From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Bucknell sophomore Shaelan McNally from Paul VI placed 6^th out of more than 200 runners Friday at the ECAC Championships in the Bronx.

McNally ran 20:56 over 6,000 meters at Van Cortlandt Park and finished only 36 seconds behind overall winner Tayla Gunton of Iona, who ran 20:20. McNally was Bucknell’s first finisher.

University of Maryland Baltimore County junior Lexi Tepper from Cherry Hill East placed 16^th in 21:41 and was UMBC’s first finisher.

Delaware’s 2^nd and 3^rd finishers were Leah Clear from Camden Catholic and Kadence Dumas, who ran 22:07 and 22:19 and placed 32^nd and 41^st. That’s an all-course 6,000 best for Dumas, whose previous best over any 6K course was 22:48 at Lehigh last October.

St. Joe’s 2^nd finisher was freshman Chloe Care from Ocean City, who ran 22:28, matching her 6,000 best from State College last month.

Lafayette’s 3^rd runner was Anya Kazemi from Bishop Eustace. Kazemi placed 52^nd in 22:29. Ava Severino, a junior from Haddon Heights, was Lafayette’s 3^rd finisher in 68^th place in 22:44. Bucknell sophomore Kerry O’Day ran 22:58 and placed 91^st. LIU’s top finisher was Kaysie Luna, a freshman from Sterling. She ran 23:01

Senior Erik Preisner and juniors Nathan Aschmann and Keenan Neuman swept the first three spots and the Ocean City boys won their 7th straight Cape-Atlantic Conference Championship Tuesday at Egg Harbor Township High School.

Preisner, who won last year on the same course in 15:45, ran 15:32 this year. He’s the first repeat champion since Mainland’s Kevin Antczak in 2018 and 2019. Past results from this meet are incomplete and it appears it wasn’t held from 1983 through 1997, but from all available records Preisner is Ocean City’s first CAL XC repeat winner.

Aschmann was 2nd in 15:40 and Neuman 3rd in 15:57. Junior Michael Romano and sophomore Nevin Millstein were also in Ocean City’s top 5, Romano in 7th place in 16:10 and Millstein 10th in 16:21.

Sophomores Benjamin McCarthy [14th in 16:33] and Hayden Tarves [19th in 16:57] also ran sub-17 for the Red Raiders.

Ocean City topped 2nd-place Egg Harbor 23-59, with Cedar Creek edging Vineland for 3rd, 115-129 and Bridgeton 5th with 132.

Middle Township junior Jamar Mack placed 4th in 16:04 and Cedar Creek senior Sean Martino 5th in 16:08.

Egg Harbor placed its top five in 34 seconds, led by sophomore Liam Aspenberg in 6th in 16:09 and senior Matthew Reed in 8th in 16:12. Cedar Creek senior Vincenzo Vecchio placed 9th in 16:18.

Others under 17 minutes: Bridgeton junior Dylan Benitez Gonzalez [11th, 16:25], Egg Harbor junior Daniel Svec [12th, 16:28], Cedar Creek senior Ryan McCann [13th, 16:32], Bridgeton junior Alex Chavez Santiago [15th, 16:34], Egg Harbor sophomore Timothy Rooney [16th, 16:40], Egg Harbor senior Matthew McDevitt [17th, 16:43] and Vineland junior Maximelio Giardino [18th, 16:48].

Sophomore Riley Tolson, junior Carly Godfrey, junior Lillian Flora and freshman Bella Cera swept the top four spots and the Ocean City girls won their 8th consecutive Cape-Atlantic Conference Championship Tuesday.

Tolson ran an all-course lifetime-best 18:01 over 5,000 meters at Egg Harbor Township High School. Her previous best was 18:16 at Six Flags Wild Safari Invitational in Jackson last month.

Godfrey ran 18:20 in 2nd, Flora 18:35 in 3rd and Cera 18:53 in 4th. Junior Peighton Clemens placed 7th in 19:06.

