From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Paul VI’s Isabella Suarez won the sophomore girls race Friday at the 31st annual Cherokee Challenge, finishing four seconds ahead of Kayla Peckens of Princeton Day School.

Suarez, who placed 8th as a freshman in the South Jersey parochial championships, ran two miles at Cherokee in 12:22, and Peckens ran 12:26. Cherokee’s Ava Guarini was 3rd in 12:28.

Also in the top 10 were Egg Harbor’s Corinne Conley [6th in 12:51], Delsea’s Brooke Mashburn [9th in 13:311] and Audubon’s Emma Camm [10th in 13:13].

James McKeon of Cinnaminson, Drew Burdette of Cherokee and Brody Bailey of Pleasantville all finished in the top 5 Friday in the boys freshman race at the 31st annul Cherokee Challenge.

McKeon ran 10:40, Burdette 10:49 and Bailey 10:57 over the two-mile course at Cherokee. Noah Smith of Council Rock South in Richboro, Bucks County, won the race in 10:16.

Also in the top-10: Shawnee’s Joseph Stapleton [6th in 11:10], Mainland’s Jameson Foreman [7th in 11:13], Haddon Township’s Ryan Luke [8th in 11:18] and Hammonton’s Ryan Wetzel [9th in 11:20].

Paul VI’s Peyton Barger placed 2nd in the freshman girls race at the 31st annual Cherokee Challenge Friday in her high school cross country debut.

Barger ran 11:55 for two miles at Cherokee and finished behind only Addison Sheehy of Toms River East, who ran 11:40.

Also in the top 10 were Mainland’s Quinlan Smith [5th in 13:05] and Seneca’s Sofia Sparacio [7th in 13:14].

Barger ran 5:02.82 as a Washington Township Middle School 8th-grader last year, also at Cherokee.

In their first collegiate races, Julia Flanagan from Holy Cross and Riley Fayer from Audubon both placed in the top 10 at the Delaware Invitational Friday. They were Delaware’s 2^nd and 4^th finishers and 1^st and 3^rd among all freshmen in the race.

Flanagan placed 5^th in 18:50 over 5,000 meters at White Clay Creek State Park in New Castle County, Delaware, and Fayer was 8^th in 18:58. Also racing for Delaware were Eastern’s Kadence Dumas [19^th in 19:51], Leah Clear from Camden Catholic (21^st in 19:56] and Cherokee’s Madeline Meder [23^rd in 20:09]. There were 91 finishers in the race.

Delaware placed 2^nd to Maryland, 22-35.

In the men’s race over 6,000 meters, sophomore Julian Rich from Camden County Tech placed 16^th in 22:10.

The Rowan cross country roster has finally been posted on Rowan’s web site – one day before the first race of the season – and it includes four of the Profs’ top five runners from 2026, it includes some notable freshmen and it includes two runners actually named Rowan.

It does not include record-setting Seth Clevenger, the NCAA Division 3 3,000 and and 5,000 champion last indoor season and Division 3 indoor record holder in the mile [3:59.41], 3,000 [7:54.87] and 5,000 [13:32.09]. Clevenger, a Haddonfield graduate, is also No. 3 all-time in the 10,000 at 29:06.90.

After his historic indoor season, Clevenger only raced twice outdoors. It appears that his 14:06.23 at the Penn Relays will wind up as his final race as a Rowan Prof. Clevenger, a transfer from Iowa State, never ran XC for Rowan. His last XC race was the 2025 Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisc., where he ran a lifetime-best 23:37.9 for 8,000 meters. Clevenger only ran XC in 2022 and 2024 at Iowa State so he does have remaining eligibility.

Of Rowan’s top five finishers at last year’s NJAC XC meet, four are back – senior Colin Patterson of Haddon Township [4^th last year], senior Aidan Brad of Williamstown [20^th], sophomore Dylan Saber of Williamstown [22^nd] and junior Reid Gervasi of Haddonfield [25^th]. Not on the roster is Elijah Whitaker from Glassboro High, who placed 11^th at NJACs last year.

Among Rowan’s top incoming freshmen are Audubon’s Zach Fayer, who was 3^rd at the Group 1 state meet last year at Holmdel; Williamstown’s Dominic Burgio, who was 3^rd at the state Group 4 meet in the 1,600 both indoors and outdoors; Julian Canon from Memorial of West New York, who ran 9:32.56 for 3,200 meters last spring at Cherokee; Highland’s Andrew Dopkin, who ran 15:55 at DREAM Park; Michaelangelo Lepore of Mountain Lakes, 4^th in the state Group 1 XC meet last fall; Ryan Organek of Delaware Military Academy, who ran 9:32.42 last spring; and Matteo Pascucci of League City Clear Springs in Texas, who ran 1:55.86 and 4:17.87 as a high school senior;

Rowan also has two West Coast transfers named Rowan: Rowan Henige from Sequoia High in San Marcos, Calif., and Rowan Horner, from Franklin High in Portland, Ore. Henige ran a 9:29.64 steeplechase for San Jose State last year; Horner ran 15:53 in his last high school XC season, in the fall of 2023.

The Rowan women have their top five underclassmen from last year’s NJAC Championship team back – senior Shannon Stakelback of Toms River East [4^th last year], senior Jezena Aponte of Snyder High in Jersey City [10^th], sophomore Juliana Sieminski from Delsea [12^th], senior Allyson Wernik from Washington Township [14^th] and junior Zoey Dolling from Montgomery [20^th].

