From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Great race between two of South Jersey’s best Wednesday, with Mainland senior Sofia Day edging Ocean City senior Maeve Smith at the Cape-Atlantic Championships in Egg Harbor.

Day and Smith both ran 18:25, with Day officially crossing the line in 18:25.18 and Smith 18:25.84.

That difference – 66-100ths of a second – is the equivalent of about 2 ½ meters in a 5,000-meter race.

Day and Smith also went 1-2 in last year’s race at Stockton.

After Day, the next four runners were from Ocean City, and the Red Raiders won the team title 23-61 over Egg Harbor Township, with Mainland Regional 3rd with 74.

After Smith, senior Chloe Care, sophomore Carly Godfrey and freshman Riley Tolson all finished virtually together, Care 3rd in 19:12, Godrey 4th in 19:13 and Tolson 5th in 19:13. Senior Zoe Zammit clinched the team title with her 9th-place finish in 19:53. They were backed up by 6th and 7th runners sophomores Lillian Flora and Peighton Clemens, 11th and 15th in 19:56 and 20:13.

Egg Harbor was led by sophomore Addison Lambert and junior Devyn Per, who both finished in the top 10. Lambert was 6th in 19:39 and Per 10th in 19:54.

Mainland sophomore Cecilia Foreman [7th in 19:49] and Vineland senior Kylee Black [8th in 19:52] also placed in the top 10.

Also in the top 20: Egg Harbor junior Paige Pacquing [12th in 20:00], Egg Harbor senior Bithania Andemariam [13th in 20:11], Hammonton senior Natalie Clauhs [14th in 20:11], Vineland senior Gabrielle Brown [16th in 20:25], Vineland sophomore Olivia Masucci [17th in 20:41], Middle Township junior Olivia Orton [18th in 20:42], Mainland senior Ava McDole [19th in 20:53] and Egg Harbor freshman Carlee Steet [20th in 21:07].

Glassboro senior Ty Blackman was the individual winner and Highland the team champion in the Tri-County Conference Showcase Wednesday in Upper Deerfield Township.

Blackman covered 5,000 meters at Cumberland Regional in 15:49, and Highland packed its first four runners in the top 13 to out-distance 2nd-place Williamstown.

It was an unusual race with the top seven finishers all coming from different schools. Blackman’s 15:49 is an all-course PR, 10 seconds faster than he ran earlier this onthg at a batch meet at Salem Tech in Mannington Township.

Blackman finished about 50 meters ahead of Delsea junior Matthew Littlehales, who placed 2nd in 16:00.

Kingsway sophomore Ryan Duffy [3rd in 16:17], Highland senior Mason Wassell [4th in 16:26] and Williamstown junior Dominic Burgio [5th in 16:29] also crossed the line under 16:30.

Also under 17 minutes were Clearview senior Ethan Worst [6th in 16:33], Washington Township senior Hunter Bostwick [7th in 16:36], Williamstown senior Dylan Saber [8th in 16:40], Highland junior Andrew Dopkin [9th in 16:49], Williamstown junior Logan Pavelik [10th in 16:52] and Woodstown senior Cole Lucas [11th in 16:54].

Highland finished with a 63-89 margin of victory over Williamstown, with Kingsway a close 3rd with 96 points.

After Wassell and Dopkin, freshman Andrew Kellem [12th in 17:10], sophomore Colin Roznowski [13th in 17:10] and sophomore Pierce Dopkin [25th in 17:32] also scored for Highland, with sophomore 6th man Liam Murphy [26th in 17:38] not far off. Junior Daniel Gee was 35th in 18:08 for the Tartans.

Last year, Liliah Gordon became the first 3-time winner in BCSL cross country history. Now she’s the first 4-time winner.

Gordon, a Northern Burlington senior, cruised to her 4th straight Liberty Division title Wednesday and also led NBC to its 4th all-time team title and 4th in a row.