Sixth runner sophomore Lenna Driscoll placed 9th in 19:25 and 7th runner senior Gabrielle Henry was 15th in 20:06.

Ocean City outscored host EHT 17-51, with Mainland Regional 3rd with 108 points. The Red Raiders have won every meet since 2017. There was no meet in 2020. The last school other than Ocean City to win the CAL meet was Egg Harbor in 2016 by one point over Mainland.

Egg Harbor was led by junior Meghan Johnson in 5th place in 19:03, and Mainland was paced by Cecilia Foreman in 6th in 19:04. Two more EHT runners placed 8th and 10th – senior Devyn Per in 19:23 and junior Addison Lambert in 19:26.

Also under 21 minutes: Vineland junior Olivia Masucci [11th, 19:28], Egg Harbor sophomore Molly Rooney [12th, 19:33], Middle Township senior Olivia Orton [13th, 19:43], Mainland sophomore Ella Mokienko [14th, 20:02], Egg Harbor freshman Corinne Conley [16th, 20:07], Absegami senior Samia Ghazaz [17th, 20:10] and Mainland junior Lauren LaMonaca [18th, 20:29].

Senior Gabriella Pagano from Pope John XXIII placed 7th overall and junior Shannon Stakelbeck from Toms River East and junior Allyson Wernik from Washington Township both finished in the top 50 among nearly 300 runners Saturday and Rowan placed 3rd of 33 schools at the Border Battle in Logan Township.

Pagano ran 21:43 over 6,000 meters at DREAM Park. Stakelbeck ran 22:41 for 40th and Wernik 22:45 in 43rd.

Carnegie-Mellon of Pittsburgh had four of the first seven finishers and won the team title with 32 points with Johns Hopkins of Baltimore 2nd with 127 and Rowan 3rd with 231.

Carnegie-Mellon is 8th in the most recent USTFCCCA NCAA Division 3 poll and Johns Hopkins is 3rd. Rowan is ranked No. 1 in the Metro Region.

Rowan’s 4th and 5th runners were junior Jezena Aponte, a transfer from New Jersey City from Snyder High in Jersey City [83rd in 23:28] and freshman Juliana Sieminski from Delsea [85th in 23:29].

Stockton in 9th place was led by four-time 800 All-America senior Kayla Kass of Bayonne in 38th with a 22:39. Shawnee’s Madelyn Valasek ran 23:00 and was Stockton’s 3rd runner in 61st place.

Clearview’s Abby Waddington, a junior at Boston University, ran a 6,000 all-course PR Friday at the Princeton Fall Classic in West Windsor.

Waddington ran 20:56 and finished 37th out of nearly 300 runners on Princeton’s Meadows course. She was B.U.’s first finisher. Her time is 17:26 5,000 pace for 6,000 meters

Waddington’s previous 6,000 best was a 21:15 last month in a meet at Dartmouth.

La Salle junior Helene Usher from Haddonfield placed 58th in 21:10 and Rider junior Maddie Dischert from Atlantic City placed 98th in 21:38, an all-course PR of her own. Her previous 6K best was 21:40 in November 2023 in a meet at Lehigh.

Also under 22 minutes: Penn State freshman Liliah Gordon from Northern Burlington ran 21:48 and Rutgers junior Carly Nicholson 21:53.

Cinnaminson senior Jacob Wickersham was the overall and Cherokee won its 12th consecutive team title while reting its lead group Friday at the Burlington County Open in Mansfield Township.

Wickersham ran 16:13 over 5,000 meters on the new course at Crystal Lake Park, which is between Rte. 130 and Interstate 295 on the Fieldsboro border.

He’s Cinnaminson’s first county champion since Austin Gabay won his second in a row in 2019.

Wickersham finished 40 meters ahead of Cherokee junior Sean Sooy, who took 2nd in 16:22.

Cherokee placed six in the top 10 and had a 25-second pack for its five scorers. The Chiefs finished with a 26-50 margin over Cinnaminson, with Lenape 3rd with 121 points.

