From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Glassboro senior Elijah Whitaker recorded his 2nd straight invitational win Tuesday at the Tri-County Conference Showcase Championships at Cumberland Regional in Upper Deerfield Township.

Whitaker ran 15:47.48 over 5,000 meters, edging Kingsway freshman Ryan Duffy for the second straight meet. Duffy ran 16:00.57. Whitaker and Duffy ran 1-2 Thursday at the Gloucester County Championships at West Deptford Park.

Whitaker has now run under 15:50 in back-to-back races. His previous all-course 5K PR was a 16:14 in the Shore Coaches Varsity F race, where he placed second to Woodbury’s Peyton Shute.

Duffy’s time appears to be a freshman course record, according to the MileSplit database. Another Kingsway runner, Joe Grandizio, ran 16:07.41 at Cumberland Regional at the 2014 Tri-County Championship.

Duffy’s previous all-course 5K PR was a 16:07.2 last week at the Gloucester County meet. Duffy’s 16:00.57 is the fastest time on any course this year by a New Jersey freshman.

Washington Township placed five runners in the top 20 and all seven in the top 26 to win the team title, 67-81, over Clearview, with Kingsway [96] and Williamstown [99] also in double digits.

Senior Aaron Kolosowsky led the way for the Minutemen in 8th place in 16:44, and junior teammate Hunter Bostwick finished 10 seconds one spot back. Also in Township’s lead group were senior Patrick Lant [13th in 17:11], senior Evan Bongard [19th in 17:28] and senior Daniel Torres [20th in 17:34].

Senior Daniel Mumbower [21st in 17:35] and junior Joshua Baseshore [26th in 17:46] also raced for the Minutemen.

Washington Township’s 4th and 5th runners both finished of every other school’s 4th runner.

Others in the top 10 were Williamstown junior Dylan Saber [3rd in 16:06], Delsea sophomore Matthew Littlehales [4th in 16:24], Williamstown sophomore Dominic Burgio [5th in 16:32], Clearview junior Ethan Worst [6th in 16:35], Williamstown junior David Kershner [7th in 16:42] and Clearview senior Akshar Patel [10th in 17:00].

Washington Township won last year’s meet on a 6th-runner tiebreaker (Lant) with Williamstown at 49-apiece.

Paul VI senior Shaelan McNally placed 2nd in the Varsity B race Saturday at the Manhattan Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.

McNally ran 15:36.7 over 2 ½ miles at Vanny, 3rd-fastest time of the day by a New Jersey girl, behind only Middletown South’s Rosemary Shay [14:59.3] and Ocean City’s Maeve Smith [15:02.1].

She placed 2nd to junior Ella Cohen of Hunter College Campus Schools in Manhattan. Cohen ran 14:56.0.

McNally led Paul VI a close 2nd place in team scoring, behind only Hunter, which edged PVI by 75-81, with Monroe-Woodbury of Central Valley, N.Y., and Arlington High of LaGrangeville, N.Y., 3rd and 4th with 85 and 90 points.

Sophomore Giovanna Mangtuano placed 5th in 15:57.3 and sophomore Macy Huber was 12th in 16:37.6. Two freshmen were Paul VI’s 4th and 5th runners, Grace Gutowski 31st in 17:12.8 and Kara Salamone 38th in 17:37.3. Senior Madison Pedicelli and freshman Lucy Crothers also raced for the Eagles.

Junior Julian Rich of Gloucester Township Vo-Tech edged junior Luke Damato of Medford Vo-Tech Monday to win the New Jersey Technical Athletic Conference championships.

Rich ran 17:28.20 and finished half a step ahead of Damato, who ran 17:28.52, at Salem County Vo-Tech in Woodstown.

But Gloucester County Vo-Tech of Deptford, with five scorers in the top 11, won the team title 40-67 over Passaic County Vo-Tech of Wayne. Burlington was 3rd with 93 points.

Rich, 5th in last year’s race, beat a field of nearly 100 runners. Damato, who runs track for Lenape, was 24th last year.

For Gloucester, senior Gavin Hoover led the way in 4th place in 17:50, with senior Luke Clodfelter 6th in 17:54. Then junior Gavin Kravchuck [18:16], freshman Duke Snyder-Shellito [18:22] and junior Patrick Monaghan [18:27] came across in 10th, 11th and 12th. For team scoring purposes, Gloucester went 4-6-9-10-11.

Junior Connor Auge and junior Owen LeLuca placed 15th and 19th, giving Glocuester seven in the top 20.

Other South Jersey runners in the top 20: Atlantic County Vo-Tech senior Shawn Tamanini [8th in 18:14], Burlington junior Cole Malinowski [13th in 18:30], Atlantic County junior Thomas Wodazak [14th in 18:35], Atlantic County senior Eni Fakolade [16th in 18:41] and Camden County junior Leo Vargas-Trinidad [17th in 18:45].

In the girls race, Atlantic County Vo-Tech placed 2nd with 82 points, behind only Morris County Tech of Denville, which scored 33. Gloucester was 4th with 118 points.

