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]

Camden Catholic graduate Kevin McDonnell ran 2:17.22 at the Chicago Marathon Sunday morning and qualified for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.

McDonnell, a former St. Joe’s runner from Moorestown now living in Cherry Hill, ran 38 seconds under the qualifying standard of 2:18.00 with a cutoff date of Dec. 5. He placed 32nd out of an estimated 45,000 entrants and was the 15th U.S. runner across the line.

McDonnell’s time is 36 seconds off the South Jersey alumni record of 2:16.46 set at the 1980 Boston Marathon by Moorestown graduate Paul Friedman and he bumped legendary Herb Lorenz for the No. 2 spot. Lorenz ran 2:17.44 in 1975 at Boston.

He ran his 5Ks in 16:31, 16:10, 16:26, 16:06, 16:01, 16:02, 16:08 and 16:31 with the final 1.34 miles in 7:27. So he ran the 12.4 miles from 15K to 35K in 1:04:17.

https://results.chicagomarathon.com/2023/?content=detail&fpid=list&pid=list&idp=9TGG9638288380&lang=EN_CAP&event=MAR&num_results=100&search%5Bsex%5D=M&search%5Bage_class%5D=%25&search_event=MAR

McDonnell’s previous marathon PR was a 2:28.43 at the Houston Marathon in January of 2022. But he ran 1:07.26 last month to win the Philly Half. He’s the South Jersey alumni record holder at 10,000 meters with a 29:16.01 in Lewisburg, Pa., in 2013.

Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum won the race in 2:00.35. breaking the world record of 2:01.09, set by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge in Berlin in September 2022.

Conner Mantz, the 2020 and 2021 NCAA cross country champ for BYU, was the top American in 6th place in 2:07.47, 4th-fastest ever by an American.

The fastest all-time New Jersey marathoner is North Hunterdon graduate Matt McDonald, who is No. 24 in U.S. history with his 2:09.49 in Chicago last year.

The U.S. Marathon Trials are scheduled for noon on Feb. 3, 2024, in Orlando, Fla.

Clearview’s Anas Bensaoud, a sophomore at Rowan College South Jersey, placed 14th out of more than 100 runners Saturday at the 40th annual DeSales University XC Invitational.

Bensaoud covered the 8,000-meter course in Upper Saucon Township, Lehigh County, in 27:17 and was RCSJ’s first finisher. Bensaoud is a transfer from SUNY Stony Brook. Last spring, he earned All-America honors in two events with a 3rd in the 1,500 in 4:03.98 and a 5th in the 3,000 in 15:53.90 at the NJCAA Division 3 National Championships in Utica, N.Y.

According to the TFRRS database, it looks like Bensaoud did not run XC at Stony Brook, he only ran one year of indoor track in 2022, so this is his first year of XC since the COVID-shortened 2020 season, when he placed 2nd at the South Jersey Group 4 sectionals at DREAM Park behind Southern Regional’s Jackson Braddock, who’s now at Texas.

Rowan College placed 5th in team scoring with 159 points. DeSales won the team title with 28 points. DeSales sophomore Forrest Miller from Triton placed 52nd overall.

For RCSJ in the women’s race, Courtney O’Hara of Gateway placed 26th, freshman Alexandra Campo from Woodbury 44th and Madison O’Donnell from Williamstown 46th. DeSales’ junior Eileen Murphy from Cherry Hill East placed 35th and Hailey Bloom of Atlantic City, a Gwynned Mercy junior, was 42nd.

TCNJ junior Katherine Rice from Haddonfield placed 5th in the Highlander Invitational XC Challenge Saturday at Branch Brook Park in Newark.

Rice ran a lifetime-best 18:59.8 over 5,000 meters and finished behind four runners from Army West Point. TCNJ finished 3rd with 117 points, behind Division 1 Army and Division 2 West Chester.

Rice’s previous 5K best on any course was a 20:07.9 at the Herb Lorenz Invitational last month at the Green Lane Fields in Ewing, where she placed 2nd.

Rice won the mile and anchored the winning DMR last winter at the NJAC Championships at Ocean Breeze.

TCNJ is ranked No. 1 in the NCAA Division 3 Metro Region.

Holy Family freshman Maya Harper from Pleasantville placed 24th in 19:59.5, an all-course 5,000 PR.

Northern Burlington junior Liliah Gordon made the trip to North Carolina worth it with a 5,000-meter PR in the Great American Cross Country Festival girls championship race at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., outside Raleigh.

Gordon, racing some of the top girls in the country, placed 17th in a field of 320 girls with an all-course PR of 17:53.6.

Her previous 5K PR was a 17:56.10 at the Burlington County Scholastic League Championships last October at New Egypt High School in Plumstead Township, Ocean County.

Gordon has run 10:38.20 for 3,200 meters and is a two-time state Group 3 champ at 3,200 meters and defending state Group 3 champ in cross country.

On Friday, Gordon will look for her 2nd straight Burlington County Open title at Mill Creek Park in Willingboro. The course record is 17:53 set in 2010 by Megan Lacy of Cherokee.

Julia Smith, a Seton Hall sophomore from Schalick, placed 9th Saturday in the Metropolitan XC Championships at Branch Brook Park in Newark.

Smith ran an all-course lifetime-best 18:18.56 and was Seton Hall’s first finisher. Smith’s previous best 5,000-meter time on any course was an 18:33.0 on the same course (but a different meet) last October.

Smith was a three-time South Jersey Group 1 cross country champion at Schalick and also a five-time sectional champ on the track in the 1,600 and 3,200.

Highland graduate Nia Holden of St. John’s, a grad student and transfer from American, fnished just 10 seconds behind Smith in 11th place in 18:29.05, also a PR for her.

Holden was St. John’s 2nd finisher and helped the Red Storm win the team title, 68-77, over Manhattan. Seton Hall was 3rd with 99 points.

Her previous 5K PR was a 20:06.6 in September of 2021 for American in a race in Cockeysville, Md. Holden ran 2:14.43 at American and will have one year of track eligibility at St. John’s.