From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Glassboro senior Ty Blackman ran a Holmdel PR and placed 2nd in the Varsity F race Saturday at the 56th annual Shore Coaches Invitational.

Blackman ran 16:31 and finished 2nd to Madison senior Jacob Nolan, who won the race in 16:22.

His previous Holmdel best was 16:33 at last year’s Meet of Champions. He’s 2nd-fastest in Glassboro history at Holmdel, behind only former teammate Elijah Whitaker, who ran 16:14 last year at Shore Coaches when he placed 2nd in the F race to Woodbury’s Peyton Shute.

Blackman’s time was No. 15 overall among runners in all seven varsity races and 2nd-fastest among South Jersey runners, behind only Cherokee’s Jack Tindall, who set the course freshman record of 15:54.

The only faster Group 1 runner was Hasbrouck Heights’ senior Aidan Morrow, who won the Varsity G race in 16:23. Whitaker, Blackman and Morrow all placed among the top 5 in last year’s state Group 1 XC race on the same Holmdel course. Shute, Morrow and Blackman placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the state Group 1 3,200 last spring in Somerset.

Also under 17:30 in the F race: Haddon Heights senior Reggie Hernandez [7th in 16:54], Cinnaminson junior Jacob Wickersham [11th in 16:59] and Cinnaminson senior Brandon Smith [22nd in 17:28].

The top South Jersey finisher in the G race was Moorestown Friends freshman Aaron Linden, who was 11th in 17:57 in his first high school 5,000. He was one of only six freshmen who ran sub-18 Saturday.

Also in the top 20 was Audubon junior Logan Camm, 17th in 18:30.

Cherokee’s Jack Tindall destroyed a historic Holmdel County Park freshman course record Saturday at the Shore Coaches Invitational.

Tindall, in his first high school 5,000, ran 15:54 and placed 2nd in the Group A race, destroying the freshman record of 16:15 set by New Jersey legend Craig Forys 21 years ago.

At the 2003 Monmouth County Championships, Forys ran 16:15 and placed 2nd to Red Bank’s Joe Kingsbery. He matched that time a week and a half later in the Shore Conference Championships, when he placed 5th behind Kingsbery, Rob Dennis of Red Bank, Will Melofchik of CBA and Chris Pisano of Toms River North.

Forys went on to earn 11 All-America honors at Michigan. His 8:24.09 steeplechase in 2014 as a post-collegiate is 3rd-fastest ever by a New Jersey native and earned him a No. 4 U.S. ranking. In 2016, he placed 6th in the steeple at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Forys also ran 13:34.21 for 5,000 meters.

The previous South Jersey freshman record at Holmdel was set just last year when Ryan Duffy of Kingsway ran 16:22 in the B race at Shore Coaches and then lowered it to 16:19 at the state Group 4 race.

Tindall beat that by nearly half a minute.

He placed 2nd in the A race to senior Lukas Disko of Bridgewater-Raritan, who ran 15:54. Disko ran 9:13.61 for 3,200 meters last spring and placed 5th in the Meet of Champions.

Overall, Tindall’s time was 4th-fastest of the seven boys races behind Ridgewood senior Luke Pash [15:45], Ridge senior Brenden McMahon [15:50] and Disko. All three who ran faster are seniors. Pash ran 4:04.49 for 1,600 meters last spring and McMahon ran 9:04.07 for the full two miles indoors.

His time is No. 37 in South Jersey history and No. 12 in Burlington County history. He’s the 9th Cherokee runner to break 16 minutes at Holmdel.

And the Varsity A race didn’t start until 2 p.m. on a very warm afternoon that wasn’t conducive to fast times.

Despite five of the first 23 finishers, Cherokee placed 2nd in the Varsity A race, 49-65, behind Westfield.

Cherokee had the 2nd-fastest average among all schools in all the races at 16:43, behind only Westfield’s 16:38.

Cherry Hill East packed its five runners in 38 seconds and placed 3rd with 68 points, just behind Cherokee. Westfield, Cherokee and Cherry Hill East went 1-2-3 in the full merge, 155 for Westfield, 203 for Cherokee and 218 for East. Ocean City, which won the Group C race, was 7th in the merge.

Not only was Tindall the top freshman in all the races, Cherokee’s No. 2 runner, Benjamin Realley, was the top sophomore, 9th in 16:35.

