From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Junior Greg Eisenhower and Martin Riddell placed third and fourth overall and Haddonfield roared to a 37-point win over Northern Valley-Demarest in the Varsity E race Saturday at the Shore Coaches Invitational.

Eisenhower ran 16:40 and Riddell 16:42 over the challenging 5,000-meter Holmdel County Park layout.

They were backed up by sophomore Stephen Kasko [14th in 17:26], senior Richie Glennon [23rd in 17:40] and sophomore Andrew Gostovich [41st in 18:09].

The team title is Haddonfield’s 10th in the Shore Coaches meet, run on the same course as the state meet and Meet of Champions.

Haddonfield won Varsity C in 1978, Varsity D in 1989, Varsity E in 1995, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2007 and 2008 and Varsity F in 1998.

 

Huge day for the Kingsway boys at Holmdel, with three in the top 10 (!!!) and a 35-point team win over North Hunterdon in the Shore Coaches Varsity B race!

Kingsway, ranked No. 2 behind Haddonfield in South Jersey, topped North Hunterdon 55-90, with no other team breaking 150 points on the legendary Holmdel County Park 5,000-meter course. Kingsway averaged 16:52 per man.

The team title was Kingsway’s second in a row over North Hunterdon, although the margin was bigger this year. Kingsway beat North Hunterdon 68-81 last year. Kingsway also won the 2014 title in Varsity A.

Seniors Joe Grandizio and Jonathan Connor and junior Kieran Burns all finished in the top 10 for the Dragons.

Grandinio was third in 16:33, Connor sixth in 16:47 and Burns eighth in 16:48. That’s going to be virtually impossible to beat.

They were supported by seniors Cole and Cade Hindley in 16th and 22nd place in 17:01 and 17:11. Junior sixth man Daniel Reynolds also broke 17:30, taking 31st overall in 17:25. No other sixth man broke 18 minutes in this 27-team race.

Even without a finisher in the top 10, the Paul VI boys put together a solid enough pack to win the team title in the Varsity G race Saturday at the Shore Coaches Invitational.

It was the ninth Shore Coaches team title for the Paul VI program, dating back to 1981.

Paul VI, ranked 14th in South Jersey, placed its five scorers from 11th through 29th (8th through 25th in team scoring) to defeat Dunellen 78-125 and win its first Shore Coaches team title since the 2000 team won the Varsity B race 84-87 over Don Bosco.

Seventeen years ago, it was Mike and Nick Ritchie, Kevin Penderghest, Mike Busarello, Mike Osusky, Kevin Cranston and Andrew Rogers doing the damage.

This time, juniors Ryan Tenerelli and Tyler Gargano led the way for Paul VI, running 17:51 and 17:52 on the hilly Holmdel County Park layout and placing 11th and 12th. Sophomore Colton Johnson finished 19th in 18:11, junior Ben Jennings 25th in 18:24 and senior Jake McGuigan 29th in 18:46.

Paul VI also won the Varsity C race in 1995 and 1999, Varsity B in 1981, 1993 and 1994 and Varsity A race in 1984 and 1989.

 

Mainland put on a remarkable display of pack running Saturday in Division 2 of the South Jersey Open, with all five runners finishing the flat 5,000-meter Delsea course between 16:23 and 16:45.

That’s a 22-second gap between one and five, and that’s pretty amazing and will serve the Mustangs well as the meets get bigger.

Junior Mini Patel, senior Nicholas Berenotto, sophomore Kevin Antczak and senior Tiger Carey finished second through fifth, all of them running between 16:23 and 16:37. That’s 14 points through four runners! And they didn’t have to wait long till their team score was complete. Junior Artur Simoes Menezes ran 16:44 for seventh overall, giving Mainland a final score of 21 points.

Mainland, ranked No. 4 in South Jersey, averaged 16:33 per man and finished with a 21-76 margin of victory over Delsea.

