From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Rancocas Valley graduate Alicia Belko of Stockton University and Moorestown graduate Natalie Cooper of The College of New Jersey, former BCSL Liberty Division rivals, both placed among the top six runners Saturday at the NCAA Division 3 Atlantic Region Cross Country Championships, earning automatic berths in next weekend’s national championships.

Cooper will be accompanied by the full TCNJ team, which earned an at-large bid to nationals after placing fifth out of 41 teams at Regionals.

Belko, a senior, placed third out of 285 runners with a time of 21:45 on the 6,000-meter Field of Dreams course at Haughton (N.Y.) College and Cooper, a junior, placed sixth in 21:57.

Junior Maddy Tattory from Delran was TCNJ’s No. 2 runner Saturday, in 24th in 22:45, with Monmouth Regional grad Gabby DeVito just eight seconds back in 32nd. Juniors Erin Holzbauer of Robbinsville [56th in 23:30] and Abigail Faith of Freehold [65th in 23:40] also scored for the Lions. DeVito was the third freshman across the line.

Also racing for TCNJ were juniors Emma Bean of Mainland Regional [109th in 24:25] and Olivia Shenkman of Smithown High in Nesconset, N.Y. [129th in 24:39].

Only the top two teams earn automatic bids, but TCNJ was selected as one of 16 at-large schools – two from each of eight regions. The top seven finishers whose teams didn’t qualify automatically earn auto individual bids.

This is TCNJ’s first trip to nationals since 2013.

The NCAA Division 3 championships are scheduled for Saturday at the North Farm Facility at Principia College in Elsah, Ill., just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.

Rowan senior Kevin Veltre placed third out of nearly 300 runners Saturday at the NCAA Atlantic Region Cross Country Championships, earning an automatic berth in the NCAA Championships.

One day later, Veltre learned that teammates will accompany him to Illinois this coming weekend.

Veltre ran 24:32.6 over 8,000 meters on the Field of Dreams course at Haughton (N.Y.) College to take third out of 290 runners at Regionals. The top-seven finish earned him an automatic bid to nationals. Rowan as a team placed fourth out of 42 schools.

Only the top two teams earn automatic bids, but Rowan – now ranked 25th nationally – was selected as one of 16 at-large schools – two from each of eight regions. The top seven finishers whose teams didn’t qualify automatically earn auto bids.

Veltre, a graduate of Brick Memorial, finished just 18 seconds behind overall winner Grant O’Connor of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of Troy, N.Y.

The NCAA Division 3 championships are scheduled for Saturday at the North Farm Facility at Principia College in Elsah, Ill., just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.

In addition to Veltre, Rowan’s contingent at nationals will include junior Dan “Fitch” Henry of Clearview [18th at Regionals in 25:09], sophomore Matt Russo of Westfield [25th in 25:22], senior Nick Nocco from Southern Regional [41st in 25:38], sophomore Jose Figueroa of Highland [64th in 25:59], senior Alex Trapani of South Brunswick [95th in 26:21] and sophomore Jason Merman from Pitman [111th in 26:33].

Rowan scored 151 points at Regionals, finishing behind only nationally top-ranked SUNY Geneseo [61], RPI [98] and RIT [124].

By virtue of their top-35 finishes, Veltre, Henry and Russo earned USTFCCA (U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association) All-Region Honors.

After a weekend of research, we’ve come up with some pretty interesting info about Kingsway’s race at states Saturday.

The Kingsway boys won the state Group 4 title in remarkable fashion, packing five runners within 11 seconds from 16:16 to 16:27 and defeating the state’s No. 3-ranked team, Princeton, by a 52-91 score.

Kingsway’s 16:23 average — a 1:21:54.72 total for its five scorers — is crazy considering the Dragons didn’t have anybody run faster than 16:16. But this is what pack running does. Kingsway may have had the slowest first runner ever for a team that averaged sub-1:22 at Holmdel County Park, but it also probably had the fastest fifth runner … or close to it.

Jonathan Connor [8th in 16:17], Kieran Burns [11th in 16:20], Brian Mangiaracina [13th in 16:24], Cade Hindley [14th in 16:24] and Joe Grandizio [15th in 16:28]  finished with five of the six-fastest South Jersey times at states. They were broken up by Highland’s Ben Woodward, who ran 16:21 for seventh in the Group 3 race.

Years ago somebody compiled a list of the fastest single-season performances in Holmdel history, but that list has been lost to the sands of time and the shuttering of several track-related web sites. If anybody out there has the old list, please share it so Jim Lambert, Pat Montferrat and I can update it!

