So much for running cautiously with a short week before Meet of Champions.

Led by individual winner Seth Clevenger, a senior, and with junior George Andrus and Senior Tobias Janssen also in the top 5, Haddonfield blazed to its 19th state XC title – and 11th in the last 15 years – at the rain-delayed state Group 2 championships at Holmdel County Park.

And the Bulldogs did it with one of the fastest team averages in South Jersey history!

The boys Group 2 race was one of three delayed two days because of wind and thunderstorms that tore through Monmouth County Saturday afternoon.

So instead of six days between states and the Meet of Champions, Haddonfield only has three days.

But the notion of two hard efforts in five days didn’t deter Haddonfield, which averaged 16:28 over the challenging Holmdel 5,000-meter layout, the 7th-fastest team average ever run at Holmdel by a South Jersey school and fastest since Kingsway’s 16:22 at the 2017 state Group 4 meet.

Clevenger ran 15:51, a four-second Holmdel PR, and finished 65 meters ahead of senior Jack Tavaglione of Voorhees, who ran 16:04.

He became Haddonfield’s 12th individual state champion but first in 11 years.

Andrus placed third in 16;11 – a 32-second Holmdel PR – and Janssen ran 16:24 – a 27-second Holmdel PR.

Haddonfield then placed its next three runners – all underclassmen – between 12th and 18th. Junior Rob DiMedo ran 16:50, Junior Donald Jellig 17:07 and sophomore Liam Dougherty 17:13. Senior Andrew Sullivan also raced for Haddonfield, placing 48th in 17:59.

Ten of the top 13 runners in the Group 2 race were from South Jersey schools.

Scoring South Jersey vs. the field, South Jersey wins 22-33.

Rapidly improving Cinnaminson with its all-underclass lineup placed second with 88 and Haddon Heights scored 119 for third. This will be Cinnaminson’s first trip to the Meet of Champions since 2008.

Woodbury sophomore Peyton Shute ran 16:27 for 6th and a spot in the Meet of Champions, Haddon Heights juniors Jack Bolling and Colin Patterson placed 7th and 8th, both in 16:31, to qualify for Saturday back at Holmdel, and West Deptford senior Jacob Cobb made it seven South Jersey runners in the top 10 with a 10th-place finish in 16:35.

Juniors Alex Boyko [11th in 16:41], Tyler Schill [16:55] and Matt McCarron [17:17] placed 11th, 13th and 19th for Cinnaminson. Juniors Derek Coceano [17:22] and Patrick Storti [17:39] placed 23rd and 38th.

This was the first 1-2-3 South Jersey sweep in the 101-year history of the New Jersey state championships.

This was the third team Haddonfield and Cinnaminson finished 1-2 in Group 2. They also did it in 2002 and 2008.

Haddonfield also won Group 2 in 1978, 1980, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2019 and Group 1 in 1985, 1987, 1989 and 1990.

The meet wasn’t contested last year, so Haddonfield has now won four straight state titles. That’s the 7th-longest streak in state history. Haddonfield’s streak of five straight from 2006 through 2010 is tied for 4th-longest.

Haddonfield’s total of 19 state championships is 3rd-most in state history, behind Christian Brothers Academy, which has won 30, and Bernards, which has won 23.

Here’s a look at the top 10 team averages by South Jersey schools in Holmdel history:

16:19 … Mainland Regional, 2003, Meet of Champions [1]
16:19 … Haddonfield, 2010, Meet of Champions [2]
16:21 … Haddonfield, 2001, Meet of Champions [1]
16:22 … Kingsway, 2017, Group 4 [1]
16:25 … Mainland Regional, 2003, Group 4 [1]
16:26 … Cherry Hill East, 2014, Group 4 [1]
16:28 … Haddonfield, 2021, Group 2 [1]
16:30 … Haddonfield, 2018 Meet of Champions [2]
16:30 … Cherokee, 2019 Meet of Champions [4]
16:31 … Cherry Hill East, 2014, Meet of Champions

Clevenger’s 15:51 made him the 4th-fastest Haddonfield runner at Holmdel and the fastest in 11 years.