The win was Cherokee’s 25th in the last 31 years. The last team other than Cherokee to win the County Open was Nothern Burlington in 2013, and the last individual winner who wasn’t from Cherokee or Cinnaminson was Northern’s Chris Martin, also in 2013.

Joining Sooy in the top 10 for Cherokee were junior Gavin Danielewicz [3rd in 16:29], junior Maximo Harada [5th in 16:35], senior Dominic Pileri [7th in 16:41], junior Leo Vyvyan [9th in 16:47] and freshman Hamza Salahuddin [10th in 16:54].

Others in the top 10 were Cinnaminson junior Edward Abu-Adas [4th in 16:31], Northern Burlington senior Jimmy Cataline [6th in 16:39] and Cinnaminson junior Ryan Scaricaciottoli [8th in 16:43].

Also under 17:30: Shawnee senior Yanni Ekatomatis [11th, 17:01], Lenape junior Aaron Smith [12th, 17:01], Lenape sophomore Jayden Carn [13th, 17:06], Moorestown sophomore Zander Kane [14th, 17:08], Moorestown junior Ethan Taylor [15th, 17:19], Cinnaminson junior Owen Castanheira [16th, 17:20], Seneca senior Dominic Lera [17th, 17:22], Northern Burlington sophomore Trevor Johnston [18th, 17:22], Medford Tech senior Marcos Paulino [19th, 17:25], Medford Tech junior Chris Davis [20th, 17:27] and Cinnaminson junior Alexander Lonardo [21st, 17:29].

The meet was held at Crystal Lake Park for the first time after leaving Mill Creek Park, which hosted the County Open 35 times from 1981 through 2024 (1981-1993, 2001-2019, 2022-2024).

Senior Andrew Dopkin was the overall winner, and Highland packed its five scorers in the top 13 to win the team title in the Varsity B race Saturday at the NYC XC Festival in the Bronx.

Dopkin ran 13:33 on the historic Van Cortlandt Park 2 ½-mile course and finished 15 meters ahead of Jasper Graham of Hunter College of Manhattan, who placed 2nd in 13:36.

Highland junior Liam Murphy placed 3rd in 13:38, senior Daniel Gee was 9th in 14:23, sophomore Oluwanifemi Fadulu 12th in 14:29 and freshman Richard Lorenz 13th in 14:30. Highland averaged 14:06 per scorer.

Sophomore William Sinn [23rd in 15:04] and freshman Samuel Arbelaez [31st in 15:40] also ran for Highland.

Highland scored 38 points on 1-3-9-12-13 and topped 2nd-place Plainview-Old Bethpage Kennedy High of Plainview, N.Y., 38-60. Highland averaged 14:07.

Highland did not run a full girls team, but senior Lyana Gutierrez placed 2nd in the Varsity Girls race, covering the 2 ½-mile ours 16:57. She finished behind only sophomore Julie Glenz of Long Beach, who won in 16:11.

Rowan senior Mathew Conway from Haddon Township ran a lifetime best over 8,000 meters Saturday and placed 10th of over 300 runners in the Border Battle in Logan Township.

Conway ran 25:03 at DREAM Park and placed 10th in a field of 33X runners, His previous all-course 8,000 best was 25:13 in his last race, the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh.

Conway, the NJAC 5,000 champ indoors and 10,000 champ outdoors, finished just 35 seconds behind overall winner Micah Lachman of Haverford.

The meet brought together the top four teams in the Metro Region – Swarthmore, Moravian, Rowan and Haverford – as well as the No. 1, 2, 5 and 7 teams in the Mid-Atlantic Region – Johns Hopkins, Carnegie-Mellon, Messiah and Salisbury – and Emory, the No. 3 team in the South Region.

Carnegie-Mellon won the team title with 67 points over Swarthmore, who finished with 144.