Junior Delsea’s Colin Kane covered his home course in 15:58 for the win, and sophomore Mike Liberty of Oakcrest [seventh in 16:38], senior Noah Cziryak of Triton [seventh in 16:44], senior William Mayhew of Delsea [ninth in 16:46] and junior Miguel Vera of Cumberland Regional [10th in 16:47] also finished inside the top 10.

Mainland also dominated the J.V. race. Check out the results for that one here.

Sophomores Isabella Turner and Claire Hauser ran 1-2 and led the top-ranked Shawnee girls to a dominant performance Saturday in the Division 3 large-school race at the South Jersey Open.

Turner ran 18:58 and Hauser 19:26 on the flat 5,000-meter Delsea course in Franklinville, and Shawnee packed its next three runners in seventh, eighth and ninth. Senior Georgia Larzelere ran 20:14, junior Lauren Tenet 20:18 and senior Laura Mavracic 20:22.

Shawnee averaged 19:52 and outscored second-place Jackson 21-92. Shawnee’s 21 points are the lowest winning score in the large-school race since the late-1990s — as far back as available records go.

Second-place Jackson averaged 21:24 per runner, so the Renegades’ top five averaged about a minute and a half faster per person than Jackson.

Junior Sarah Pierce of Cherry Hill East, senior Julia Rothstein of Clearview and junior Raelynne Miller of Millville also broke 20 minutes. Pierce placed third in 19:29, Rothstein fourth in 19:30 and Miller fifth in 19:37.

Rounding out the top 10 were freshman Morgan Bromley of Eastern [6th in 20:05] and senior Meghan Vizzard of Lenape [10th in 20:24].

 

Tremendous team battle Saturday at the South Jersey Open, where Lenape edged Cherry Hill East by two points to win the Division 3 [large-school] team title.

Lenape packed five runners in the top 14, all breaking 17:20. Senior Kevin Lauer was the overall winner, covering the flat 5,000-meter Delsea course in 16:35.

Later became Lenape’s first individual winner at the South Jersey Open since Anthony Kelhower won the 2004 title.

The team title was Lenape’s first at the South Jersey Open since they won their second in a row in 2010. The Indians placed eighth last year. They were second to Kingsway in 2012 and 2013.

Cherry Hill East did a masterful job of pack running, with all five scorers and their sixth man all finishing between 16:50 and 17:22. That’s a 32-second gap between one and six.

But Lenape was just a tiny bit better.

From 17:02 through 17:17, four Lenape runners crossed the line, led by junior James Vizzard [ninth in 17:02], sophomore Matt Richardson [12th in 17:13], senior John Civitillo [13th in 17:14] and junior Zaven Kazandjian [14th in 17:17].

Junior Kerry Benson [19th in 17:27] and senior Finley Buchanan-Jacobs [24th in 17:38] gave Lenape all seven of its starters a spot in the top 25.

Cherry Hill got junior Jack Quarry [fifth in 16:50], sophomore Oliver Adler [sixth in 16:54] and junior Kyle Krell [eighth in 16:58] under 17 minutes, with freshman Justin Whitney [15th in 17:21] and sophomore Paul Bruce [17th in 17:22] just behind. Senior Jerry Cherian backed up East’s pack placing 18th in 17:22, and junior Andy Zhong [27th in 17:44] wasn’t far back.

Jimmy Daniels, who ran for Sterling High and St. Joe’s, placed seventh in a loaded field in the open men’s race at the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University in Bethlehem on Friday.

Daniels covered the 8,000-meter course, which has hosted three NCAA national championships, in 24:53 and finished just 17 seconds behind winner Adam Hendrickson of Utah State.

The men’s open race is for post-graduates, red-shirting collegians and assorted college runners who don’t have full teams.

There were 336 runners in the field.

Daniels ran 14:45 for 5,000 meters at Sterling and 9:00 flat for 3,200, when he was third in the Meet of Champions. He placed as high as fifth in the Atlantic 10 Conference XC championships while at St. Joe’s and also ran as fast as 14:32 for 5,000 meters.

Daniels raced Friday for the Moore Elite Track Club. He finished one second behind another former Big 5 runner, Bradley Heuer of La Salle.