15:41 … Jon Vitez [Haddonfield], 2009
15:42 … Ben Potts [Haddonfield], 2010
15:48 … Chris Platt [Haddonfield], 2001
15:51 … Seth Clevenger [Haddonfield], 2021
15:54 … Skip Stiles [Haddonfield], 2001
15:55 … Breton Bonnett [Haddonfield], 2001
15:55 … Seth Clevenger [Haddonfield], 2021
15:56 … Jon Vitez [Haddonfield], 2009
15:56 … Ben Potts [Haddonfield], 2010
15:58 … Martin Ridell [Haddonfield], 2019

Here’s a look at all of Haddonfield’s state champions:

1978 … Jim Smith, Group 2 [16:04]
1985 … Dan Gough, Group 1 [16:57]
1986 … Dan Gough, Group 1 [16:24]
1987 ..;. Joe Shanahan, Group 1 [15:36]
1995 … Eric Bonnette, Group 2 [17:13]
1996 … Eric Bonnette, Group 2 [16:43]
2001 … Chris Platt, Group 2 [16:11]
2002 … Chris Platt, Group 2 [16:11]
2007 … Jonathan Vitez , Group 2 [16:20]
2008 … Jonathan Vitez , Group 2 [16:33]
2009 … Jonathan Vitez , Group 2 [15:57]
2010 … Ben Potts, Group 2 [16:09]
2021 … Seth Clevenger, Group 2 [15:51]

Senior Jack Ennis of Shawnee, freshman Chase Miller of Cherokee, sophomore Steve Mendez of Burlington Township and junior Pat Mulligan of Haddon Township helped The College of New Jersey record its best finish in 16 years at NCAA Division 3 Regionals Saturday.

Ennis placed 9th of more than 160 runners in 25:52 over 8,000 meters at DREAM Park in Logan Township, Miller was 16th in 26:18, Mendez ran 26:40 for 31st and Mulligan was 60th in 27:24.

Haverford topped TCNJ 50-99 to win the NCAA Division 3 Metro Region Championship and automatically qualify for nationals this weekend in Kentucky. 

Only the regional winners qualify automatically for the national championship race, so TCNJ will wait to learn whether it receives one of 22 at-large bids.

The NCAA Division 3 Championships are scheduled for Saturday morning at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park in Louisville. 

Rowan junior Kevin Lauer from Lenape placed 8th overall in 25:48 and was the Profs’ top finisher. Noah Cziryak, a Triton graduate and Rowan junior, was 30th overall in 26:39 and was Rowan’s fourth runner. Rowan placed 4th with 121 points.

Stephen Conte, a Stockton senior from Paul VI, was Stockton’s No. 2 runner and placed 35th in 26:47. 

Moravian junior Liam Duffy, a Haddon Township graduate, was 43rd in 27:01.

And for Widener, sophomore David Millar of Ocean City ran 27:03 and placed 45th overall. 

The Meet of Champions will remain on Saturday, the NJSIAA has decided.

There was conversation in Robbinsville that the meet might be delayed until Monday because of the weather postponement that forced meet officials to move three of the 12 races to Tuesday starting at 2 p.m.

A two-day delay would create a much more level playing field among athletes from the 12 races who advanced to the Meet of Champions.

Now., instead of the usual full week between the two biggest meets of the year, schools racing in girls and boys Parochial A and boys Group 2 will have to race four days after their state meet.

For a program like the Haddonfield boys, who are a contender to win the Meet of Champions, that’s a significant handicap.

The 50th Meet of Champions  is scheduled for 11 a.m. for the girls race and 11:45 a.m. for the boys race.

On Tuesday, the Parochial A girls race is scheduled for 2 p.m., Group 2 boys at 2:30 p.m. and Parochial A boys at 3 p.m.

For more details, here’s the latest from Milesplit: https://nj.milesplit.com/articles/306019/meet-of-champions-will-remain-on-saturday-november-20th?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_term=thumbnail.meetofchampssame&utm_campaign=milesplitnewjersey

Haddonfield graduate Isabella Miller, a senior at Haverford, earned the biggest victory of her college XC career Saturday when she won the NCAA Division 3 Metro Region Championship.