South Jersey runners in the top 20: Gloucester County senior Ave Dixon [6th in 22:05], Salem County junior Sarah Seiden [8th in 22:23], Atlantic County senior Ava Macchione [10th in 22:37], Westampton Tech junior Janelle Sanabria [13th in 22:59], Atlantic County seniors Emma Feehan and Ella Feehan [14th and 15th in 23:07 and 23:21], Westampton senior Soleil Casseus [17th in 23:28], Atlantic County senior Alissa Taylor [18th in 23:30].

Rutgers teammates Kyle Rakitis of Kingsway and Zeb Hinker of Lower Cape May Regional went 1-2 to lead the Scarlet Knights to the team title Friday at the Delaware Invitational.

Rakitis, in his second race for Rutgers, ran 26:00.7 and Hinker 26:00.8 over 8,000 meters at White Creek State Park in Newcastle County, and Rutgers outscored 2nd-place Delaware State 17-59.

Rakitis, a three-time Meet of Champions winner in the 1,600 at Kingsway, is a transfer from Virginia but never raced the Cavaliers. He ran 4:08.58 at the 2021 outdoor Meet of Champions, No. 2 in South Jersey history.

Rancocas Valley graduate Ryan Smith, a Rutgers freshman, placed 26th in 28:55.1.

In the women’s race, Rutgers freshman Lillie Widmer of Delsea finished 24th in 25:18.6 over 6,000 meters

Ocean City’s Maeve Smith continued her terrific junior year with a dominating win in the Varsity F race Saturday at the Manhattan Invitational.

Racing in cold, rainy conditions, Smith ran the 2 ½-mile course at historic Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx in 15:02.1 to win by about 100 meters over senior Shaylen Goslar of Pine Bush High in Orange County, N.Y.

So far this year, Smith has placed 3rd in the Cherokee Challenge and Shore Coaches and won the Cape May County race and now the Manhattan Invite.

Even unpressed, Smith’s time Saturday was 14th-fastest among six varsity races and fastest by a girl from a New Jersey high school.

Ocean City, which wasn’t at full strength, still placed 3rd in team scoring with 154 points, behind only East Islip (N.Y.), which scored 88, and Somers High of Lincolndale, N.Y., which scored 100.

Junior Chloe Care also finished near the front, taking 6th place in 15:56.4.

Sophomore Gabrielle Henry [40th in 17:39.5], senior Frankie Ritzel [54th in 18:04.3] and freshman Lillian Flora [63rd in 18:15.2] made up the rest of Ocean City’s scoring group.

Peyton Shute shattered a historic 36-year-old record Saturday at the Manhattan Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.

Shute, a senior at Woodbury, ran 12:18.1 in the championship race at the Manhattan Invitational – the boys Easterns – the fastest time in course history by a South Jersey runner.

Shute broke the record of 12:20.5 on the legendary 2 ½-mile layout set in 1987 by Paul VI’s Jason DiJoseph, the 1988 Kinney (Foot Locker / Eastbay) National champion.

His time is 11th-fastest ever by a New Jersey runner at Vanny and 27th-fastest ever run on a course that’s hosted major meets since 1957.

Shute placed 2nd to Joe Barrett of Christian Brothers Academy of Lincroft, who won the race in 12:13.6, No. 6 in New Jersey history.

Here’s a start at an all-time South Jersey list at Van Cortlandt working from various sources, mostly connected with MileSplit but also from archives put together by the late New York State track stats guru Larry Byrne. There are definitely times missing from the 1970s and 1980s. Please let me know who else from South Jersey ran sub-12:50 at Vanny!

12:18.1 … Peyton Shute [Woodbury], 2023
12:20.5 … Jason DiJoseph [Paul VI], 1987
12:24.3 … Aaron Groff [Cherry Hill East], 2015
12:25.6 … Jonathan Vitez [Haddonfield], 2009
12:28 … Kevin Pumphrey [Highland], 1985
12:30 … Bill Stewart [Cherry Hill East], 1983
12:31 … Jim Smith [Haddonfield], 1979
12:32 … Ed Blakeley [Haddon Twp.], 1974
12:32.3 … Austin Gabay [Cinnaminson], 2019
12:35.1 … Josh Clark [Highland], 2015
12:35.9 … Shawn Hutchison [Bishop Eustace], 2014
12:38.7 … Steve Maine [Highland], 2013
12:41.6 … Martin Riddell [Haddonfield], 2019
12:45.7 … Dennis Fortuna [Triton], 2021
12:47.3 … Brett Johnson [Ocean City], 2008
12:47.3 … Mike Ungvarsky [Cinnaminson], 2016
12:47.7 … David Forward [Shawnee], 2009
12:48.6 … Connor Melko [Bishop Eustace], 2018
12:48.7 … George Andrus [Haddonfield], 2022
12:49.2 … Greg Eisenhower [Haddonfield], 2018

Junior Bennett Wright, sophomore Ryan Gibson, senior Liam Dougherty, sophomore Benjamin Andrus and sophomore Luke Andresen all placed among the top 15 out of more than 150 runners, and Haddonfield easily won the Varsity C race Saturday at the Manhattan Invitational.

