The Haddonfield boys took on some of the best cross country teams in the country and emerged with an impressive seventh-place finish in the Eastern States Championships race at the Manhattan Invitational Saturday.

Haddonfield averaged 13:04 on the historic 2.5-mile course at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. That was the seventh-fastest of more than 300 teams that competed in various races throughout the day at Vinny.

Junior Martin Riddell paced the Bulldogs with an 11th-place finish in 12:44, senior Greg Eisenhower was 21st in 12:49, senior Ethan Spellmeyer was 51st in 13:11, senior Derek Gess 60th in 13:18 and senior Sean Campiglia 65th in 13:21.

Haddonfield is ranked No. 2 in New Jersey behind Christian Brothers Academy of Lincroft, which placed fourth in the same race. CBA, ranked No. 6 nationally, averaged 12:58 and scored 190 points. Haddonfield scored 208 so wasn’t far behind.

Nationally 12th-ranked Bishop Hendricken of Warwick, R.I., won the team title 92-113 over nationally No. 2-ranked Fayetteville-Manlius, with No. 16 Claremont (Calif.) third with 117.

Imagine having seven of the first 13 finishers in a cross country invitational and … finishing second?

That’s exactly what happened to Cherry Hill East, which put together a monumental effort at the Camden County Championships, going 2-4-7-8-10-11-13 with its seven runners but still finished second to Haddonfield by a 25-30 score.

So East accounted for more than half of the first 13 runners across the line and still had to settle for a close second to Haddonfield.

Either way, this was too very good, very deep teams going head to head with championship season approaching.

Haddonfield overcame Cherry Hill East’s remarkable effort by going 2-3-5-6-9 and winning the team title 25-30 at Timber Creek Park in Lindenwold and Gloucester Township.

Sophie Steidle of Collingswood was the individual winner with a 19:57, and Nia Holden of Highland finished eighth overall, but neither was running with a full team so they don’t count in team scoring.

As for runners involved in team scoring, Cherry Hill East and Haddonfield accounted for the first 11 finishers.

Haddonfield and Cherry Hill East are ranked fourth and third in South Jersey.

Counting only team scorers, East went 1-4-7-8-10 to Haddonfield’s 2-3-5-6-9. Two very good teams at the top of their game.

For Haddonfield, sophomore Allison Colflesh and junior Lilly Sirover both ran 20:33, placing third and fourth overall, sophomores Lindsay Colflesh and Payton Weiner ran 21:05 and 21:20 for sixth and seventh, and sophomore Georgia Nussey clinched the win by taking 11th in 22:02.

For East, junior Sarah Pierce was ran 20:25 and took second overall (first among team scorers), and sophomore MaryKathleen McCurdy was fifth in 20:51. Cherry Hill East then had four of five finisher between 21:45 and 22:12, with senior Dani Lazarus ninth, junior Aliza Kotzen 10th, sophomore Tabitha DiDonato 12th and sophomore Isabel Slimm 13th.

Haddonfield’s five-point win was the closest in the Camden County championships since 2010, when Bishop Eustace won a sixth-race tiebreaker with Eastern after they both had 48 points with five runners scored.

Austin Gabay and Ethan Wechsler locked up Friday in a titanic battle at the Burlington County Open the resulted in the fastest 1-2 finish at Mill Creek Park since the course was extended from three miles to 5,000 meters in 1984.

Gabay, a Cinnaminson junior, edged Wechsler, a Cherokee junior, with both going under 16 minutes.

Gabay won in 15:56.02 and Wechsler ran the fastest non-winning time in course history when he took second in 15:57.46, about eight meters back.

Their times are No. 4 and No. 5 in course history. Wechsler’s time breaks the record for second place set in 2002 by Jon Anderson, who ran 16:01 behind Keith Krieger’s course record.

Here’s a look at every time under 16:10 in course history. All the times are from the County Open except Urie Ridgeway’s 16:06, which comes from the 1988 Group 3 sectionals, the only time sectionals were run at Mill Creek. Incredible that 10 of the 11-fastest times in course history belong to Cinnaminson and Cherokee runners.