Senior Liam Tindall placed 16th for the Chiefs in 16:52, sophomore Sean Sooy was 22nd in 17:03 and senior Enzo Corona 23rd in 17:07. They were backed up by senior Benjamin Weiner, who was 30th in 17:23, and junior Logan Bromley, 34th in 17:29.

Cherry Hill East packed its five scorers from 16:34 to 17:12 and actually had its top six within 40 seconds.

Seniors Brandon Lyons and Brody Bogos both finished in the top 10, Lyons 8th in 16:34 and Bogos 10th in 16:40. Junior Alvin Lin ran 16:50 for 14th, junior Will Nelson 20th in 17:00 and junior Colin Moore 24th in 17:12, with sophomore Cian Sherlock 26th in 17:14.

Scored as a dual meet, Cherokee edges East 27-28.

Williamstown junior Dominic Burgio also broke into the top 20, running 16:55 for 18th place, and senior teammate Dylan Saber ran 17:20 for 29th.

Also under 17:30 was Washington Township senior Hunter Bostwick, who placed 31st in 17:24.

Ocean City placed its first three runners in the top 11 and all five scorers in a 48-second pack on the way to winning the Varsity C race Saturday at the 56th annual Shore Coaches Invitational.

The Red Raiders – ranked 13th in New Jersey – topped 10th-ranked Chatham 67-79. It’s Ocean City’s first Shore Coaches team title ever.

Junior Erik Preisner placed 5th in 16:39, sophomore Keenan Neuman was 8th in 16:52 and senior Ethan Buck 11th in 17:02.

Senior Zach Hutchinson and sophomore Nathan Aschmann placed 21st and 25th for Ocean City in 17:20 and 17:27 for Ocean City, which averaged 17:04.

For team scoring purposes, Ocean City went 5-8-10-20-24.

The times were Holmdel all-time course bests for Preisner, Neuman, Hutchinson and Aschmann.

Ocean City placed 7th in a merge of all teams from each of the seven varsity races. They were 5th among public schools and 3rd among South Jersey schools, behind Cherokee and Cherry Hill East.

Also in the Varsity C race, Highland senior Mason Wassell placed 10th in 16:56, Delsea junior Matthew Littlehales 13th in 17:05 and Clearview senior Ethan Worst 17th in 17:14.

La Salle sophomore Helene Usher from Haddonfield ran the fastest time of the day among South Jersey runners, and UMBC sophomore Alexis Tepper from Cherry Hill was close behind in a different race Saturday at the Paul Shore Invitational.

Usher ran an all-course 6,000-meter PR of 21:05 on Lehigh’s Goodman campus in Bethlehem and Lower Saucon Township and placed 64th out of more than 400 runners in a very fast, very deep women’s Gold race.

Usher was La Salle’s No. 2 finisher. Her time ranked 70th overall in a merge of 1,289 runners in the six women’s races. Her previous 6,000 best was a 21:43 at the NCAA Division 1 Mid-Atlantic Region Championships last November on the same course.

Tepper placed 4th out of more than 300 runners Saturday in the women’s Brown race. Tepper ran 21:20 over 6,000 meters on Lehigh’s south campus and finished just 18 seconds behind winner Katherine Lawson, a James Madison junior. Madison ran 21:02.

Tepper ran 17:47 pace over 5,000 meters with an extra 1,000 meters tacked on at the end. That’s faster than her 5K PR of 18:13 from a meet in August in Emmitsburg, Md.

Her previous 6K PR on any course was a 21:48 in the NCAA Division 1 Mid-Atlantic Region Championships in November on the same course. Her time ranked 106th out of those 1,289 runners.

Tepper’s 21:20 is 6th-fastest all-course time ever for 6,000 meters by a UMBC runner.

Bucknell freshman Shaelan McNally from Paul VI ran 21:44 in her first collegiate 6,000-meter race. She was Bucknell’s 3rd finisher in the Gold race.

Also sophomore Abby Waddington from Clearview was Boston University’s 6th runner with a time of 21:58, sophomore Maddie Dischert from Atlantic City was Rider’s 3rd finisher in the Gold race with a time of 22:11, Bucknell freshman Kerry O’Day from Cherokee ran 22:19,

Cherokee placed all five scorers among the top 27 girls to win the Varsity A race at the 47th annual Shore Coaches Invitational Saturday at Holmdel County Park.