The only freshman listed on Rowan’s women’s roster is Kayla Romanoski from West Deptford, who ran 2:14.94 last spring.

The Rowan men and women open the season Friday at the Lehigh Invitational over 6,000 meters on Lehigh’s South Campus. The course is in both Bethlehem and Lower Saucon Township. Lehigh hosted the NCAA Division 1 Championships in 1979, 1983 and 1993.

Elizabeth’s Will Inglis from Moorestown opened his senior season of cross country with a win at the Elizabethtown Blue Jay Alumni Challenge.

Inglis ran 14:00 over 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) at the Solar Array Cross Country Course on E’town’s campus. The meet record of 13:31 was set in 2021 by Schalick’s Samuel Gerstenbacher of

Inglis placed 7^th in the Landmark Conference XC Championships last fall in Clark, Union County, then won the 800 at the indoor Landmark meet in Selinsgrove and the 1,500 and steeplechase at the outdoor conference meet in Huntingdon, Pa.

He ran 1:50.82 in a meet at Widener last May, 3^rd-fastest 800 all-time by a Burlington County high school alum.

Inglis is No. 4 in school history at 800 meters, tied for No. 3 in the 1,500 [3:53.42] and No. 4 in the steeplechase [9:25.02]. Indoors he’s No. 4 in the 800 [1:54.54]

While I was going through this I noticed that No. 8 on the school’s all-time 10,000 list is one-time Cinnaminson runner Dave Bresnahan with a 31:38.64 at Bucknell in 2008.

Haddonfield sophomore Bella DeFinis ran 14:12 over two miles to win the season-opening Colonial Conference batch meet at Pennypacker Park in Haddonfield and Cherry Hill.

Haddonfield swept the top four spots, with DeFinis followed by seniors Nora Hastings [14:26], Grace McCool [14:28] and Penelope Mathews [14:35]. Junior Corinne Kelly broke up a Haddonfield sweep, taking 5^th in 15:02.

The Haddonfield boys swept the top five spots, with junior Ian Rodriguez 1^st overall in 11:50, followed by sophomore Lucas Larson [11:51], junior William Krier [11:51], senior Luke Patterson [11:59] and junior Oliver Setchel [12:08].

Gloucester freshman Luke Madrack placed 6^th in his high school XC debut in 12:28.

Simon Bernhardt, a TCNJ sophomore from Shawnee, placed 2^nd in The College of New Jersey’s season-opening Blue-Gold Scrimmage in Ewing.

Bernhardt ran 16:43 on the 5,000-meter Green Lane course, finishing behind only senior Brendan Blythe of Arcadia in Cheltenham Township, who ran 16:38.

Bernhardt did not race outdoors so this was his first race since an indoor meet in Chester in March.

Top freshman in the race was TCNJ’s Ryan McCann from Cedar Creek, who ran 16:55 in his first college race and placed 7^th.

In the women’s race, sophomore Lilla Porter of Clearview was the top South Jersey runner in 4^th place in 12:59 over two miles. Also in the top 10 was junior captain Ella Feehan of Atlantic County Tech and Brigantine, who was 10^th in 13:18.

Another race, another win for Gabriel Moronta.

The 2021 Pleasantville graduate, now competing for the Dominican Republic, continued his smoking hot summer of racing by winning the 400 Wednesday at the International Wieslaw Maniak Memorial at Wieslaw Maniak Municipal Athletic Stadium in Szczecin, Poland.

Moronta ran 45.00 and ran away from the field, beating Maksymilian Szwed of Poland, the European indoor silver medalist, who was 2^nd in 45.24, and Asian indoor champion Ammar Ismail Yahia Ibrahim of Qatar, who was 2^nd in 45.48.

Moronta has won his last four races, including the 400 at the Central Caribbean Championships in Santo Domingo earlier this month. He also won the Dominican Republic Championships in Kingston and the Pan Am Championships in Medellin, Columbia, both in June.

He’s run 45.00 or faster in his last five 400s, including a PR of 46.67 at the Pan Am Championships. That’s 3^rd-fastest in Dominican Republic history and No. 39 in the world this year.

Moronta is represented by Ian Weakly, a four-time Jamaican national 400-meter hurdles champion who ran collegiately at George Mason and raced at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

Pleasantville’s Gabriel Moronta continued his hot summer of racing by winning the 400 this weekend at the Felix Sanchez Classic at Pista de Atletismo Felix Sanchez in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Moronta, now competing for the Dominican Republic, won the 400 in 44.70, just 3-100ths of a second off his PR of 44.67 from June in a meet in Medellin, Columbia.

He’s now run sub 44.80 five times this summer, including two 44.70s, a 44.73 and a 44.79 in addition to his 44.67, which is 3^rd on the all-time Dominican Republic list and    56-100ths of a second off the national-record 44.11 set in 2015 by Luguelin Santos in Beijing.

In Santo Domingo, Moronta won easily over former Arizona State All-America Justin Robinson of the U.S., who was 2^nd in 45.08.

Moronta anchored South Florida’s winning 1,600-meter relay team at the 2025 NCAA Championships in Hayward Field in Eugene.