15:43 … Keith Krieger [Cherokee], 2002
15:56 … Justin Kelly [Cherokee], 2017
15:56 … Shawn Wilson [Cherokee], 2012
15:56 … Austin Gabay [Cinnaminson], 2018
15:57 … Ethan Wechsler [Cherokee], 2018
15:59 … Mike Ungvarsky [Cinnaminson], 2016
16:01 … Jon Anderson [Cinnaminson], 2002
16:04 … Dave Forward [Shawnee], 2008
16:05 … Bill Mason [Cinnaminson], 1998
16:06 … Chris Spisak [Cherokee], 2017
16:06 … Steve Grabowski [Cinnaminson], 2005
16:06 … Urie Ridgeway [Bridgeton], 1988
16:07 … Eric Lorenz [Holy Cross], 1986
16:08 … Eric Lorenz [Holy Cross], 1987

Gabay is the fifth Cinnaminson runner to win the County Open XC title, joining Bill Mason (1998), Anderson (2003), Steve Grabowski (2004) and Mike Ungvarsky (2016).

Cherokee scored 27 points and won its fifth straight team title, 27-51, over Lenape.

The Chiefs have won 20 Burlington County Open titles, including 18 of the last 24.

Cherokee raced without Chris Spisak, last year’s runner-up. But even without Spisak, Cherokee went 2-3-5-6-11. The Chiefs would have beaten the field [1-4-7-8-9] by a 27-29 figure.

Junior Chase Miller was third in 16:32, sophomores Brett Shea and Nico Grilli ran fifth and sixth in 16:48 and 16:51 and junior Michael Gave took 11th in 17:08. Sophomore Dylan Odud was Cherokee’s sixth man in 14th in 17:24.

Lenape placed senior James Vizzard [4th in 16:46], junior Matt Richardson [8th in 16:57], senior Zaven Kazandjian [9th in 16:57] and senior Nick Morris [10th in 17:02] in the top 10 in its second straight second-place finish.

Lenape’s 51 points are the lowest second-place total in 16 years, since Cherokee edged Cinnaminson 39-41 in the 2002 meet.

Shawnee’s third-place finish was its best since it was third in 2009. Senior Tim Warren led the Renegades with a seventh-place finish in 16:54.

How much has Richie Castañeda improved?

A year ago, he ran 17:48 at the Camden County Championships and placed seventh. On Friday, on the same 5,000-meter course at Timber Creek Park in Lindenwold and Glocuester Township, he ran 16:51, ran away with the individual title and led Camden Catholic to the team title at the Camden County championships.

Castañeda and Matt Coffey, two seniors, finished 1-2 to lead the Irish to a 33-60 win over Paul VI.

Coffey took second in 17:09, a 32-second improvement of his own over his race at Timber Creek Park last fall.

Senior Ray Derman and junior Matt Denton gave Camden Catholic four finishers in the top 10. Derman ran 17:28 for sixth and Denton 17:38 for ninth. Senior Denny Kelly clinched the team title with a solid 15th-place finish in 18:03.

The team title is Camden Catholic’s second in a row.

How well did Camden Catholic race? Scoring against the field, they would have lost only by six points. That’s with Camden Catholic going 1-2-6-9-15 for 33 points and the field going 3-4-5-7-8 for 27 points.

Camden Catholic’s 33-point total is the lowest at the Camden County meet in five years, since Cherry Hill East won the 2013 meet with 27 points.

Losing one of the best runners in the state hasn’t slowed down the Shawnee girls.

The Renegades won their sixth straight Burlington County Open XC title Friday and 24th overall, edging a rapidly improving Cherokee team 49-62 over 5,000 meters at Mill Creek Park.

With defending sectional champ Isabella Turner sidelined, Shawnee showed its depth, placing three runners in the top 10 and six runners in the top 20.

Turner, who won the Open in 2016 and 2017, hasn’t raced since an 18:03 at Delsea, fastest time of the day at the South Jersey Open on Sept. 29.

But junior Claire Hauser led the way Friday with a 19:30 for second place behind Cherokee junior Kate Rathman, and senior Grace Kearns [8th in 20:23], freshman Sarah Kochanski [9th in 20:32], freshman Madison Koveloski [12th in 20:50] and junior Maddy Yeager [18th in 21:15] gave Shawnee a top-5 average of 20:30.

