From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Kingsway packed its five scorers in 41 seconds Saturday to win its second team title in three years at the Shore Coaches Invitational.

The Dragons won Division B 68-81 over North Hunterdon, averaging 16:58 overall the legendary 5,000-meter Holmdel County Park hills.

The all-underclass lineup was led by juniors Joe Grandizio and Brian Mangiaracina, who both finished in the top-10. Grandizio ran 16:38 for fifth, and Mangiaracina ran 16:43 for seventh. Sophomore Kieran Burns also broke 17 minutes, crossing the line in 17:57 for 12th.

Juniors Cade Hindley and Jonathan Connor ran 17:15 and 17:19 for 21st and 25th.

All five Kingsway scorers beat a corresponding North Hunterdon runner by anywhere from two to four places.

Kingsway is unranked in the New Jersey top-20. North Hunterdon is No. 10. Kingsway beat two other top-20 teams – No. 15 Montgomery and No. 19 East Brunswick.

Junior Cole Hindley (38th in 17:34) and Gavin Wagner (47th in 17:41) both also ran well as non-scorers for the Dragons.

Kingsway won its first Shore Coaches team title in 2014, winning Division A 87-98 over Hunterdon Central.

Grandizio, who was Kingsway’s fourth runner that day and placed 26th as a freshman, is the only runner who was on Kingsway’s varsity in both races.

Kingsway’s seventh-fastest runner of the day was actually senior Nick Fanelle, who placed third in the JV A race in 17:40. Sophomore Stephen Wilkins III was ninth in the J race in 17:52, giving the Dragons nine runners under 18 minutes on the challenging Holmdel layout.

Another Kingsway runner, Stone Carpaccio, placed fourth in the Freshman A race, covering the 2.1-mile course in 11:36.

 

Cinnaminson senior Michael Ungvarsky, whose best previous time at Holmdel was a 16:23, shattered the 16-minute barrier on the hallowed 5,000-meter course at Holmdel County Park Saturday, winning the Division E race at the Shore Coaches Invitational in 15:57.

Ungvarsky won by a whopping 110 meters over Devin Hart of Point Pleasant, who ran 16:14.

Ungvarsky, the South Jersey Group 2 champion last fall, became the third Cinnaminson runner to win at Shore Coaches, following Bill Mason (16:24 in 1998) and Jon Anderson (16:14 in 2002).

His time is second-fastest by a Cinnaminson runner at Holmdel. Anderson ran 15:51 when he was fourth in the Meet of Champions in 2003.

Ungvarsky’s time is fourth-fastest in Division E history behind Ben Massam of Chatham [15:36 to win the 2005 race] and Liam Mullett of Pingry and Craig Corti of Wallkill Valley [1st and 2nd in the 2013 race in 15:50 and 15:52].

Shore Coaches expanded to five varsity races and a Division E in 1993. There are now seven varsity races.

Cinnaminson becomes the seventh South Jersey high school with multiple sub-16 runners at Holmdel, joining Haddonfield, Cherokee, Highland, Ocean City, Bridgeton and Shawnee. Here’s a look at those seven programs:

Haddonfield
15:41 … Jon Vitez [Haddonfield], 2009
15:42 … Ben Potts [Haddonfield], 2010
15:48 … Chris Platt [Haddonfield], 2001
15:54 … Skip Stiles [Haddonfield], 2001
15:55 … Breton Bonnett [Haddonfield], 2001

Cherokee
15:40 … Shawn Wilson [Cherokee], 2012
15:43 … Marc Pelerin [Cherokee], 2001
15:45 … Keith Krieger [Cherokee], 2002
15:46 … Jack Shea [Cherokee], 2015

Highland
15:33 … Josh Clark [Highland], 2015
15:40 … Steve Maine [Highland], 2013
15:57 … Nate Miller [Highland Reg.], 1998

Ocean City
15:40 … Brett Johnson [Ocean City], 2008
15:43 … Miles Schoedler [Ocean City], 2010

Cinnaminson
15:51 … Jon Anderson [Cinnaminson], 2003
15:57 … Michael Ungvarsky [Cinnaminson], 2016

Bridgeton
15:47 … Urie Ridgeway [Bridgeton], 1988
15:59 … Robert Edwards [Bridgeton], 2002

Shawnee
15:56 … David Forward [Shawnee], 2008
15:57 … Connor Herr [Shawnee], 2010

And here is the all-time South Jersey Holmdel list. Please contact the blog with any additions, corrections or omissions!