But for now, here’s what we can safely say:

–> Kingsway’s 1:21.54 is the 17th-fastest time ever run at Holmdel.

–> It’s fastest ever by any team in the state Group 4 meet. The previous best was a 1:22.04.70 by West Windsor-Plainsboro North in 2009.

–> It’s the fastest ever by any South Jersey school at the state meet. The previous record was Mainland Regional’s 1:22.05 in the 2003 Group 4 meet.

–> Overall, it’s fourth-fastest in South Jersey history, behind Mainland’s 1:21.38 to win the 2003 Meet of Champions and two Haddonfield performances – 1:21.38.40 for second in the 2010 Meet of Champions and 1:21.47.8 to win the 2001 Meet of Champions.

–> It’s the second-fastest by a public school at the state meet, behind only Colts Neck’s 1:21.35.63 in the 2016 Group 3 state meet.

–> Only six schools — CBA [eight times], Don Bosco [three times], West Windsor North and Haddonfield [twice each] and Colts Neck and Mainland [once each] — have ever run faster in any race at Holmdel.

–> It was the seventh-fastest time ever by a public school in any race at Holmdel County Park.

–> It was also seventh-fastest ever at any state meet, with the top five coming in Parochial A.

–> It broke the Gloucester County record of 1:22.52.92 set by Kingsway in 2014 (even with a 17:15 in the lineup that day). Joe Grandizio ran on both those teams.

Best of all?

Kingsway gets to do it all over again on Saturday and could very well move up on the list!

Here are the top 20 Holmdel performances I was able to find and followed by the top 20 South Jersey performances. There could be one or two missing, so if you see one please let us know!

ALL-TIME HOLMDEL SINGLE-SEASON BOYS LIST

1:19.19.09 … CBA, 2013, Meet of Champions [1]
1:20.13.51 … CBA, 2012, Parochial A [1]
1:20.22.63 … CBA, 2013, Parochial A [1]
1:20:26.12 … CBA, 2010, Meet of Champions [1]
1:20.58.82 … Don Bosco, 2013, Meet of Champions [2]
1:21.10.81 … West Windsor-Plainsboro North, 2008, Meet of Champions [1]
1:21.14.44 … CBA, 2005, Meet of Champions [1]
1:21.15.83 … West Windsor-Plainsboro North, 2009, Meet of Champions [3]
1:21.20.85 … CBA, 2014, Parochial A [1]
1:21.23.48 … CBA, 2010, Parochial A [1]
1:21.33.96 … Don Bosco, Parochial A, 2014 [2]
1:21.34.68 … CBA, 2015, Meet of Champions [1]
1:21.35.63 … Colts Neck, 2016, Group 3 [1]
1:21.38 …….. Mainland Regional, 2003, Meet of Champions [1]
1:21:38.40 … Haddonfield, 2010, Meet of Champions [2]
1:21.47.8 ….. Haddonfield, 2001, Meet of Champions [1]
1:21.54.72 … Kingsway, 2017, Group 4 [1]
1:21.56.61 … Don Bosco, 2012, Parochial A [2]
1:21.58.36 … CBA, 2014, Meet of Champions [1]
1:21.58.69 … CBA, 2016, Parochial A [1]

ALL-TIME HOLMDEL S.J. SINGLE-SEASON BOYS LIST

1:21.38 …….. Mainland Regional, 2003, Meet of Champions [1]
1:21:38.40 … Haddonfield, 2010, Meet of Champions [2]
1:21.47.8 ….. Haddonfield, 2001, Meet of Champions [1]
1:21.54.72 … Kingsway, 2017, Group 4 [1]
1:22.05 …….. Mainland Regional, 2003, Group 4 [1]
1:22.10.23 … Cherry Hill East, 2014, Group 4 [1]
1:22.36.50 … Cherry Hill West, 2014, Meet of Champions
1:22.40.09 … Cherry Hill West, 2015, Group 4 [2]
1:22.52.92 … Kingsway, 2014, Group 4 [2]
1:22.59.94 … Cherokee, 2000, Meet of Champions [2]
1:23.05.92 … Haddonfield, 2009, Group 2 [1]
1:23.07.58 … Haddonfield, 2009, Meet of Champions [4]
1:23.22.69 … Haddonfield, 2015, Meet of Champions [4]
1:23.26.98 … Mainland Regional, 2002, Group 3 [1]
1:23.29.78 … Haddon Twp., 2014, Meet of Champions [10]
1:23.30.28 … Haddonfield, 2014, Group 2 [1]
1:23.39.03 … Kingsway, 2014, Meet of Champions [4]
1:23.40.91 … Mainland Regional, 2002, Meet of Champions [1]
1:23.43.72 … Cherokee, 2004, Meet of Champions [5]
1:23.44.08 … Haddonfield, 2015, Group 2 [2]

The Shawnee girls placed fourth in the state Group 4 race and with an average time of 20:00.8 per scorer earned the top team wild-card and will race in the Meet of Champions for the 18th time in school history!