Miller returned to South Jersey and ran a 6,000-meter all-course personal-best 21:24 at DREAM Park in Logan Township to punch her ticket to the NCAA Division 3 Championships and lead Haverford to the first NCAA regional team title in program history.

Miller became Haverford’s first regional champion in 25 years, since Meredith Unger won the 1996 Mideast Regional title at Carlisle (Pa.) High School, edging The College of New Jersey’s Amy O’Donnell from Mahwah High School. Unger went on to place 7th at NCAAs, earning All-America honors.

Miller finished about 20 meters ahead of teammate Angelina Petrichenko to win the individual title. Haverford outscored 2nd-place Swarthmore 88-102 for the team championship.

The NCAA Division 3 Championships are scheduled for Saturday at Tom Sawyer Park in Louisville, Ky.

Stockton placed 6th, led by junior Jessie Klenk, who placed 19th out of 169 runners in 23:32. Moorestown’s Jamie Wun, a senior, placed 50th in 24:18, and Highland’s Abby Webb, a freshman, was 67th in 24:50.

Rowan was led by freshman Anna Sasse of Williamstown, who placed 24th in 23:23 and was the 6th freshman overall, and senior Lyndsay Boyd from Pitman, who ran 23:50 and placed 32nd. Sophomore Sha’Lynn Clarke of Glassboro [51st in 24:19], junior Carley Tool of Seneca [56th in 24:24] and Madison Edwards of Cinnaminson [63rd in 24:41] also scored for Rowan, which placed 10th.

Freshman Jaden Sweely from Cherokee placed 65th and helped Widener place 3rd overall, its best finish ever in a regional meet.

Here are direct links to the nine races that were completed at the state cross country championships Saturday at Holmdel County Park.

The three remaining races – Parochial A boys and girls and Group 2 boys – will be held starting at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Click on the race for complete results:

BOYS
Group 1
Group 3
Group 4
Parochial B

GIRLS
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Parochial B

They got 9 of the 12 races in before wind and thunderstorms finally halted activity Saturday afternoon at Holmdel County Park.

The three remaining races – Parochial A boys and girls and Group 2 boys – will be held on Tuesday.

A severe thunderstorm watch remained in effect until 7 p.m. for Monmouth County, according to the National Weather Service.

That’s a tough break for the Haddonfield boys, who are favored to win Group 2 but will now have to race in the Meet of Champions just four days after a hard effort at the state meet.

The Parochial A girls will race at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Group 2 boys at 2:30 p.m. and Parochial A boys at 3 p.m.

The forecast for Holmdel on Tuesday looks better, with sunny skies and temperatures in the high 40s projected for the afternoon.

The Haddonfield girls packed their top five in 31 seconds and won its 10th state title by 50 points Saturday.

Sophomore Anna Earp, junior Sabrina Miller and senior Jess Goode finished 6th, 7th and 8th, and sophomore Audrey Naticchia, junior Helene Usher and sophomore Riley Slootsky placed 11th, 12th and 13th for Haddonfield, which is ranked No. 3 in the state.

Haddonfield finished with a 44-94 win over 2nd-place Metuchen to win its first state title since 2016. Haddonfield would almost certainly have won last year, but the state meet was not held.

Haddonfield’s 50-point margin of victory and its 44 points are both the best since 2012, when Voorhees won Group 2 34-103 over Bernards. Since the girls meet’s inception in 1976, the 44 points are 5th-lowest in Group 2 and the 50-point margin of victory is 10th-largest.

Haddonfield averaged 19:52 over the 5,000-meter course at Holmdel County Park. That’s 5th-fastest ever by a South Jersey team at Holmdel and fastest since Kingsway ran 19:45 at the 2017 Meet of Champions. The Bulldogs actually packed their first six finishers in 39 seconds.

Earp ran 19:46, Miller 19:46 and Goode 19:51 in Haddonfield’s first group of three, with Naticchia in 20:00, Usher 20:17 and Slootsky 20:17.  Sophomore Sarah Fetter also raced for Haddonfield.

Haddonfield previously won state titles in Group 1 in 1990, 1993 and 1998 and in Group 2 in 1994, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2016.

Only Red Bank Catholic (20), Bernards (12), Voorhees (11) and North Hunterdon (10) have won more state titles than the Haddonfield girls.