Rutgers-Camden junior Jacob Dinerman, also from Haddon Township, placed 20th overall in 25:12.

Also for Rowan, junior Colin Patterson from Haddon Heights placed 24th in 25:14 and junior Anthony Faust from Bishop Eustace took 66th in 25:59.

Elizabethtown’s No. 2 runner was Moorestown’s Will Inglis, 77th in 26:12. Haverford’s 7th man was sophomore Raine Guidarelli from Cherry Hill East, who was 116th in 26:38.

Senior Sophia Aldridge became Williamstown’s first repeat winner in 27 years and the Kingsway girls won their 8th team title in 11 years Thursday at the Gloucester County Championships in West Deptford.

Aldridge ran 18:35 over 5,000 meters at West Deptford Park after winning last year’s race on the same course in 19:19. Alridge has also won titles at the South Jersey Shootout and Tri-County Championships so far this fall.

She’s Williamstown’s first repeat winner since Tara Loescher won the 1997 race in 19:30 and the 1998 race in 19:19, both at West Deptford High School.

Juniors Aubrey Bishop, Katelyn Gallinaro, Ava Buchanan led Kingsway, Bishop in 2nd in 18:43, Gallinaro 8th in 20:34 and Buchanan 11th in 20:59.

Kingsway won a close battle that saw four teams finish within 18 points of each other. The Dragons edged 2nd-place Delsea 58-61, with Clearview 3rd with 73 points and Williamstown 4th with 76.

The team title was Kingsway’s first since 2021, when it won its seventh in a row.

Delsea was led by freshman Brooke Mashburn in 5th in 20:20. Also in the top 10 were West Deptford senior Kayla Romanoski [3rd in 19:46], Williamstown sophomore Yazmire Bonhomme [4th in 20:18], West Deptford junior Taylor Zierzega [6th in 20:26], Williamstown junior Julia Burgio [7th in 20:29], Clearview junior Julianne Roes [9th in 20:51] and Gloucester Tech sophomore Jordan Moczydlowski [10th in 20:58].

Junior Meghan Johnson was the overall winner and led five Egg Harbor girls in the top six and the Eagles won the Atlantic County meet in dominating fashion with just 19 points. The individual title was Johnson’s first ever in track or cross country.

Johnson – who placed 11th when EHT won last year – ran 18:05 over 2.9 miles at Hammonton Lake Park, and EHT finished with a 19-57 edge over 2nd-place Mainland Regional, with Cedar Creek [85] and Hammonton [98] also in double figures.

Placing 3rd through 6th for Egg were senior Devyn Per [3rd in 18:27], sophomore Molly Rooney [4th in 18:41], freshman Corinne Conley [5th in 18:48] and junior Addison Lambert [6th in 19:05].

Mainland junior Cecilia Foreman broke up the Egg Harbor sweep, taking 2nd in 18:21. Junior Lauren LaMonaca and sophomore Ella Mokienko also finished in the top 10 for Mainland, LaMonaca running 7th in 19:11 and Mokienko 8th in 19:12.

Also in the top 10 were Absegami senior Samia Ghazaz [9th in 19:18] and Egg Harbor 6th runner sophomore Katie Johnson [10th in 19:39].

Also running under 22 minutes were Cedar Creek freshman Maya Kelley [11th in 20:23], Atlantic City sophomore Julissa Ochoa Lopez [12th in 20:29], Hammonton junior Ava Salita [13th in 20:37], Egg Harbor sophomore Carlee Street [14th in 20:46], Cedar Creek juniors Lacie Denmead [15th in 20:46] and Lisette Echevarria [16th in 20:57], Hammonton sophomore Riley Raffensberger [17th in 21:09], Mainland sophomore Adrian Sykes [18th in 21:28], Hammonton senior Guadalupe Orozco Rojas [19th in 21:51], Cedar Creek senior Sabrine Ghazaz [20th in 21:52] and Atlantic City sophomore Nitzia Oseguera-Carmona [21st in 21:55].