Gordon toured the 5,000-meter Palmyra Cove Nature Park course in 17:42, her fastest time ever on any 5K course. Her previous all-course best was 17:51 last November at Foot Locker Northeast in Franklin Park in Boston.

Gordon is a two-time state Group 3 XC champ and a 10:22.20 two-miler on the track. She was a Foot Locker finalist last fall.

The Greyhounds had six of the first eight finishers, with senior Kayla Leonhardt 3rd in 19:58, senior Zou Chou 4th in 20:15, junior Emma Price 5th in 20:27 and freshman Kamiyah Vergo 7th in 21:11. They were backed up by senior Sienna Lyon [8th in 21:15] and sophomore Sophia Raba [12th in 23:16].

Northern outscored 2nd-place Bordentown 16-67, with Cinnaminson and Pennsauken just behind with 72 and 84 points.

Delran junior Ashley Doyle broke up the Northern pack in 2nd place with a 19:37, an all-course best.

Also in the top 10: Bordentown junior Katherine Kovac [6th in 20:55], Pennsauken freshman Rain’ana Rucker [9th in 21:45] and Bordentown junior Olivia Delaney [10th in 22:53].

Moorestown, now in the Olympic Conference, won the BCSL Liberty Division title every year from 2000 through 2019, and the meet wasn’t held in 2020. It also wasn’t held from 1991 through 1999. The last school other than Moorestown or Northern to win the BCSL Liberty was Shawnee in 1990.

Junior Erik Preisner led a 1-2-3 Ocean Sweep and the Red Raiders scored 19 points on their way to their 6th straight Cape-Atlantic Conference Championship and 13th in the last 15 years.

Preisner ran 15:45 over 5,000 meters at Egg Harbor High School, senior Ethan Buck 15:56 and sophomore Keenan Neuman made it three under 16 minutes in 3rd place in 15:58.

Sophomores Michael Romano and Nathan Aschmann made it five of the first eight finishers for the Red Raiders, Romano placing 7th in 16:23 and Aschmann 8th in 16:25. Sixth man senior Zach Hutchinson was 11th in 16:50 and freshman Nevin Millstein 19th in 17:27.

Ocean City, ranked 11th in New Jersey, finished with a 19-79 margin over Egg Harbor to win the team title. Cedar Creek was 3rd with 93.

Millville senior Arjun Patel ran 16:02 for 4th, Pleasantville senior Melvin Lewis 5th in 16:19, Cedar Creek junior Sean Martino 6th in 16:21, Middle Township sophomore Jamar Mack 9th in 16:41 and Egg Harbor’s junior Matthew McDevitt 10th in 16:45.

Also under 17 minutes were Cedar Creek juniors Vincenzo Vecchio and Ryan McCann in 16:50 and 16:52.

The last team other than Ocean City to win the Cape-Atlantic team title was Mainland Regional in 2017. The meet wasn’t held in 2020.

Julian Rich, a senior at Sicklerville Tech, ran an all-course PR and won the NJTAC Championship in Mannington Township.

The NJTAC is the New Jersey Technical Athletic Conference. The race was held on Salem County Tech’s 5,000-meter course

This is Rich’s 2nd consecutive title after placing 5th as a sophomore. He won last year in 17:28 on the same course.

Rich won last year’s title by two meters over Luke Damato of Medford Tech. He won this year’s race by three meters over Victor Melnik of Passaic County Tech. Melnik was 2nd in 16:41.

Rich’s previous all-course 5K PR was a 16:45 last month at the South Jersey Vo-Tech Championships at Westampton Tech.

Passaic County Tech won the team title 47-56 over Gloucester County Tech. Sicklerville Tech was 4th with 114.