Cinnaminson junior Stephanie Renouf also advanced to states by placing 9th in 19:52, her first time under 20 minutes at Holmdel.

Senior Nicole Clifford placed 3rd, sophomore Olivia Parkinson 12th and junior Kelsey Niglio 18th and edged the No. 1-ranked team in New Jersey Saturday to win the state Group 4 cross country championship, the first in the program’s history.

No more than five points separated each Cherokee and Ridgewood runner, but the biggest margin among the five scorers belonged t0 the 4th-place runners, where Cherokee sophomore Kerry O’Day finished five spots ahead of Ridgewood’s No. 4 runner.

Those points were crucial, essentially delivering the team title to the Chiefs.

Both teams averaged 20:01 over the 5,000-meter course at Holmdel County Park, and Cherokee finished with an 81-84 triumph.

Clifford ran 19:17 for 3rd place, Parkinson 19:44 for 12th and Niglio 20:08 for 18th. After three runners, Ridgewood led 27-28. But O’Day ran 20:17, giving Cherokee a four-point lead with the 5th runners yet to cross. And freshman Megan Niglio ran 20:41 for 37th place, finishing just one place and two seconds behind Ridgewood’s fifth runner to clinch the team title for the Chiefs.

For team scoring purposes, Parkinson scored 10, Kelsey Niglio 15, O’Day 22 and Megan Niglio 31. Sophomore Alaina Bromley ran 21:51 and senior Noelle Falzone 22:30 for the Chiefs.

Here’s how the scoring shaped up:
Cherokee: 3-10-15-22-31-(63-80)
Ridgewood: 6-9-12-27-30-(40-67)

Cherokee’s previous best finish was 5th place in 2003, a team led by Lisa Burkholder, and 2010, when Megan Lacy won the first of her two state individual titles.

The 3-point margin of victory is the smallest in Group 4 since 2014, when Hillsborough edged Ridge 90-91.

Cherokee became the first South Jersey school to win the state Group 4 title in 19 years, since Shawnee won its eighth title in 2003. The only other South Jersey school to ever win NJ-4 was Paul VI in 1986, during a period when there were no parochial meets.

Other South Jersey runners in the top 20 were Kingsway junior Aubrey Pierontoni [13th in 19:54] and Cherry Hill East teammates Alexis Tepper, a junior [19th in 20:09], and senior Madison McNiff [20th in 20:10].

Triton’s Dennis Fortuna remained undefeated this year against New Jersey runners when he won the state Group 3 XC title at Holmdel County Park.

Fortuna ran a Holmdel PR 15:54 and became Triton’s first state champion ever, finishing 75 meters ahead of West Windsor-Plainsboro North senior Nikhil Makker, who took second in 16:12. Fortuna ran 16:02 at Shore Coaches.

His time is 28th on the all-time South Jersey Holmdel performance list [https://sjtrackblog.com/2021/11/11/the-all-time-south-jersey-holmdel-boys-and-girls-performance-list/] and he became the 41st runner from South Jersey to break 16 minutes on the legendary Holmdel 5,000-meter course.

Fortuna’s only loss this year came in the season-opening PTXC 12.2 Presented by Brooks event at Kutztown (Pa.) University, where he finished 4th behind a runner from Maryland and two from Pennsylvania.

Delsea senior Andre Littlehales also advanced to the Meet of Champions by virtue of his 3rd-place finish in 16:25. Ocean City senior Owen Ritti ran 17:06 for 16th overall, and Highland junior Cole Knoedler [21st in 17:12], Timber Creek senior Cole Mylan [23rd in 17:16], Mainland junior Elliott Post [29th in 17:20] and Ocean City junior Nick Scarangelli []36th in 17:30] also ran 17:30 or faster.

Ocean City and Triton finished 7th and 8th in team scoring.

Here’s a look at every South Jersey runner to break 16 minutes at Holmdel, along with their fastest time on the course.For the full list including all sub-16 performances by each runner, click here.