15:16 … Jason DiJoseph [Paul VI], 1988
15:33 … Josh Clark [Highland], 2015
15:35 … Louis Corgliano [Hammonton], 2013
15:37 … Aaron Groff [Cherry Hill East], 2015
15:38 … Gregory Hughes [Mainland], 2003
15:39 … Luke Petela [Haddon Twp.], 2014
15:40 … Shawn Wilson [Cherokee], 2012
15:40 … Brett Johnson [Ocean City], 2008
15:40 … Steve Maine [Highland], 2013
15:41 … Jon Vitez [Haddonfield], 2009
15:42 … Ben Potts [Haddonfield], 2010
15:42 … Shawn Hutchison [Bishop Eustace], 2014
15:43 … Marc Pelerin [Cherokee], 2001
15:43 … Miles Schoedler [Ocean City], 2010
15:45 … Keith Krieger [Cherokee], 2002
15:46 … Jack Shea [Cherokee], 2015
15:47 … Urie Ridgeway [Bridgeton], 1988
15:48 … Chris Platt [Haddonfield], 2001
15:50 … Mike Myers [Eastern Reg.], 2000
15:51 … Jon Anderson [Cinnaminson], 2003
15:51 … Murad Campbell [Overbrook], 1998
15:54 … Mike Mantini [Gateway], 1978
15:54 … Paul Szulewski [Williamstown], 2010
15:54 … Skip Stiles [Haddonfield], 2001
15:55 … Dominick Munson [Timber Creek], 2014
15:55 … Breton Bonnett [Haddonfield], 2001
15:56 … Kyle Kirk [Camden Catholic], 2012
15:56 … David Forward [Shawnee], 2008
15:57 … Nate Miller [Highland Reg.], 1998
15:57 … Connor Herr [Shawnee], 2010
15:57 … Michael Ungvarsky [Cinnaminson], 2016
15:59 … Anthony Dentino [Washington Twp.], 2010
15:59 … Robert Edwards [Bridgeton], 2002

Senior Andrew Caccia finished second to lead three Pitman runners in the top 15 and deliver the Division E team title to the Panthers Saturday at the Six Flags Wild Safari Invitational in Jackson Township.

Caccia ran 16:32, finishing second only to Graham Rainsby of Packer Collegiate of Brooklyn, who ran 16:18.

He was backed up by freshman Sebastian Reed in 13th (17:56) and junior Cameron Merlino in 15th (18:00).

Junior Dane DeGeorge and senior Jacob Luta rounded out Pitman’s scoring group, with DeGeorge placing 23rd and Luta 34th in 18:14 and 18:41.

The Panthers outscored Upper Perkiomen of Hanover Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 79-93.

Senior Frank Jackson and junior Jonathan Sanders rounded out Pitman’s pack, placing 37th and 41st.

The Cherokee boys placed two of its runners in the top seven Saturday and placed second among some of the region’s top cross country teams in the Division 1 large-school race at the Bowdoin Park Classic in Wappinger’s Falls, N.Y.

Senior Jack Shea placed second overall in 16:14, six seconds behind Elliot Gindi of Ocean Township, and sophomore Justin Kelly was seventh in 16:43.

Christian Brothers Academy of Lincroft, ranked No. 1 in New Jersey, won the team title 31-107. Haddonfield was third with 158 points, giving South Jersey two of the top three teams in the race.

Cherokee, ranked seventh in New Jersey, averaged 17:11 for its top five and Haddonfield averaged 17:27.

Other scorers for Cherokee were junior Brandon Marks, 26th in 17:27; senior Nick Falk, 37th in 17:44; and senior Brendan Falzone, 40th in 17:46.

Haddonfield scorers were Derek Gess, 11th in 16:56; Griffin Weiner, 20th in 17:13; Greg Eisenhower, 21st in 17:13; Ethan Spellmeyer, 46th in 17:48; and Richie Glennon, 64th in 18:04.

All five Haddonfield scorers are underclassmen. The Bulldogs’ first four runners are sophomores and Glennon is a junior.

 

Shawnee senior Mark Miller, who didn’t even run cross country until his junior year, blew away the field in the Stud Race at the South Jersey Shootout Saturday, speeding his way to a 40-meter win and the fastest time of the day at Rowan College Gloucester County, the former Gloucester County College layout.

Miller covered the flat 5,000-meter course in 16:17, finishing eight seconds ahead of Daniel Do of Absegami, who ran 16:25.