Gloucester was led by seniors Connor Auge in 3rd in 16:53 and Owen DeLuca in 7th in 17:39. Other South Jersey runners in the top 20: Medford Tech senior Damato [11th in 17:58], Thomas Wodazak of Atlantic County Tech [12th in 18:01], Gloucester Tech sophomore Duke Snyder-Shellito [13th in 18:06], Gloucester Tech senior Gavin Kravchuk [15th in 18:09], Gloucester Tech senior Patrick Monaghan [18th in 18:25] and Sicklerville Tech senior Leo Vargas-Trinidad [19th in 18:29].

South Jersey girls in the top 10 in the girls race, Gloucester County Tech freshman Jordan Moczydlowski placed 4th in 21:43, Salem Tech senior Sarah Seiden 6th in 22:30, Gloucester County Tech sophomore Natalie Pandolfo 8th in 22:52 and Westampton Tech senior Janelle Sanabria 9th in 22:56.

Also in the top 20: Sicklerville Tech senior Sonai Castrillo [11th in 23:09], Atlantic County Tech senior Ashlyn Warker [12th in 23:17], Cape May County Tech junior Kirstyn McHale [14th in 23:31], Atlantic County Tech senior Saniah Robles [15th in 23:45], Gloucester County Tech senior Sydney Huang [16th in 23:46], Gloucester County senior Tech Keira Petro [18th in 23:57] and Gloucester County sophomore Tech Jonna Lisi [19th in 23:57].

Morris County Tech won the team title 37-58 over Gloucester, with Atlantic County Tech 4th [123] and Sicklerville Tech 5th [131].

In his 3rd race for Butler as a grad student, Cinnaminson’s Austin Gabay rolled a 23:36 at Wisconsin Pre-Nationals on the Thomas Zimmer Championship course in Madison.

Gabay was Butler’s 2nd finisher and matched his 8,000-meter PR, which he ran earlier this year in a meet at Sydney Marovitz Golf Course in Chicago.

During his three cross country seasons at Duke, Gabay’s fastest 8K was a 23:44 at the 2022 Paul Short Run on Lehigh’s south campus in Bethlehem and Lower Saucon Township.

Next for Gabay is his first Big East Championships, scheduled for Nov. 1 at Morven Park just outside Leesburg, Va., in Loudoun County.

UMBC sophomore Alexis Tepper from Cherry Hill East ran a 6K all-course PR Saturday and placed 10th out of more than 250 runners in the ECAC Championships in the Bronx.

Tepper ran 21:17 on the challenging Van Cortlandt Park course, lowering her 6,000-meter best from 21:20 from earlier this month at Paul Short on Lehigh’s south campus course in Bethlehem and Lower Saucon Township.

University of Maryland Baltimore County’s web site lists an all-time 6,000 performance list, and Tepper’s 21:17 would be 6th-fastest and fastest since 2015. But the list doesn’t include the course the performance was achieved on, so no way to tell if Tepper’s time is fastest at Vanny by a UMBC runner or where it ranks.

Her time equals 17:44 pace for 5,000 meters over 6,000 meters. Tepper’s 5,000 PR is 18:13 from her season opener in August in Emmittsburg, Md.

Tepper has raced four times this year and hasn’t finished outside the top 10. Next for UMBC is the America East Championships a week from Saturday over 5,000 meters at the Hard’ack Recreation Area in St. Albans, Vt.

Cherokee graduate Kerry O’Day, a freshman at Bucknell, also ran a PR, placing 32nd in 21:51. O’Day, the 6th freshman across the line, lowered her all-course 6K PR from 21:59 at Penn State last month. Another Bucknell freshman, Paul VI graduate Shaelan McNally, placed 39th in 21:59.

Bucknell, ranked 8th in the NCAA Division 1 USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region, scored 103 points and finished 2nd to Yale, which won with 53.

Also, Seton Hall senior Julia Smith from Schalick placed 47th in  22:12.

 

Cherokee graduate Nicole Clifford, a junior at Oklahoma, ran a huge 6,000 PR Saturday at the Arturo Barrios Invitational on Texas A&M’s course in College Station.

