From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

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].

Julia Flanagan became Holy Cross’s 1st Burlington County Open champion in 45 years and the Cherokee girls won their 7th team title in eight years Friday in Mansfield Township.

Flanagan won the race in 17:54 over 5,000 meters at Crystal Lake Park, the fastest winning time on any course since Megan Lacy won in 2010 at Mill Creek Park in 17:53.

Flanagan is Holy Cross’s first county champion since Michy Reinbold won the 1980 title in 19:01 at Burlington County College in Pemberton. Reinbold led a 1-2-3-4 Holy Cross sweep with Karen Fileshifter, Rachel McGuire and Mary Kay Zarrillo.

So far this fall, Flanagan has won titles at the Battle of Ocean County Park, Six Flags Wild Safari and Burlington County.

Cherokee packed its five scorers between 2nd and 8th place, with seniors Alyssa Suriano , Madeline Meder and Sofia Recinto running 18:23, 19:18 and 19:20 in 2nd through 4th, senior Maya Kumar 6th in 19:35 and sophomore Erin Healy 8th in 19:41. They were backed up by freshman Casey Leisse [12th in 20:34] and junior Gabrielle Urban [15th in 20:50].

This is Cherokee’s 3rd straight title and 10th overall. Cherokee scored 19 and Moorestown was 2nd with 50. Northern Burlington, with four freshmen in its top five, placed 3rd with 129 points.

The rest of the top 10 looked like this: Delran Ashley Doyle in 5th [19:31], Moorestown junior Sophia DiFiore in 7th [19:36], Maple Shade junior Juliana Catalani in 9th [20:00] and Moorestown sophomore Makayla Zell in 10th [20:07]

Erik Preisner, Nathan Aschmann and Michael Romano swept the top three spots and Ocean City raced to its 10th straight Cape May County Championship and 24th in the last 25 years.

Preisner ran 16:06 over 5,000 meters along the Wildwood boardwalk to win his 2nd straight county title after a 4th-place finish in 2023. Aschmann also ran 16:06 and Romano ran 16:11 as Ocean City packed its five scorers in 45 seconds and outscored 2nd-place Middle Township 17-51.

Middle Township senior Jamar Mack broke up the Ocean City pack in 4th place in 16:14. It was Mack who broke up a top-seven Ocean City sweep last year with a 6th-place finish.

The Red Raiders packed their next four runners from 5th through 8th, with Keenan Neuman, Benjamin McCarthy, Hayden Tarves and Ryan Jefferson running from 16:43 through 17:31.

The Red Raiders have won nine straight county titles and 23 of the last 24 dating back to 2000. Middle Township edged Ocean City 29-34 to break up the streak in 2014.

Ocean City has won 43 of 51 team titles and 42 of the last 48 dating back to 1977. The Raiders have placed 1st or 2nd in 48 consecutive county meets since taking 4th in 1976.
They’ve also scored fewer than 40 points in 26 consecutive meets. During their current streak of nine straight wins they’ve averaged 18.1 points.

Others under 19 minutes were Middle Township Champion McNeal [9th in 18:00], Cape May Tech Evan Feliciano [10th in 18:00], Middle Township Rey Cruz Bruno [11th in 18:35], Lower Cape May Regional Chris Saini [12th in 18:38], Middle Township Josh Heck [13th in 18:46] and Middle Township Darp Patel [14th in 18:49].

Senior Riley Fayer and juniors Lydia Gravante and Isabella Legatie swept the top three spots and Audubon won its first-ever Camden County Championship Friday in Gloucester Township.

It was the first 1-2-3 finish since Megan Venables, Jenn Rawls and Gabrielle Prendergast of Highland swept the top three spots at the 2008 meet at Glouester County College in Deptford Township.

Fayer won the rae in 19:11 over 5,000 meters at Timber Creek Park, Gravante was 2nd in 20:29 and Legatie 3rd in 20:43.

Audubon outscored Winslow Township 24-62 to win the team title. Camden Catholic (68) and Pennsauken (74) were 3rd and 4th.

Audubon freshman Emma Camm ran 21:23 and placed 5th and junior Sophia Rizzo ran 23:13 for 16th.

Others in the top 10 included Pennsauken sophomore Hope Edwards [4th in 21:04], Winslow sophomore Amariah Arango [6th in 21:40], Highland junior Toni-Loren Powell [7th in 21:44], Camden Catholic sophomore Erin Callinan [8th in 21:49], Pennsauken sophomore Rai’ana Rucker [9th in 21:59] and Camden Catholic senior Brynn Deiwert [10th in 22:14].

Led by a 1-2 finish by sophomores Joe Saicic and Zacchaeus Harrigan, the Glassboro boys won their first Gloucester County championship in the meet’s 60-year history Thursday in West Deptford.

Saicic ran 16:01 and Harrigan 16:11 over 5,000 meters at West Deptford Park in the first 1-2 finish at the county meet in 17 years, since Ryan Culbreath and Daniel Fitzgerald finished 1st and 2nd for Kingsway at the 2008 meet at Gloucester County College in Deptford.

In the meet’s first 59 years, Kingsway won 14 titles, Williamstown and Washington Township 11 each, Clearview seven, Deptford and Delsea four apiece, Gateway three, West Deptford and Woodbury two and Pitman one.

With four in the top 10, Glassboro finished with a 39-point margin of victory over Washington Township. Nobody has repeated since Kingsway won its ninth straight county title in 2020.

Senior Jaeden Wesley placed 5th in 16:29 and sophomore Aaron Johnson 10th in 17:11 for the Bulldogs. Fifth man senior Jason Martin was 24th in 18:13.

Glassboro’s previous-best finish was 2nd place twice, most recently in 1993, when Tom Horne and Tim Graves finished 1-2 at Kingsway. The Dragons topped Glassboro 69-87 that year. That was also Glassboro’s last 1-2 finish. Glassboro was 2nd to Clearview in 1981, 40-84, behind Brian Kirkpatrick’s 2nd-place finish.

Washington Township, which won the Gloucester County meet in 2021 and 2023, was led by sophomore Trevor Szilier in 8th place in 16:54.

Williamstown seniors Dominic Burgio and Logan Pavelik ran 3rd and 4th in 16:22 and 16:27. Also in the top 10: Kinsgway sophomore Michael Beaver [6th in 16:32], Gateway senior David Houck [7th in 16:45] and Gateway senior Curtis Stokes [9th in 17:10].