The Haddonfield boys, ranked 4th in New Jersey, raced just hours after learning that beloved, legendary Haddonfield coach Nick Baker had died following a battle with lung cancer. For more on Nick, he’s a remembrance I wrote this morning: https://sjtrackblog.com/2023/10/14/remembering-legendary-haddonfield-coach-nick-baker/

But the young Bulldogs, with only one senior in the scoring group, raced to a 45-93 win over Bishop Hendricken of Warwick, R.I., averaging 13:16.6 on the 2 ½-mile course at historic Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.

Wright ran 13:06.8 to place 4th overall, Gibson was 7th in 13:16.1, Dougherty 9th in 13:17.9, Andrus 11th in 13:19.9 and Andresen 14th in 13:22.0. Senior Reid Gervasi backed up the first five by placing 36th in 13:49.2.

Gibson, Andrus and Andresen finished 2nd, 3rd and 5th among sophomores in the race, and overall Haddonfield had four of the first nine underclassmen across the line.

Even if they had competed without Wright, their first finisher, Haddonfield would have won 72-88 over Bishop Hendricken.

So far this year, Haddonfield has won team titles at the Bowdoin XC Classic at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., Shore Coaches Invitational, the Camden County Championships (with its B team) and now the Manhattan Invitational.

Led by senior Matt Hoffman and junior Ethan Buck, Ocean City placed all five scorers in the top 25 out of more than 150 runners and raced to the team title in the Varsity A race Saturday at the Manhattan Invitational.

Hoffman covered the 2 ½-mile course at legendary Van Cortlandt Park in 13:27.1 and Buck ran 13:27.9 to finish 6th and 7th.

Junior Zach Hutchinson, sophomore Erik Preisner and junior Kal Heyman finished within a few seconds of each other, Hutchinson 20th in 13:57.6, Preisner 21st in 13:58.5 and Heyman 23rd in 14:03.4.

For team scoring purposes, Ocean City went 5-6-16-17-19 for 63 points, less than half of 2nd-place St. Francis Prep of Queens, which scored 142.

Ocean City packed its five scorers in a 36-second pack.

I can tell you the exact date I first met Nick Baker. It was Oct. 30, 1982, so just about 41 years ago. I had just started working a few weeks earlier for the old Gloucester County Times newspaperx, and I was assigned to cover the Colonial Conference XC meet at Gloucester County College.

A Haddonfield runner named Blair Murphy won the boys race, and I talked to Blair and Nick about the race and ran back to our office excited to write one of my first newspaper articles ever. I wrote what I thought was a compelling story, filed it and left the office feeling pretty good about myself.

Later that day, I got a call from the sports editor explaining to me that Haddonfield isn’t in Gloucester County and our paper doesn’t cover schools in Camden County and I never should have written that story.

Oh well. It was too late to write anything else so the story ran. In the ensuing years, as I got to know Nick, we would always laugh about that, how I had written a story about one of his runners that never should have been written.

Nick died Saturday morning after battling lung cancer. He was 70. He’ll be missed terribly by everyone who knew him.

When I think about Nick, the first thing I think of isn’t the decades of coaching success, the 20 state XC titles, 21 state track titles, 35 sectional XC titles, the South Jersey-record XC dual meet winning streak, the individual state champions and record-setting runners he worked with, the countless Coach of the Year honors he received or Hall of Fames he was inducted into.

The first thing I’ll think about is that laugh and that smile. Because Nick was never defined by the unparalleled success he had as a coach, and he had the most genuine smile you’ll ever see.

Track and cross country were a big part of who he was, but more than anything he was just a great guy. A terrific dad to Colin and Courtney, a loving husband to Maureen, a devoted teacher and mentor to literally thousands of young people and a tireless advocate for the sport he loved.

I can tell you the exact date the last time I saw Nick. It was Aug. 16, so just about two months ago. I ran into Nick and Maureen sitting with Steve Shaklee and Cricket Batz at Norcross Dell in Haddon Township, where Calexico was performing on a spectacular summer evening. We sat together in the back row, and every time I looked at Nick, he was smiling.

Paul VI placed its five scorers among the top eight finishers to win the Freshman B race in commanding fashion Saturday morning at the Manhattan Invitational.

https://results.leonetiming.com/xc.html?mid=5785

Chris Monaghan, Caden Briggs, Max Long, Chase Cooley and Holden Cranston placed 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 8th and PVI won the team title 23-58 over Christian Brothers Academy of Lincroft.

The race was run over 1 ½ miles at historic Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, and it was the 3rd of 41 races scheduled for Saturday.

Monaghan ran 8:02.8, Briggs 8:20.4, Long 8:29.1, Cooley 8:30.7 and Cranston 8:44.0 for the Eagles. Scoring against the entire field, PVI wins 23-32.