From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Junior Riley Austin, No. 1 runner on Haddonfield’s state Group 2 championship team last fall, opened her 2024 season with a win at a Colonial Conference batch meet Tuesday at Pennypacker Park in Haddon Township and Cherry Hill.

Austin covered what is listed as 5,000-meter course but was likely a two-mile course in 12:04, finishing 175 meters clear of the field.

Austin placed 3rd in the state Group 2 meet last fall and ran 2:16.87 indoors for 800 meters. She didn’t run in the spring, so this was her first race since the indoor Meet of Champions at Ocean Breeze six months ago.

Austin led a 1-2-3-4 Haddonfield finish with teammates sophomore Madison Kelsey [2nd in 12:45], junior Tylin Regan [3rd in 12:54] and sophomore Molly Mills [4th in 12:54].

Gloucester junior Emma Dick placed 5th, also in 12:54, and senior Dylan Melcher [6th in 12:55] and sophomore Devon Gervasi [7th in 12:55] of Haddonfield also broke 13 minutes.

Juniors Marcus Flagg and Vincent Kelly and senior Trey Fitzpatrick from Gloucester swept the top three spots Tuesday in a season-opening Colonial Conference batch meet at Pennypacker Park in Haddonfield and Cherry Hill.

The results show the race over 5,000 meters, but considering Flagg, Kelly and Fitzpatrick ran 10:35.96, 10:44.35 and 11:10.32 we’re guessing it was a two-mile course.

Team scores weren’t kept, but unofficially Gloucester would have defeated Haddon Township 22-35. Paulsboro and Lindenwold also competed but didn’t field complete teams.

Flagg was a state Group 1 medalist in the 800 last spring and ran 1:58.94. He was the top sophomore Group 1 half-miler in the state.

For Kelly, this was his first-ever cross country race. He ran track last year but has never run XC previously.

Fitzpatrick was Gloucester’s No. 1 runner last fall when the Lions placed 2nd in the South Jersey Group 1 meet behind Haddon Township.

Senior Manolo Foote [11:34.86] and junior Luke Wolfran [11:35.35] placed 4th and 5th for Haddon Township.

Moorestown graduate Will Inglis, a sophomore at Elizabethtown, placed 2nd in the Franklin & Marshall Invitational Friday, and teammates Jake Smith of Highland and Ethan Wence of Triton also placed among the top 13 finishers.

Inglis ran 9:56.0 over two miles, finishing 2nd to teammate Daniel Myers, who ran 9:50. Smith finished 11th in 10:31.6 and Wence was 13th in 10:33.3.

So three of E-town’s top nine runners were from South Jersey.

Franklin and Marshall is located in Lancaster, but the Baker Campus athletic fields that host the cross country course are in Mannheim Township.

Kingsway’s Kylie Anicic, in her first post-collegiate race, placed 13th Monday morning in the USATF 20K Championships in New Haven, Conn.

Anicic, who won 18 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference titles and was a six-time All-America in two years at Edinboro, covered the 20,000-kilometer course in 1:14.54.

The 24-year-old Anicic and former BYU All-America Aubrey Frenthaway – 14th in NCAA Division 1 XC last year in Charlottesville – were the two-youngest runners to finish in the top 20.

Anicic, who grew up in Mickleton, is now listed with a hometown of Kingwood, W. Va.

Anicic began her college athletic career playing soccer at Temple before briefly running for Towson and then blossoming at Edinboro, where she started for the 2022 indoor season.

Anicic on Monday finished just three spots out of prize money range.

Keira D’Amato, the U.S. half-marathon record holder, won the race in 1:06.25. She also won in 2022, setting the course record of 1:04.29, which is the U.S. 20K record.

Rancocas Valley’s Erika Kemp set the New Jersey 20K best in New Haven in 2021 when she placed won the race in 1:06.20. That’s No. 6 on the U.S. 20K all-time performance list.

The USATF 20K Championships are held concurrently with the 47th annual Saxon Law New Haven Road Races, which includes a 5K, 20K and half marathon. Over 5,000 runners participated in the various open races Monday morning.

 

Haddonfield’s Anna Stolarick recorded a top-10 finish out of 84 runners Saturday in her collegiate debut for Holy Cross at the Wheaton & Babson Season Opener.

Stolarick ran 12:00.68 over the hilly 3,000-meter course at Coogan Cross Country Course at Highland Park in Attleboro, Mass., and placed 10th overall and 4th among runners from Holy Cross, in Worcester, Mass.