Cherokee, ranked 19th in the state, edged No. 7 Freehold Township 80-86 to win its 2nd Shore Coaches title. The Chiefs also won in 2021.

Senior Megan Niglio and junior Madeline Meder ran 19:30 and 19:37 and placed 4th and 5th for Cherokee. Freshman Erin Healey ran 20:55 for 18th and junior Maya Kumar 21:07 for 26th.

After four runners, Cherokee and Freehold Township were tied with 53 points, Cherokee with 2-5-18-26 and Freehold Township with 2-9-14-28.

But Cherokee’s 5th runner, senior Grace Wojciechowski ran 21:09 and finished 27th, nine seaconds and six spots ahead of Freehold Township’s 5th runner, providing the winning margin.

It was the first 5,000-meter race this fall for each of the Cherokee runners.

When Cherokee won in 2021, Niglio was the Chiefs’ 5th runner. Cherokee averaged 20:25 when it won in 2021 and 20:25 Saturday, their two-fastest times ever at Shore Coaches. They averaged a South Jersey-record 19:23 when they won the 2021 Meet of Champions.

Eastern junior Natalie Dumas, the national 400-meter hurdles champ, ran 20:29 and placed 10th in her first race ever at Holmdel.

Also in the top 20 were Cherry Hill East sophomore Ryleigh Budsock [11th in 20:32], Washington Township Kaylee Russen [16th in 20:49], Egg Harbor Township junior Paige Pacquing [19th in 20:57] and EHT junior Devyn Per [20th in 21:00].

Cherry Hill East [4th with 144] and Egg Harbor Township [5th with 175] also placed in the top 5 in Varsity A.

Northern Burlington’s Liliah Gordon and Ocean City recorded impressive victories in the Varsity C race Saturday morning at the 47th annual Shore Coaches Invitational at Holmdel County Park.

Gordon ran 18:20 and won by 120 meters over Ocean City senior Maeve Smith, who ran 18:46 and led the Red Raiders to a 47-65 team victory over Middletown South.

Ocean City first.

The Raider’s first four girls – Smith, senior Chloe Care, sophomore Carly Godfrey and freshman Riley Tolson – all finished in the top seven, all under 20 minutes on the challenging Holmdel course.

Care was 4th in 19:25, Godfrey 5th in 19:39 and Tolson 19:48 in her first try at the historic Holmdel 5,000-meter layout.

They were backed up by 5th runner junior Gabrielle Henry, 34th in 21:44, and sophomore Peighton Clemens, 36th in 21:52.

Ocean City – ranked 4th in New Jersey – averaged 19:52 for its top five, 8th-fastest ever by a South Jersey school at Holmdel, fastest in school history by far for Ocean City and also fastest any South Jersey school has ever averaged at Shore Coaches. The previous best was Haddonfield’s 20:08 in the D race in 2021.

Ocean City’s previous best team average at Holmdel was 20:14.16 at the 2012 state Group 3 meet with Mary Kate Brelsford, Devin Grisbaum, Bridget Flynn, Erin Myers and Brenna Clark.

This is Ocean City’s 4th Shore Coaches team title. The Red Raiders also won Group B in 1993 and 1994 and Group C in 2022.

As for Gordon, this is her 3rd Shore Coaches victory. She won Group B as a freshman and Group C last year.

She joins 4-time winner and future Olympian Erin Donohue of Haddonfield, 1st in Group E in 1997, F in 1998 and E again in 1999 in 2000 as well as Kingsway’s Lori Townsend – who won Group B each year from 1988 through 1990 – and Kingsway’s Chelsea Ley – who won Group B each year from 2007 through 2009 – as 3rd three-time Shore Coaches winner from South Jersey.

Gordon is 9th-fastest at Holmdel from South Jersey with her 18:14 when she won last year’s state Group 3 title.

Also finishing in the top 20 in Group C was Delsea senior Juliana Sieminski, 14th in 20:31.

Triton’s Dennis Fortuna, a junior at Penn, ran a big 8K PR Saturday morning at Paul Short, helping the Quakers place 10th of 44 teams in the men’s college gold race.

Fortuna ran 24:47 and was fastest of a large number of former South Jersey runners racing in an incredibly deep and fast race – 24 under 24 minutes, 136 under 25 minutes.

Fortuna’s previous 8,000 PR was a 24:59 on the same course in 2022. A 24:47 for 8K is the same pace as a 15:29 for 5,000 meters.