Shawnee scored 139 points, finishing behind North Hunterdon (82), Ridge (104) and Westfield (106) and finishing 17 points ahead of South Jersey No. 1 Kingsway, who was fifth.

The Meet of Champions is back at Holmdel County Park on Saturday.

Overall, Shawnee recorded the fifth-best average time of all the schools in the six races at Holmdel Saturday, behind North Hunterdon (19:32.4), Ridge (19:52.2), Group 3 winner Colts Neck (19:55.4) and Westfield (19:56.6).

Scoring the various state meets as one race, Shawnee again would be fifth with 333 points but within range of Ridge (265), Westfield (274) and Colts Neck (305), so the Renegades certainly have a chance to place very high next weekend.

At states, sophomore Isabella Turner ran 19:17 for Shawnee and placed eighth, with junior Grace Kearns 24th [19:59], senior Claire Rankin 29th [20:04], senior Laura Mavracic 36th [20:13] and senior Georgia Larzelere 54th [2031]. Junior Lauren Tenet ran 61st in 20:40 and sophomore Claire Hauser also broke 21 minutes at Holmdel, placing 74th in 20:58.

Shawnee has an incredible cross country tradition and made its first trip to the Meet of Champions 34 years ago, placing seventh in the 1983 meet.

The Renegades had a remarkable string of 14 consecutive top-six finishes in the Meet of Champions from 1990 through 2003, including titles in 1991, 1997, 2002 and 2003 – the first three under Mike Yurcho, the last one under Cliff Scott.

Dana Palumbo took over for Scott in 2006, and this will be the Lady Renegades’ fourth trip to the Meet of Champions under Palumbo and second in a row. Shawnee placed fourth last year, their best finish since 2003.

Shawnee and Kingsway were the only South Jersey girls teams to average less than 20:30 per scorer on Saturday.

 

Let’s go right to the record book. It’s the only way to really understand just how insane Kingsway’s performance was Saturday at the state Group 4 cross country championships.

–> The Dragons packed their five scorers in 11 seconds. ELEVEN SECONDS. That’s the tightest pack we could find in the state Group 4 meet as far back as available records go!!!

–> Kingsway scored just 52 points, the lowest score in Group 4 in more than 30 years!!!

–> Joe Grandizio, who has been Kingsway’s No. 1 runner in every major meet this fall, was the Dragons’ fifth runner Saturday but the Dragons still beat Princeton, the No. 3 team in the state, by 38 points!!!

This is one for the history books. Quite possibly the greatest performance ever by a South Jersey cross country team at the state meet.

Kingsway won its second state title and first since 2012 Saturday with an absolutely astonishing performance over the historic 5,000-meter course at Holmdel County Park.

You want pack running? Check this out:

16:17 – Jonathan Connor, 8th
16:20 – Kieran Burns, 11th
16:24 – Brian Mangiaracina, 13th
16:24 – Cade Hindley, 14th
16:28 – Joe Grandizio, 15th

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????

Kingsway put five runners in front of Princeton’s third runner, and Princeton is defending Meet of Champions champs and ranked third in the state!

It looks like Kingsway’s average time is second-fastest ever by a South Jersey team at Holmdel behind Haddonfield’s 16:20 at the 2010 Meet of Champions.

As far as the state meet goes, the legendary 2003 Mainland Regional team led by Jimmy Wyner, Greg Hughes and Spenser Popeson, averaged 16:25 per man. Records aren’t available for average time before the mid-1990s but the course runs much faster now and you can tell from year-by-year results that nobody was that fast before then, so there’s a good chance Kingsway’s average time is fastest ever in the state Group 4 meet.

Kingsway’s 52 points match the lowest total in Group 4 since 1986, when Toms River North scored 47 points in a 47-103 win over Cherokee. In 1988, Cherokee also scored 52 to win the state Group 4 title by 10 points over district rival Shawnee.

The all-time single-year team list that was once maintained on a few now-defunct track and field web sites is no longer available. Christian Brothers, West Windsor-Plainsboro and Haddonfield have  run faster than Kingsway, but very few other schools have.

We’ll continue researching this and come up with an answer in the next 24 hours!

But either way, this was a legendary performance by Kingsway. Congrats to coach Christian Lynch and the Kingsway program for a remarkable afternoon at Holmdel!

