingsway senior Kay Wiscount [6th in 20:33], Washington Township junior Kaylee Russen [7th in 20:36], Clearview senior Allison Roes [8th in 20:52], Washington Township junior Rachael Wilson [9th in 21:19] and Kingsway senior Kendall Cramer [10th in 21:19].

Clearview placed 2nd in team scoring based on a 6th-runner tiebreaker with Kingsway. Clearview junior Lilla Porter finished one spot ahead of Kingsway’s 6th runner.

Junior Sofia Day ran 17:14 – the fastest time by any South Jersey girl on any XC course in eight years – and Mainland won its 5th straight Atlantic County title Thursday at Hammonton Lake Park.

Day’s time – officially 17:14.38 – is fastest by a South Jersey girl since Mainland’s Alyssa Aldridge ran 17:07.58 at the Brown Invitational at Goddard Park East in East Greenwich, R.I., on Oct. 17, 2015.

It’s fastest by a South Jersey girl on a New Jersey course since Haddonfield freshman Briana Gess ran 16:57 at the 2013 Colonial Conference All-Star Meet at Pennypacker Park in Haddonfield and Cherry Hill.

Her previous all-course PR was a 17:38.96 at the 2021 Cape Atlantic League Championships at Stockton University in Galloway Township.

Senior Gillian Lovett also ran well under 18 minutes, and Mainland placed five runners in the top eight to outscore 2nd-place Egg Harbor 20-35.

Lovett placed 2nd in 17:46, junior Ava McDole placed 4th in 18:45, freshman Cecilia Foreman was 5th in 19:20 and senior Chloe Malone ran 8th in 19:38. Mainland senior 6th runner Claudia Booth ran 19:53 for 11th place.

Mainland and Egg Harbor girls took up the first 11 spots.

Egg Harbor was led by senior Michaela Schlemo, who placed 3rd in 18:22, senior Taylor Rooney ran 6th in 19:26, sophomore Paige Pacquing was 7th in 19:28, junior Bithini Andemariam 9th in 19:46 and sophomore Devyn Per placed 10th in 19:53.

Also under 21 minutes: Hammonton Natalie Clauhs [12th in 20:04], Mainland senior Sophie Goldstein [13th in 20:41], Atlantic County Tech senior Ella Feehan [14th in 20:52] and Cedar Creek senior Riley Lerner [15th in 20:53].

Junior Maeve Smith shattered the course record and led the Ocean City girls to their 14th consecutive Cape May County cross country championship Tuesday.

Smith ran 17:58.87 at the Cape May County Zoo in Middle Township, breaking the 6-year-old course record of 18:44.39 set at the 2017 Cape May County meet by Ocean City’s Alexa Weber.

Wildwood junior Macie McCracken ran 18:53 for 2nd place, but Ocean City had the next four finishers – junior Chloe Care [3rd in 19:04], sophomore Gabrielle Henry [4th in 20:37], senior Frankie Ritzel [5th in 20:48] and sophomore Emily Russo [6th in 21:02].

The Red Raiders outscored 2nd-place Wildwood Catholic, 15-67. (Wildwood only had four finishers, so for team scoring purposes, Ocean City went 1-2-3-4-5.)

Ocean City has won every county title since 2009, when Wildwood Catholic went 1-2-3 and edged Ocean City, 30-32. There was no meet held in 2020.

Wildwood junior Leiah Pawlus [7th in 21:03], Ocean City junior Zoe Zammit [8th in 21:04], Ocean City freshman Lillian Flora [9th in 21:14] and Lower Cape May Regional sophomore Jenna Hill [10th in 21:46] rounded out the top 10.

Schalick junior Jordan Hadfield ran away with her first Salem County cross country title Wednesday with an all-course personal-best on her home course in Pitts Grove.

Hadfield ran 18:26, winning by about 1,000 meters over 2nd-place Salem County Vo-Tech sophomore Sarah Seiden, who placed 2nd in 21:59. Her previous 5,000 all-course PR was a 19:18.54 at Six Flags in Jackson last month.

I don’t see team scoring listed anywhere, but unofficially I have Schalick winning the girls team title with 30 points and Salem County Vo-Tech of Pilesgrove Township 2nd with 58.

For Schalick, freshman Elizabeth Petrunis placed 3rd in 22:19, freshman Aubree McKishen 7th in 24:36, junior Jordan Good 9th in 24:50 and freshman Ava Melnick 10th in 25:21.

Others in the top 10: Woodstown junior Kayla Ayars [4th in 23:13], Salem Vo-Tech senior Savannah Johnson [5th in 23:49], Pennsville junior Makayla Butz [6th in 24:12] and Woodstown junior Sammy Sterner [8th in 24:43].