A bunch of other South Jersey runners set 8K PRs:

–> St. Joe’s senior Josh Forrest of Collingswood ran 24:57, well under his previous best of 25:50 the 2022 Paul Short race.

–> Rutgers sophomore Kyle Rakitis ran 25:16, trimming 14 seconds off his 8K PR of 25:30 from last year’s Paul Short Invite.

–> St. Joe’s freshman Jack Bolling from Haddon Heights ran 25:24 in his first collegiate 8,000-meter race.

–> Monmouth freshman Nick Kuenkel from Cherokee ran 25:24 in his first collegiate 8K.

Many other South Jersey runners. Full results click here.

Terrific race Saturday morning for La Salle freshman Gillian Lovett in her first collegiate 6,000-meter race.

Lovett, a Mainland Regional graduate, ran 22:24 and placed 38th of nearly 500 runners in the open women’s race at the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh’s south campus in Bethlehem and Lower Saucon Township.

Her time is 18:40 pace for 5,000 meters with another 1,000 tacked on at the end. In her only previous collegiate 5,000 she ran 19:13 last month at Haverford.

Delaware freshman Kadence Dumas from Eastern was 53rd in 22:48 in her first collegiate 6,000, and Middlebury sophomore Stephanie Renouf from Cinnaminson ran 23:17 and placed 104th.

Ocean City’s Matt Hoffman, a freshman at St. Joe’s, ran a big 8K PR Saturday morning in the first race of the day at the Paul Short Invitational.

Hoffman placed 43rd out of nearly 600 runners in the open men’s race on Lehigh’s South Campus course in Lower Saucon Township and Bethlehem. He ran 25:17, well under his 25:52 at the Spiked Shoe Invitational at Penn State last month [that was actually a 26:55 over 5.2 miles, which converts to 25:52 for 8,000 meters].

St. Joe’s senior Dawson Baptiste from Delsea finished just a few spots behind Hoffman, taking 57th place in 25:27, an all-course 8,000 for him. His previous PR was 25:44 last year at IC4As at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.

Also under 26 minutes was Paul VI graduate Will Mrozinski, a freshman at Lehigh. He ran 25:47, more than half a minute faster than his previous best all-course 8,000 best – a 26:16 at a Lehigh-Lafayette dual meet at Lafayette’s Metzger Fields in Easton.

And St. Joe’s soph Ian Romea of Haddonfield dipped under 26 minutes for the first time with a lifetime all-course best 25:58.

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If you’re looking for posts on Shore Coaches, you might not see any for a while. The timing company has been unable to provide any results yet from Holmdel. Hopefully, they’re able to fix whatever issues they’re having.

Some 46 years ago this week, Eva Marie Berardi of Williamstown became the first South Jersey girl to win a Shore Coaches title.

At the inaugural Shore Coaches girls meet held in 1978 at Brookdale Community College in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, Berardi ran away from Sue Minogue of now-closed Mater Dei High (also in Middletown), to win the Varsity B race in 17:35 over 2 ½ miles, finishing 100 meters ahead of Minogue, who ran 18:00.

Forty-one more girls have won individual titles since Berardi broke the ice in the 2nd annual girls race.

The first South Jersey team champs at Shore Coaches came in 1982, when Paul VI won the A race 93-100 over Ridgewood.

Dawn Cody was the individual winner with an 18:57 at Holmdel, and PVI’s four other scorers all packed in 17 seconds – Karen Brooks in 20th in 20:43, Dawn Hillman 22nd in 20:47, Claire McGovern 23rd in 20:48 and Kathy Kupper 27th in 21:00.

The 46th annual Shore Coaches girls meet runs Saturday at Holmdel County Park. The meet has been held every year since 1978 other than 2020.

Here’s the schedule for the varsity girls races:

9:45 a.m. – Varsity F
10:15 a.m. – Varsity E
10:45 a.m. – Varsity D
12:25 p.m. – Varsity C
12:55 p.m. – Varsity B
1:25 p.m. – Varsity A

Here’s a look at every South Jersey individual and team winner in meet history! Anybody missing? Let me know in the comment’s section!