Bishop Eustace junior Katy Storti placed third in the Parochial A XC championships Saturday at Holmdel, earning a lane in the Meet of Champions next Saturday.

Storti ran a Holmdel PR of 19:28, finishing behind only Pingry soph Nicole Vanesse, who ran 18:45, and Union Catholic junior Jerika Lufrano, who ran 18:51.

Storti’s third-place finish is best by a Bishop Eustace girl since Holly Bishof won the 2011 race in 18:45.

Eustace sophomore Rachel Orr also broke into the top-15, placing 13th overall in 20:26.

This will be Storti’s second trip to the Meet of Champions. She placed fourth at states as a freshman in 20:00 and went on to take 40th place at the 2015 Meet of Champions in 19:41.

 

Even with No. 1 runner Derek Gess still sick and unable to race, Haddonfield found a way Saturday to get past two-time defending champion Voorhees and win its 16th state cross country title and 10th since 2000.

The only schools to win more state titles than Haddonfield are Christian Brothers Academy of Lincroft (27 going into today) and Bernards (23). Among South Jersey schools, Haddon Township (10), Paul VI (7), Bishop Eustace (6) and Cherokee (5) have won the next-most.

Sophomore Martin Riddell and junior Greg Eisenhower both placed in the top six, and four other Haddonfield underclassmen finished in the top 30 to thwart Voorhees, which placed four runners in the top 14.

Haddonfield outscored Voorhees 53-69, and although Voorhees had a faster average (16:49 to 16:55), Haddonfield won with a 40-second pack between its first and fifth runners (and 41 seconds between 1 and 6).

Riddell placed third in 16:35 and Eisenhower sixth just seven seconds back. Junior Ethan Spellmeyer was 14th in 16:59, junior Sean Campiglia 20th in 17:06 and junior Griffin Weiner 26th in 17:15. Sixth man Stephen Kasko, a sophomore, ran 17:16 for 28th place overall. Senior Richie Glennon also raced for the Bulldogs.

Gess, a 1:55 half-miler last year and the Colonial Conference XC champ this fall, has been battling illness for two weeks and dropped out of the race at sectionals last weekend at about two miles.

Haddonfield won its first state title in 1978 in Group 2 and repeated two years later. The Bulldogs won four state Group 1 titles between 1985 and 1990 then, after nine years without a title, began the current run of 10 titles in 18 years in 2000 back in Group 2.

This championship was Haddonfield’s first since 2014. The Bulldogs haven’t gone more than three years without winning a state title since 1996 through 1999.

 

Mainland Regional senior Alyssa Aldridge won her third straight state Group 3 XC title Saturday morning, sprinting past senior Monica Hebner of Northern Highlands along the final straightaway.

Aldridge became the third girl ever and first in nine years to win three straight titles in Group 3. She’s actually also the first to win three straight in any group in nine years.

The two previous three-time winners in Group 3 are Jodie Bilotta, who won three straight for North Hunterdon from 1985 through 1987, and Melanie Thompson of Voorhees, who won three straight from 2006 through 2008.

Aldridge is the first three-time winner to go under 18:30 in all three wins since Meg Waldron of Bernards in Group 1 from 1980 through 1982.

Hebner, fifth in the 5,000 at nationals last spring with a 17:18, had not lost a XC race this fall and ran 18:32 at Shore Coaches, fastest time of the day.

Aldridge, who remains undefeated in an abbreviated fall season, won Saturday in 18:16. She ran 18:13 and 18:07 in her previous two Meet of Champions wins. Hefner ran a Holmdel PR 18:20 for second.

Aldridge and Hebner led a total of eight girls under 19 minutes on the tough 5,000-meter Holmdel course.

Aldridge has run as fast as 17:55 at Holmdel and will be seeking her third straight Meet of Champions title next Saturday on the same legendary Holmdel County Park course.

Here’s a list of all the girls in all groups who’ve won three straight state XC titles:

Hilary Noden [Hopewell Valley], combined groups – 1972, 1973, 1974
Janet Smith [J.P. Stevens], Group 4 – 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983
Meg Waldron [Bernards], Group 1 – 1980, 1981, 1982
Jodi Bilotta [North Hunterdon], Group 3 – 1985, 1986 1987
Christi Constantin [Kittatinny Regional], Group 2 – 1986, 1987, 1988
Moral Chokshi [Bridgewater-Raritan West], Group 4 – 1989, 1990, 1991
Erin Donohue [Haddonfield], Group 1 – 1997, 1998; Group 2 – 1999, 2000
Vanessa Wright [Haddonfield], Group 2 – 2003, 2004, 2005
Melanie Thompson [Voorhees], Group 3 – 2006, 2007, 2008
Alyssa Aldridge [Mainland Regional], Group 3 – 2015, 2016, 2017

Juniors Abby McCully, Briana Hagerty and Grace Stiles all finished in the top 10, and Pitman won its eighth South Jersey Group 1 cross country title in the last 13 years Saturday.