Cherokee actually led after four runners, so Yeager was the difference for Shawnee, and she was backed up four seconds later by Shawnee’s sixth runner, senior Lauren Tenet, who was 19th in 21:19.

The last time Shawnee didn’t win the Open was 2012, when Seneca went 2-3-5-8-10 for the team title with just 28 points.

Shawnee won five straight Open titles from 1982 through 1986, 11 straight from 1988 through 1998 and two more in  2002 and 2003 before starting its latest streak in 2013.

In all, Shawnee has won 24 of the last 37 girls team titles.

Elizabethtown junior Samuel Gerstenbacher, a Schalick graduate, outraced Bryce Descavish of Dickinson to win the Dickinson Short Course Invitational Saturday over 4,000 meters in Newville, Pa.

Gerstenbacher and Descavish both covered the 4,000-meter course in 12:10, with Gerstenbacher getting the win after their times were compared down to the 1,000th of a second — Gerstenbacher was credited with a 12:10.530 and Descavish a 12:10.532 after the timers examined the photo.

Literally a hair’s difference.

Gerstenbacher, the Landmark Conference champion last fall, led Elizabethtown to a second-place finish in the Dickinson Short Course Invite by a 14-18 score, with only the first three runners for each team scoring.

At Schalick, Gerstenbacher ran 4:20.31 for 1,600 meters and was a Group 1 sectional runner-up and state medalist as a senior and won numerous Salem County and Sri-County titles in both track and XC.

Sophomore Ashlynne Burke led five Kingsway runners in the top 25 and the Lady Dragons easily won the Varsity B race at Shore Coaches Saturday, outscoring second-place Mendham 49-75.

It was the fourth Shore Coaches team title in school history and the second in a row.

Kingsway is ranked No. 1 in South Jersey and No. 2 in the state.

Burke ran 19:27 to place fifth, and sophomore Sydney Watts [9th in 20:00], senior Lauren Krott [10th in 20:05 and junior Emily Pierontoni [12th in 20:12] gave Kingsway four of the first 12 runners. Kingsway averaged 20:08, 25 seconds per person faster than Mendham.

Pierontoni was Kingsway’s fourth runner Saturday, but she finished ahead of the second runners from every other school in the race.

Freshman Allison MacFarland completed Kingsway’s scoring, taking 24th in 20:58.

Juniors Kennedy Watterson and Allie Pierontoni both broke 22 minutes for Kingsway, Waterson taking 43rd in 21:40 and Pierontoni 52nd in 21:57.

Kingsway outscored Ridge 77-81 last year to win its first Shore Coaches team title in 27 years.

The Dragons won their first two Shore Coaches team championships in 1988 and 1990, when Lori Townsend won the individual title in Varsity D leading Kingsway to the team title both years.

OK, we generally just write about South Jersey track and cross country, but when a girl runs 16:21 at Holmdel you have to make an exception!!!

Katelyn Tuohy, a junior at North Rockland High in Thiells, N.Y., and already the greatest high school runner of all-time, made the trip down to Holmdel this weekend to take on the legendary Holmdel County Park 5,000-meter course and broke the meet record of 17:28, set by Highland’s Megan Venables at the 2010 state Group 3 meet.

BY 67 SECONDS.

The greatest high school XC performance ever? No doubt about it.

Some incredible runners have taken on Holmdel, and Tuohy ran a minute faster.

Ashley Higginson, a U.S. national champ in XC, ran 17:49. Olympic miler Erin Donohue ran 18:18. Marielle Hall, who this summer won the NACAC XC title, ran 18:16. Janet Smith, who set the Foot Locker course record, ran 17:35.

Etc.

Tuohy’s time would have been 17th-best out of 995 boys who raced in the various varsity races at Shore Coaches this year. She would have had the fastest time of the entire meet as recently as 1998.

According to Lambo, Tuohy was out in 5:23 and 10:46 — which are insane splits to begin with on the ridiculously hilly Holmdel course — but that would mean she covered the last 1.1 miles in 5:35, which means she closed in about 5:05 for the final mile!