Holy Cross went 2-4-7-10-14 and outscored 2nd-place Suffolk University of Boston, 32-57, to win the eight-team invitational.

Stolarick helped Haddonfield win the state Group 2 XC title in 2022 and 2023.

Seton Hall’s Julia Smith, a senior from Schalick, ran a 6,000-meter PR and placed 9th out of 116 runners Saturday at the 28th annual Salisbury (Md.) University Fall Classic.

Smith ran 21:43.7 over 6,000 meters at WinterPlace Park & Equestrian Center and was Seton Hall’s second finisher.

Her previous 6K PR for any course was 21:46.30 in November at the NCAA Division 1 Mid-Atlantic Championships at Lehigh’s course in Bethlehem (and briefly in Lower Saucon Township).

This was Smith’s first race in more than four months. She ran a 5K PR of 17:50.42 at Rider last April but didn’t race again last spring.

Seton Hall placed 3rd with 85 points, behind Maryland [24] and John Hopkins [53].

Lexi Tepper, a UMBC sophomore from Cherry Hill East, recorded her first collegiate win Friday at the Mount St. Mary’s Duals in Emmitsburg, Md.

Tepper ran 5,000 meters in 18:13.14, winning by about 85 meters over 2nd-place Joslyn Crosby of Howard University of Washington, D.C.

University of Maryland Baltimore County won 25-33 over Howard, with Catholic University of Washington 3rd with 86 points.

Tepper ran 20:42.7 on the same course last year, so she was nearly 2 ½ minutes faster this year. The 18:13.14 is her fastest time on any 5,000-meter course. She ran 18:15.54 at DREAM Park in Logan Township two years ago at South Jersey Group 4 sectionals

Sophomore Katelyn Deal, a sophomore from Woodstown, placed 9th in 19:41.72 for UMBC. That’s an all-course best for Deal as well. Her previous collegiate 5,000 PR was 20:13.7 from last year’s America East Championships in Orono, Maine. Deal did not run XC in high school.

Catholic’s 3rd finisher was Georgia Nussey, a senior from Haddonfield. She was 18th overall in 20:24.47.

Bucknell freshmen Shaelan McNally and Kerry O’Day opened their college careers in style Saturday morning, finishing 1st and 4th at the Father Bede Invitational at B&D Acres in Warriors Mark Township, Huntingdon County, Pa.

McNally, from Paul VI, ran 14:11.7 over 4,000 meters and won by about 70 meters over Grace Neubert from St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa. O’Day, from Cherokee, ran 14:40.7 and placed 4th. They were Bucknell’s top two finishers.

McNally and O’Day placed 10th and 11th in the Meet of Champions last fall at Holmdel County Park.

Duquesne edged Bucknell 40-48 to win the team title.

Rowan sophomore Allyson Wernik from Washington Township and senior Anna Sasse from Williamstown placed 2nd and 3rd in the Stockton Season Opener Friday in Galloway Township.

Wernik ran 23:16.58 over 6,000 meters at Stockton and Sasse ran 23:28.74. Gabriella Pagano, a junior from Pope John XXIII, was the overall winner in 22:59.31. There was no team scoring, but Rowan swept the top four spots.

For Stockton, junior Madelyn Valasek from Shawnee was 6th in 24:05.57 and was the Ospreys’ No. 2 runner. Senior Amanda McNally from Seneca was 11th in 24:29.38 and was Stockton’s 4th finisher.

Rowan is 4th in in the initial NCAA Division 3 Metro Region rankings behind The College of New Jersey, Widener and Stockton.

 

Haddonfield’s Helene Usher and Kingsway’s Allie Pierontoni both finished among the top 5 Friday at the Temple Invitational in Upper Dublin Township, Pa.

Usher, a La Salle sophomore, placed 2nd in 14:25.1 over 4,000 meters, and Pierontoni, a Monmouth senior, was 5th in 14:38.6. Usher’s previous PR over the unusual 4,000 distance was 15:50.1 from a meet last year on the same course. Pierontoni’s previous 4,000 PR was 14:59.6 from last year’s Jersey Jam in West Windsor.

Usher was La Salle’s first finisher. Overall winner Emily Simko, a Monmouth sophomore from Hatboro Horsham, was the overall winner in 14:16.9.

Monmouth edged La Salle 23-35 for team honors.

The race was held on Temple’s course at the Temple Ambler campus, which isn’t in Ambler and really isn’t that close to Ambler.

Mainland Regional graduate Gillian Lovett was La Salle’s 7th runner in her first collegiate race. Lovett ran 15:24.8 and was 16th overall