McCully placed third in 20:37, Hagerty fifth in 20:47 and Stiles eighth in 21:08, and Pitman outscored Schalick 40-76. The 36-point victory is the largest margin of victory in SJ-1 since Pitman won 22-65 over Pennsville in 2013.

Seniors Paige McKenna and Sydni McKenna finished 12th and 15th for the Lady Panthers, both under 22 minutes.

The eight sectional team titles equal the fourth-most by any South Jersey girls program. Haddonfield has won 23, Shawnee 15 and Haddon Township 10. Ocean City, Brick Township and Toms River North have also won eight.

Pitman also won Group 1 sectional titles in 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015.

Panthers girls coach Matt Elmuccio teaches math at Pitman but may be slightly better known as the guy who ran a 4:11.5 anchor on Westfield’s 1995 distance medley team that won the Penn Relays Championship of America in 10:14.08 and is also the only three-time Meet of Champions outdoor 1,600-meter run champ.

While Pitman was easily winning the team title, Schalick sophomore Marleigh Puglia was easily winning the South Jersey Group 1 individual race.

Puglia became the first sectional XC winner in Schalick history, covering the 5,000-meter course at Delsea in 20:01 and finishing 150 meters ahead of soph Darby Williamson of Haddon Township, who took second in 20:36.

The best previous finish by a Schalick girl at sectionals was second place by Nicole Vit in 2001 and Olivia Gerstenbacher’s in 2015.

Others in the top 10 were sophomore Hailey Carano of Buena [4th in 20:46], Sha ‘Lynn Clarke of Glassboro [6th in 21:01], Woodstown sophomore Olivia Monahon [7th in 21:02], Buena sophomore Alana Sasdelli [9th in 21:15] and Schalick freshman Julia Smith [10th in 21:19].

With the clock at 20:45, Ocean City had five finishers across the line, Seneca had six across the line and every other South Jersey Group 3 school combined had … five runners across the line.

This wasn’t a dual meet between the Ocean City and Seneca girls, but it sure felt like it!

Seneca placed all five of its scorers in the top 14 (and its sixth and seventh in 15th and 23rd) but Ocean City was even better, with its five in the top 12!

Ocean City won its ninth sectional title Saturday, 35-47, over Seneca. Toms River South, third with 68, was the only other team under 130 points.

Ocean City’s winning score is lowest in SJ-3 since the 2002 Moorestown team – which went on to win the Meet of Champions – scored 33. It’s fifth-lowest in meet history.

Senior Alexa Weber, freshman Alexa Palmieri, sophomore Casey McLees, senior Michaela Baker and junior Brook Farr ran 3-4-6-11-13 (with Baker and Farr scoring 10 and 12) for Ocean City,

Weber ran 18:49, Palmieri 19:01, McLees 19:27 and Baker and Farr just over 20 minutes.

Freshman Emma Klouchek led Seneca in fifth [19:15], followed by seniors Sydney Warner and Carley Tool [7th and 8th in 19:34 and 19:51] and then sophomores Morgan Hough and Chelsea Richards and junior Kayla Handt in 14th, 15th and 16, all between 20:30 and 20:42.

Seneca’s 47 points is a low enough score to have won South Jersey Group 3 exactly half the previous seasons — 21 of 42 races.

Since 2003, Ocean City and Seneca have combined to win 10 of the 15 South Jersey Group 3 titles, with Ocean City winning in 2003, 2004, 2013 and 2017 and Seneca winning in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014 and 2015.

Both will advance to the state Group 3 meet at Holmdel next Saturday.

Mainland senior Alyssa Aldridge, in only her second race of the fall, easily won her third straight individual title, finishing in 18:13. Aldridge joins Monique Purcell of Holy Spirit [1976-78], Mindy Rowand of Sterling [1983-85], Brittany McCann of Delsea [1999-01], Brittany Sedberry of Ocean City [2002-04] and Kingsway’s Chelsea Ley [2007-09] as three-time winners in the South Jersey Group 3 race.

Aldridge hasn’t lost a XC race to a New Jersey girl since the 2014 Meet of Champions, where she finished second, two seconds behind Cape Atlantic rival Devin Grisbaum of Ocean City.

Aldridge is seeking her third straight Meet of Champions title and third straight Foot Locker berth.