Schalick has won four straight county championship meets – 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Pennsville won in 2018.

Led by senior Matt Hoffman, Ocean City swept the top seven spots and pitched a perfect 15-point score Wednesday at the Cape May County Championships at the Cape May Zoo in Middle Township.

The win was Ocean City’s 8th in a row and 22nd the last 23 times the meet was contested.

Hoffman ran 15:45.46 over the 5,000-meter course, breaking the listed course record on MileSplit of 15:47 turned in by Ocean City’s Kevin Scott at the 2012 Cape May County meet.

Also in Ocean City’s lead group were junior Ethan Buck [2nd in 16:16], junior Zach Hutchinson [3rd in 16:26], sophomore Erik Preisner [4th in 16:29] and junior Kal Heyman [5th in 16:45]. They were backed up by sophomore Robert Cesari [6th in 17:08] and freshman Nathan Aschmann [17th in 17:28].

Also in the top 10 were Wildwood senior Jorge Cruz Valle [8th in 17:54], Middle Township freshman Jamar Mack [9th in 18:27] and Cape May County Tech sophomore Evan Feliciano [10th in 18:51].

Ocean City outscored Middle Township 15-71 to win the team title. It was the first sweep since 2019, when Anthony Conte led the Red Raiders to a 1-2-3-4-5-6 finish and a 15-64 win over Lower Cape May Regional.

Ocean City won 14 consecutive county meets from 2000 through 2013. Middle Township won the 2014 meet 23-34 and Ocean City won each meet since. The meet wasn’t held in 2020.

Led by senior Raine Guidarelli, Cherry Hill East packed its five scorers within 20 seconds – and all seven within 29 seconds – and rolled to a commanding win in Division 3 at the South Jersey Open Saturday.

Guidarelli won the race in 16:02, edging Williamstown Dylan Saber, who placed 2nd in 16:04. It was Guidarelli’s first major individual win in track or cross country.

Cherry Hill East, ranked 7th in the state, went 1-3-5-6-7 to score 22 points and finished with a 22- 68 margin of victory over Cherokee, which did not race its top group.

Juniors Nikhil Raman and Brody Bogos also placed in the top five, Raman 3rd in 16:10 and Bogos 7th in 16:22. Sophomore Colin Moore was 6th in 16:20, sophomore Alvin Lin 7th in 16:22 and junior Brandon Lyons 11th in 16:31. Sophomore 6th man Benjamin Sautter also dipped under 17 minutes, placing 19th in 16:58.

Including fractions (which I don’t include in my posts), Cherry Hill East averaged 16:14.05, the fastest average in the six years the South Jersey Open has been at Dream Park and tied for the 10th-fastest average in course history.

The fastest previous average at DREAM Park in this meet looks like Cherry Hill East’s 16:46 at the 2021 South Jersey Open.

Other South Jersey runners in the top 10: Washington Township senior Aaron Kolosowsky [4th in 16:19], Cherokee sophomore Logan Bromley [8th in 16:21] and Williamstown sophomore Dominic Burgio [9th in 16:25].

Also under 17 minutes: Cherokee junior Anthony DiBattista [12th in 16:35], Williamstown junior David Kershner [13th in 16:35], Cherokee junior Enzo Corona [14th in 16:40], Clearview junior Ethan Worst [15th in 16:45], Cherokee sophomore Dominic Pileri [16th in 16:50], Eastern junior Ryan Haefele [17th in 16:52] and Cherokee senior Andrew Free [18th in 16:53].

Here’s what I came up with for the fastest average team times in the course’s brief history (as always, let me know of any errors and omissions in the comments section! Thanks! )

15:48 … Cherokee, 2022 [South Jersey Group 4 Sectionals]
15:52 … Haddonfield, 2021 [South Jersey Group 2 Sectionals]
15:52 … Haddonfield, 2022 [South Jersey Group 2 Sectionals]
16:00 … Cherokee, 2019 [Olympic Conference Championships]
16:00 … Southern Regional, 2022 [South Jersey Group 4 Sectionals]
16:10 … Cherokee, 2022 [Olympic Conference Championships]
16:13 … Cherokee, 2021 [South Jersey Group 4 Sectionals]
16:14 … Cherokee, 2018 [Olympic Conference Championships]
16:15 … Highland, 2022 [South Jersey Group 3 Sectionals]
16:15 … Cherry Hill East, 2023 [South Jersey Open]
16:19 … Southern Regional, 2021 [South Jersey Group 4 Sectionals]