Clifford ran 21:17, dropping her 6K all-course PR 79 seconds from 22:36 in November 2022 at the University of Missouri’s Gans Creek Cross Country Course, which is in both Columbia and Rock Bridge, Mo.

Just behind Clifford, Shawnee graduate Isabella Turner, a junior at Georgia Tech, ran a 6K PR of 21:30. She had just set an all-course PR of 22:00 last month at Gans Creek.

Rowan mixed it up with some of the top-ranked NCAA Division 3 teams in the country Saturday and placed 4th at its own Border Battle in Logan Township.

Senior Joshua Cason from Camden County Vo-Tech in Sicklerville led Rowan in 9th place in 24:42 over 8,000 meters at DREAM Park and then grad student Miles Voenell from Santa Cruz, Calif., sophomore Colin Patterson from Haddon Heights, senior Caleb Clevenger from Haddonfield and junior Scott Hubbard from Audubon all finished from 30th to 39th between 25:29 and 25:42.

For Cason, this was his first time under 25 minutes for an 8K. His previous all-course best was 25:02 at Paul Short earlier this month at Lehigh’s south campus course in Bethlehem and Lower Saucon Township.

Also for the Profs, senior Matthew Conway from Haddon Township ran 25:44 for 44th and senior Giancarlo Vega from Timber Creek was 54th in 25:53.

Jacob Dinerman of Haddon Township, a sophomore at Rutgers-Camden, placed 14th in 24:57. Widener junior Thomas Flear from Clearview ran 25:26 for 29th. And Haddon Township grad Jake Aylmer of Stevens placed 60th in 26:00.

Three schools ranked in the top 20 in this week’s NCAA Division 3 USTCAAA poll took the top three spots – No. 16 Lynchburg (Va.) won with 49 and No. 23 Washington and Lee from Lexington, Va., took 2nd with 56 points on a 6th-runner tiebreaker with No. 6 Johns Hopkins of Baltimore.

Rowan was ranked as high as 24th earlier this year but isn’t currently in the top-25. The Profs are 3rd in the Metro Region, behind Moravian and Haverford, neither of which raced at the Border Battle.

Rowan will race next on Nov. 2 at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships at the Green Lane Fields in Ewing.

Williamstown’s Anna Sasse and Washington Township’s Ally Wernik helped the Rowan women record a convincing win over the top-ranked team in the Metro Region Saturday at the Profs’ own Border Battle in Logan Township.

Sasse, a senior, ran 22:11 over 6,000 meters at DREAM Park and placed 20th and Wernik, a sophomore, was 25th in 22:21, and Rowan finished 43 points ahead of Swarthmore in a showdown of the top two teams in the USTFCCCA NCAA Division 3 Metro Region.

John Hopkins, ranked No. 4 in Division 3, easily won with just 18 points on a 1-2-3-4-8 finish.

And the top South Jersey runner overall was Moorestown graduate Kate Inglis, a senior at Catholic University of Washington, D.C. Inglis placed 9th in 21:15, the fastest time ever record for 6,000 meters on any course by a Catholic cross country runner.

Swarthmore had a 26-30 lead after two runners, but Sasse finished six spots ahead of Swarthmore’s 3rd and Wernik nine spots ahead of Swarthmore’s 4th to put Rowan in command, and then the Profs’ 5th runner, Emily Zanni, finished 32 spots ahead of Swarthmore’s 5th to clinch 2nd place.

Rowan’s first two finishers were junior Gabriella Pagano of Pope John XXIII [14th in 22:01] and senior Mia Guerra from Hasbrouck Heights [16th in 22:02].

The next Metro Region rankings will be out Tuesday and Rowan presumably will be No. 1. Of the next three teams in the regi0n – The College of New Jersey, Widener and Moravian – only Widener raced at DREAM Park and they were 12th. TCNJ and Moravian placed 11th and 12th at the Mike Woods Invitational in Geneseo, N.Y.

Rowan will race next on Nov. 2 at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships at the Green Lane Fields in Ewing.