15:16 … Jason DiJoseph [Paul VI], 1988
15:29 … Kevin Antczak [Mainland Regional], 2019
15:33 … Josh Clark [Highland], 2015
15:36 … Louis Corgliano [Hammonton], 2013
15:37 … Aaron Groff [Cherry Hill East], 2015
15:38 … Gregory Hughes [Mainland], 2003
15:39 … Luke Petela [Haddon Twp.], 2014
15:40 … Shawn Wilson [Cherokee], 2012
15:40 … Brett Johnson [Ocean City], 2008
15:40 … Steve Maine [Highland], 2013
15:41 … Jon Vitez [Haddonfield], 2009
15:42 … Ben Potts [Haddonfield], 2010
15:41 … Ethan Wechsler [Cherokee], 2019
15:42 … Shawn Hutchison [Bishop Eustace], 2014
15:43 … Marc Pelerin [Cherokee], 2001
15:43 … Miles Schoedler [Ocean City], 2010
15:45 … Keith Krieger [Cherokee], 2002
15:46 … Jack Shea [Cherokee], 2015
15:47 … Urie Ridgeway [Bridgeton], 1988
15:48 … Chris Platt [Haddonfield], 2001
15:48 … Keith Krieger [Cherokee], 2002
15:48 … Austin Gabay [Cinnaminson], 2019
15:48 … Oliver Adler [Cherry Hill East], 2019
15:49 … Luke Petela [Haddon Twp.], 2014
15:50 … Mike Myers [Eastern Reg.], 2000
15:51 … Jon Anderson [Cinnaminson], 2003
15:51 … Murad Campbell [Overbrook], 1998
15:54 … Mike Mantini [Gateway], 1978
15:54 … Paul Szulewski [Williamstown], 2010
15:54 … Skip Stiles [Haddonfield], 2001
15:54 … Dennis Fortuna [Triton], 2021
15:55 … Dominick Munson [Timber Creek], 2014
15:55 … Breton Bonnett [Haddonfield], 2001
15:55 … Seth Clevenger [Haddonfield], 2021
15:56 … David Forward [Shawnee], 2008
15:56 … Kyle Kirk [Camden Catholic], 2012
15:57 … Nate Miller [Highland Reg.], 1998
15:57 … Connor Herr [Shawnee], 2010
15:57 … Michael Ungvarsky [Cinnaminson], 2016
15:58 … Martin Ridell [Haddonfield], 2019
15:59 … Anthony Dentino [Washington Twp.], 2010

Senior Scott Hubbard placed second overall and senior Tyler Wells and junior Joseph Gaspari also placed in the top 14 and Audubon raced to its first state cross country title ever Saturday at Holmdel County Park.

Audubon outscored 2nd-place Kinnelon, 76-100, a week after outscoring Haddon Township 35-56 to win the South Jersey Group 1 title. Haddon Township placed 3rd Saturday with 134 points to advance to the Meet of Champions on the same course next weekend.

Hubbard ran 17:09 over the hilly Holmdel 5,000-meter course, finishing behind only Colin Riley, a junior at Jonathan Dayton in Springfield, Union County. Wells ran 10th in 17:40 and Gaspari 14th in 17:53.

Audubon placed three ahead of Kinnelon’s second runner and averaged 17:57 at Holmdel County Park.

Sophomore Aiden Williams and senior Clifford Gilmore finished together in 18:33 for the Green Wave, Williams credited with 29th place and Gilmore 30 (25 and 26 as far as team points). Senior Aaryn Myers and freshman Leo Davis also raced for Audubon.

Audubon’s best previous finish at states was 2nd place in 1978, when the Green Wave finished behind Bernards by a 59-111 score. That team was led by Ed Wickersham, who placed 7th at states in 17:00 at Holmdel.

Audubon also had top-5 finishes in 1987, 1988 and 2019. They finished 4th in 1988, 5th in 1988 and 5th in 2019, the last time a state meet was held.

This is the third straight meet a Colonial Conference school has won the state Group 1 title. Haddon Township won in 2018 and 2019. Township also won in 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Including titles by Pennsville in 2006 and Haddon Heights in 2007, South Jersey schools have won 10 of the last 15 Group 1 championships.

Also in the top 20 were Buena senior Kayden Platania [12th in 17:49], Haddon Township senior Ethan Bergmann [13th in 17:53] and Wildwood sophomore Jorge Cruz Valle [20th in 18:14].