Sophomore Katie Rathman topped the field Saturday in the Championship Race at the 25th annual Carlisle Invitational, covering the 5,000-meter course in 19:05.

Rathman finished first out of 304 runners in the massive field on Carlisle High School’s home course. She beat second-place Margaret Carroll of Northeastern High in Manchester, Pa., by about 100 meters and led the Chiefs to fifth place out of 42 schools in team scoring.

Cherokee also had senior Sophia Eick under 20 minutes, 15th in 19:50. Senior Shannon Young was 34th in 20:19, sophomore Riley Gleason 92nd in 21:22 and senior Kayla Fericy 103rd in 21:35.

Lower Dauphin won with 109 points and averaged 20:04 per scorer. Cherokee’s 20:27 average was fourth-best in the field

Rowan senior Kevin Veltre, a Brick Memorial graduate, was first across the line Saturday in the Mike Woods Invitational, covering the 8,000-meter course in 24:44 and finishing a full 17 seconds ahead of the field.

SUNY Geneseo, ranked No. 2 in NCAA Division 3, finished with a 35-81 win over Rowan but averaged only 18 seconds per runner faster than the Profs, who had four sophomores and a junior in the top 50.

The race was held near the SUNY Geneseo campus in Letchworth State Park in Mount Morris, N.Y.

Veltre finished 90 meters ahead of Sean McAneny of Geneseo, who was second in 25:01.

Also for the Profs, junior Dan “Fitch” Henry (Clearview) placed 11th in 25:32, sophomore Matt Russo (Westfield) 17th in 25:44, senior Nick Nocco (Southern Regional) 28th in 26:01 and Jose Figueroa (Highland) 36th in 26:12. That scoring group was backed up by senior Alec Trapani (South Brunswick) in 38th (26:13), sophomore Jason Muermann (Pitman) in 43rd (26:18) and sophomore Dylan Tyrrell (St. Joe’s-Metuchen) in 46th (26:20).

Senior Alexis Mullarkey placed sixth in 20:19 and led the Kingsway girls to second place out of 15 teams in the Division 2 race of the Bowdoin Park Classic Saturday in Wappinger’s Falls, N.Y.

The rest of Kingsway’s scoring pack included Lauren Krott [18th in 21:09], Ashlynn Burke [26th in 21:32], Kyle Anicic [32nd in 21:44] and Allie Pierontoni [34th in 21:50]. Sydney Watts and Caleigh Kupniewski finished 40th and 44th.

James Madison of Vienna, Va., outscored Kingsway 67-106 to win the team title.

Kingsway’s average time of 21:20 was about 20 seconds per runner faster than Haddonfield, which placed third in the Division 1 race.

Allison Colflesh was Haddonfield’s first finisher, in ninth place with a 20:48. Payton Weiner [18th in 21:18], Lilly Minor [24th in 21:44], Izzy Miller [26th in 21:53] and Lilly Sirover [35th in 22:35] were also in the Bulldogs’ scoring pack.

The Haddonfield boys took a competitive second in Varsity 1, only 22 points behind Christian Brothers Academy. CBA finished with a 73-95 margin of victory. Kingsway was fourth with 115 points in the 22-team competition.

Martin Riddell [7th in 16:34], Greg Eisenhower [17th in 16:52] and Derek Gess [19th in 16:53] all broke 17 minutes for Haddonfield. Ethan Spellmeyer ran 27th in 17:14 and Griffin Weiner 30th in 17:19.

For the Kingsway boys, Kieran Burns [13th in 16:47] and Jonathan Connor [15th in 16:51] made the top 20 in the 151-runner race. Joe Grandizio [24th in 17:00], Cole Hindley [33rd in 17:23] and Cade Hindley [35th in 17:29] rounded out the Dragons’ scoring pack.

Kingsway did win the boys JV race, going 2-3-5-6-18 for 34 points. Brian Mangiaracina and Stephen Wilkins ran 18:03 and 18:06 to lead that Kingsway group.

You can find full results of the meet here.