2023
Group C … Liliah Gordon [Northern Burlington] 18:18
Group D … Shaelan McNally [Paul VI] 18:56
2022
Group B … Abigail Kotran [Clearview] 19:04
2021
Group B … Liliah Gordon [Northern Burlington] 19:00
2020
Not held
2019
None
2018
None
2017
None
2016
Group C … Alyssa Condell (Timber Creek) 19:17
2015
Group B … Alyssa Aldridge (Mainland Regional) 18:20
2014
None
2013
Championship Race … Briana Gess (Haddonfield) 18:36
2012
None
2011
Group A … Megan Lacy (Cherokee) 18:19
Group D … Paige Senatore (Delsea) 19:24
2010
None
2009
Group B … Chelsea Ley (Kingsway) 18:03
2008
Group C … Chelsea Ley (Kingsway) 17:44
Group E … Marielle Hall (Haddonfield) 18:53
2007
Group B … Chelsea Ley (Kingsway) 18:23
2006
Group A … Theresa Cattuna (Cherry Hill East) 19:08
2005
Group C … Amanda Goetschius (Delsea) 18:44
Group E … Colleen Brogan (Haddonfield) 19:48
2004
Group D … Arianna McKinney (Highland) 19:14
Group E … Vanessa Wright (Haddonfield) 18:34
2003
Group C … Arianna McKinney (Highland) 18:45
2002
None
2001
None
2000
Group E … Erin Donohue (Haddonfield) 18:41.3
1999
Group A … Jenna Darcy (Shawnee) 19:28.2
Group E … Erin Donohue (Haddonfield) 18:48.2
1998
Group F … Erin Donohue (Haddonfield) 18:58.9
1997
Group E … Erin Donohue (Haddonfield) 18:36
1996
None
1995
None
1994
Group A … Liz Moore (Shawnee) 19:12
1993
Group B … Megan Hartman (Ocean City) 20:04
Group D … Colleen Sunderland (Northern Burlington) 20:50
Group E … Jen Rafferty (Riverside) 20:38
1992
Group D … Tiffany Goldy (Pitman) 21:22
1991
Group B … Julie Schick (Mainland) 20:15
Group C … Becky Leon (Cinnaminson) 20:12
Group D … Janet Rue (Pitman) 20:33
1990
Group D … Lori Townsend (Kingsway) 20:23
1989
Group D … Lori Townsend [Kingsway] 20:18
1988
Group D … Lori Townsend (Kingsway) 20:19
1987
Group A … Lauren Bello (Paul VI) 19:49
1986
None
1985
Group A … Mindy Rowand (Sterling) 20:17
Group C … Deanna Germano (Shawnee) 20:04
1984
None
1983
Group C … Melody Sye [Ocean City] 19:55
1982
Group A … Dawn Cody [Paul VI] 18:57
1981
None
1980
None
1979
None
1978
Group B … Eva Marie Berardi (Williamstown) 17:35.1
1977
None

2023
Paul VI [Group D]
2022
Clearview [Group B]
Ocean City [Group C]
2021
Cherokee [Group A]
Haddonfield [Group D]
2020
Not held
2019
Haddonfield [Group D]
2018
Kingsway [Group B]
2017
Kingsway [Group B]
2016
None
2015
None
2014
Moorestown [Group C]
2013
Shawnee [Group B]
2012
Seneca [Group B]
2011
None
2010
None
2009
Seneca [Group C]
Bishop Eustace [Group E]
2008
Haddonfield [Group E]
2007
Lenape [Group A]
Haddonfield [Group E]
2006
Cherry Hill East [Group A}
Haddonfield [Group E]
2005
Moorestown [Group C]
Haddonfield [Group E]
2004
None
2003
Shawnee [Group B]
2002
Moorestown [Group C]
2001
Moorestown [Group D]
2000
Moorestown [Group C]
1999
Shawnee [Group A}
1998
Shawnee [Group A}
Moorestown [Group D]
1997
Shawnee [Group A}
Paul VI [Group C]
1996
Shawnee [Group A}
1995
Shawnee [Group A}
1994
Ocean City [Group B]
Bishop Eustace [Group D]
1993
Shawnee [Group A]
Ocean City [Group B]
Bishop Eustace [Group D]
Haddonfield [Group E]
1992
Shawnee [Group A]
Bishop Eustace [Group C]
1991
Shawnee [Group A
1990
Kingsway [Group D]
1989
Kingsway [Group D]
1988
Kingsway [Group D]
1987
Paul VI [Group A]
1986
None
1985
None
1984
None
1983
None
1982
Paul VI [Group A]
1981
None
1980
None
1979
None
1978
None
1977
None