Watch the video of Tuohy’s finish here:

Here’s a list of every girl that’s ever run under 18 minutes at Holmdel:

16:21 Katelyn Tuohy [North Rockland, N.Y.], 2018
17:27.9 Megan Venables [Highland], 2010
17:35.5 Janet Smith [North Edison], 1983
17:40 Michelle Rowen [Washington Twp.], 1982
17:43.1 Chelsea Ley [Kingsway], 2008
17:45 Briana Gess [Haddonfield], 2013
17:46.6 Melanie Thompson [Voorhees], 2008
17:46.9 Danielle Tauro [Southern Reg.], 2006
17:47 Sarah Disanza [High Point Reg.], 2012
17:49.2 Ashley Higginson [Colts Neck], 2006
17:54 Christi Constantin [Kittatinny Reg.], 1988
17:54.6 Megan Lacy [Cherokee], 2010
17:54.8 Alyssa Aldridge [Mainland Reg.], 2016
17:59 Amanda Marino [Jackson Mem.], 2005
17:59 Kelly Janokowicz [Hillsborough], 2012
17:59.2 Cate Guiney [Middletown South], 1998

For the third straight year, the Kingsway boys won a team title at Shore Coaches, and for the third straight year they had to run past North Hunterdon to do it.

Kingsway boys won a dramatic dual against North Hunterdon, ranked No. 4 in the state, Saturday in the Varsity B race at Shore Coaches.

North Hunterdon led 27-28 after three runners, and Kingsway led 47-48 after three runners, and that’s what makes cross country so great – your fifth runner is just as important as your first runner.

In this case, Kingsway’s No. 5 runner, senior Stephen Wilkins III, edged North Hunterdon’s fifth runner by six seconds and three spots, giving the Dragons a 78-74 triumph

Junior Stone Caraccio led Kingsway in third place with a 16:19 on the 5,000-meter hill-fest at Holmdel County Park. Senior Gavin Wagner [10th in 16:55], freshman Kyle Rakitis [15th in 17:02], junior Ayden Magee [19th in 17:10] and Wilkins also scored.

This is Kingsway’s third straight title in Varsity B. The Dragons outscored North Hunterdon 55-90 last year and 68-81 in 2016. Kingsway also won Varsity A in 2014.

Kingsway averaged 16:56 for its five scorers to 17:02 for North Hunterdon.

The Haddonfield boys raced without three of their top five runners and still won the Varsity E race at Shore Coaches by 33 points!

With Martin Riddell, Greg Eisenhower and Andrew Gostovich taking SATs, Haddonfield cobbled together a makeshift varsity team and still averaged an incredible 16:51 over the Holmdel County Park hills.

The Bulldogs outscored neighborhood rival Camden Catholic, 49-82, to win the title.

Haddonfield’s score of 49 points is the lowest by any winning team in Varsity E in 10 years, since the 2008 Haddonfield team, led by Jon Vitez, Benn Potts and Matt Nussbaum, scored 36.

The title is the 10th for the Haddonfield boys at the Shore Coaches Invite and the second in a row.

Haddonfield packed six runners in 37 seconds, with senior Derek Gess leading the way in seventh place in 16:35.

Junior Stephen Kasko placed ninth in 16:50, with senior Ethan Spellmeyer 11th in 16:51.

Haddonfield had three more runners finish 14th, 15th and 16th – junior Grayson Fasolo [16:56] and seniors Griffin Weiner [17:07] and Sean Campiglia [17:12].

Haddonfield won its first Shore Coaches title in Group C back in 1978, when the meet was held around the corner at Brookdale Community College. The Bulldogs also won in 1989 [Group D], 1995, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2017 [Group E] and 1998 [Group F].

How deep is Haddonfield? Even after moving several runners up from the JV, they still went 1-2-3 in the JV race and won the JV Group D team title, 38-68, over St. Joe’s Prep.

Sophomore John Hurly [17:53], senior Tommy Neveling [18:04] and senior Ryan Colflesh [18:42] swept the top three spots, and freshmen Matt O’Leary, Andrew Sullivan and Ethan Welborn all finished in the top 23 out of nearly 200 runners.