The Stud Race includes the No. 1 and 2 runners from each school. There are separate races for each teams’ 3 & 4 runners and 5, 6 and 7 runners.

Miller, who ran 4:26 for 1,600 meters last spring, is Shawnee’s first South Jersey Shootout stud winner in at least 15 years. David Forward was second in 2009, finishing nine seconds behind Toms River North’s Joe Kotran.

Mainland Regional’s Alyssa Aldridge won the Girls Stud race by 34 seconds over Jade Tricomy of Toms River North.

Here’s a look at the top five in each race:

Girls
Stud [1-2]
Alyssa Aldridge [Mainland] 18:27
Jade Tricomy [T.R. North] 19:01
Katilyn Rauscher [Delsea] 19:19
Madyson Reilly [T.R. North] 19:22
Isabella Turner [Shawnee] 19:28

3-4
Claire Rankin [Shawnee] 20:15.87
Kerry George [T.R. North] 20:22
Lauren Murphy [T.R. North] 20:27
Isabella Miller [Haddonfield] 20:43
Olivia Shafer [Egg Harbor] 20:53

5-6-7
Lilly Minor [Haddonfield] 20:38
Grace Cocanower [T.R. North] 21:09
Sara Lowe [Cumberland Reg.] 21:12
Gabriella Baske-Somers [Clearview] 21:24
Grace Kearns [Shawnee] 21:44

Boys
Stud [1-2]
Mark Miller [Shawnee] 16:17
Daniel Do [Absegami] 16:25
Robert Abrams [Cherry Hill West] 16:28
George Denenberg [Delsea] 16:31
Kevin Fox [Moorestown] 16:32

3-4
Colin Kane [Delsea] 16:53
Nathan Senatore [Delsea] 17:07
Cade Hindley [Kingsway] 17:25
Cajan Ejianreh [Sterling] 17:25
Cole Hindley [Kingsway] 17:26

5-6-7
William Mayhew [Delsea] 17:13
Alex Zingani [Washington Twp.] 17:29
Evan Chu [Washington Twp.] 17:39
Christopher Reistle [Washington Twp.] 17:44
Bryce Magee [Kingsway] 17:56

We’ll have more on the team races later, but Delsea pitched a near-shutout, scoring 15 points – which in a normal meet is a shutout. But in this meet, seven would be a shutout [1-2, 1-2, 1]. Kingsway [34], Sterling [56], Egg Harbor [60], Peddie School [64] and Washington Township [75] all finished within 41 points of each either. In the girls race, Toms River North outscored Clearview, 12-29, with Shawnee third with 31 points. Haddonfield [41] and Mainland [43] also posted terrific scores.

Full results from the Shootout can be found here.

It had been 16 years since a Moorestown boy finished in the top three at the Cherokee Challenge, but Kevin Fox didn’t settle for top three. He became the first Quaker boy in meet history to win any race at the traditional South Jersey cross country season opener.

Fox won the two-mile Senior Boys race in 10:02 Saturday, leading a 1-2-3 South Jersey finish. Shawnee’s Mark Miller was second in 10:05 and Cherokee’s Nick Falk third in 10:08.

The best previous finish by a Moorestown boy at Cherokee came in 2000, when Joe Hanlon finished second in 10:09. Josh Joseph won the Senior Boys race that year in 10:02.

Fox’s 10:02 was the fastest time of the four boys class races. The only other years that nobody broke 10 minutes were 1996, 1997 and 2004. Fox was fifth in the junior race in 10:25 last year

Fox was ninth in the Central Jersey Group 3 sectionals last fall but focused on short stuff in the spring, placing second at states with a blazing 1:53.37 and also going sub-50 in the 400. He ranked fourth among all New Jersey half-milers last year and second among underclassmen.

That gives Fox plenty of wheels at the end of a 5,000-meter cross country course.

The only wins Moorestown previously recorded in the Cherokee Challenge came on the girls side. In 2001, Kelsey Rinehart won the senior race and Colleen Hughes won the junior race, and in 2006, Brianna Rodgers won the senior race.

For complete results, click here.

 

West Deptford graduate Dale Johnson, a College of New Jersey junior, covered the 5,000-meter course in 15:43 and led The College of New Jersey to a series of dual meet wins in a season-opening quad meet at Rosedale Park in Hopewell Township.

Johnson was the No. 3 runner on the West Deptford team that placed second to Haddonfield at the South Jersey Group 2 sectionals in 2013 and was fifth at states. Johnson finished second in the overall race to Danniel Belay of Rider in a meet that included College of New Jersey, Rider, St. Joe’s and Georgian Court.

There was no overall team scoring in the annual Blue-Gold Invitational. Instead, scoring was done as a series of dual meets, and TCNJ beat everybody it scored against, including Division 1 Rider by a 27-32 margin. Overall, College of New Jersey runners took three of the top 10 spots.

College of New Jersey assistant coach Mike Walker is a graduate of Rancocas Valley and TCNJ.

TCNJ’s next meet is the Rider Invitational on Sept. 16 on the same course.

 

It was over before it even started.

English Gardner was last out of the blocks, her worst start in recent memory, and in a field of the world’s fastest women, she was never able to get back in the race.

A very disappointing Olympics debut for the Eastern High School graduate and two-time U.S. champion.

Gardner, ranked No. 7 in world history at 100 meters, finished seventh in the 100-meter dash Saturday night at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

She ran the fastest seventh-place time in Olympics history at 10.94, but it was well off her PR of 10.74 set in Eugene at the Olympic Trials and slower even than her 10.90 in the semifinals.

If she repeated that 10.74, she would have won the silver medal.

“Honestly, I did everything my coach told me to do,” Gardner said. “I can’t even tell you what went wrong. I woke up this morning feeling not myself, but I always feel like if you step on the line you’re ready.

“I can’t blame it on anything. I just didn’t have it today.”

 Elaine Thompson, the only woman in the world to run faster than Gardner this year, won the Olympic 100 in 10.71 and countrywoman Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was third in 10.86.

Former NCAA long jump and 100 champ Tori Bowie, who Gardner edged at the Olympic Trials, brought the U.S. the silver medal, placing second in 10.83.

“Tori Bowie went out there and represented like a champ like she always does,” Gardner said.

Gardner was bidding to become the first South Jersey woman to earn an Olympic medal in track and field.

Now Pleasantville graduate Nia Ali has a chance to do that in the 100-meter hurdles on Tuesday.

But Gardner also has another chance to medal. The women’s 400-meter relay is scheduled for Thursday and Friday, and the U.S. and Jamaica are expected to battle for the gold medal, although Jamaica is the favorite.

“They’re not unbeatable,” Gardner said of the Jamaicans. “They’re running right around the same times as the Americans are running. We just have to put the race together.”

Eastern High School graduate English Gardner ran 10.90 in Saturday evening’s semifinals to advance to the final of the 100-meter dash at the Rio Olympics.

The final is later Saturday evening.

Results of the semifinals are here.

Six of the eight qualifiers ran between 10.88 and 10.90 in the semis and the two other qualifiers – the non-auto qualifiers – ran 10.94 and 10.96. So all eight qualifiers ran between 10.88 and 10.96, which should make for a crazy final.

Gardner will be in lane 7 for the final, just to the right of two-time defending Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

Heat sheet for the final is here: https://www.iaaf.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxi-olympic-games-5771/results/women/100-metres/final/startlist

Gardner is seeking to become the first South Jersey woman in history to win an Olympic track medal.

 

Eastern Regional High School graduate English Gardner, competing in her first Olympic Games, opened up her medal bid by easily winning her heat in the 100-meter dash and advancing to Saturday’s semifinals.

Gardner, the U.S. champion and No. 2 seed at 10.74, ran 11.09 and automatically advanced to the semis as one of the top two finishers in her race. The top two finishers in each of eight heats plus the next eight-fastest runners advanced to the three semifinal races.

Gardner won her heat by a whopping 2 1/2 meters over Carina Horn of Russia, who ran 11.32 and was the slowest automatic qualifier.

The semifinals and final are scheduled for Saturday in Rio, with the semis at 8 p.m. EST and the final at 9:35 p.m.

Gardner, a native of Voorhees and a former Willingboro Track Club runner, is No. 4 in U.S. history and No. 7 on the all-time IAAF world list with her 10.74 at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (10.96), the 2008 and 2012 Olympic champion at 100 meters, was the only runner in the first round under 11 seconds.

Here are the five-fastest qualifiers:

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce [Jamaica] 10.96
Michelle-Lee Ahye [Trinidad Tobago] 11.00
Marie-Josse Ta Lo [Ivory Coast] 11.01
Desiree Henry [Great Britain] 11.08
English Gardner [USA] 11.09