From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

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.

Monmouth senior Sebastien Reed from Pitman ran a big 8,000 PR Saturday in West Windsor.

Reed ran 24:11 at the Princeton Fall Classic, trimming 55 seconds off his all-course best of 25:05 from last year’s Coastal Athletic Association Championships at Pole Green Park in Hanover County, Virginia, outside Mechanicsville.

Reed was Monmouth’s 2nd finisher, behind Declan McDonnell from Tatnall School in Wilmington, Del.

Penn junior Dennis Fortuna of Triton also ran an 8K PR. Fortuna was just behind Reed in 24:20. His previous all-course best was 24:45 earlier this month at Lehigh’s Paul Short Run in Bethlehem and Lower Saucon Township.

Peyton Shute, a freshman at Cornell, PR’d as well with a 24:32. That’s 19 seconds faster than his previous 8,000-meter best of 24:51 from a meet last month in Rochester, N.Y.

Rutgers teammates Kyle Rakitis, a junior from Kingsway, and Billy Clewell, a sophomore from Clearview, both ran under 25 minutes for the first time – 24:55 for Rakitis and 24:57 for Clewell. Rakitis’s prior all-course best was 25:16, also at Paul Short, and Clewell’s was 25:28 at the Fighting Illini Big Ten Preview in Savoy, Ill., last month.

Cherokee graduate Nick Kuenkel, a freshman at Monmouth, also dipped under 25 with a 25:57 just behind Clewell. He also ran his previous 8,000 PR at Paul Short – 25:24.

Zeb Hinker, a Rutgers junior from Lower Cape May, didn’t break 25 minutes, but he did run a season-best 25:01.

Junior Rex Takakjy became Cherry Hill West’s first winner in eight years, and Haddonfield won the team title without its top five runners at the Camden County Championships Friday in Gloucester Township.

Takakjy ran 17:06 at Timber Creek Park, edging Paul VI senior Sean Alemi and Haddonfield junior Brandon Stoner in a tight three-way race. Takakjy ran 17:07 and Alemi and Stoner 17:09.

Takakjy is Cherry Hill West’s first county champ in XC since Robert Abrams won the 2016 race in 16:56 on the same course.

Haddonfield edged Paul VI 49-55 for the team title. The Bulldogs put all seven runners in the top 20 and Stoner, sophomore Andrew Blum and senior Case Hurly 3rd, 6th and 8th. In addition to Stoner’s 17:09, Blum ran 17:25 and Hurly 17:30.

The Bulldogs’ other scorers were junior Michael Sinnes [14th in 17:58] and senior Leonardo DiCello [18th in 18:07] for a 58-second gap from one through five. Senior Linus Kucer [19th in 18:11] and junior John Leibrandt [20th in 18:13] also raced for Haddonfield.

Haddonfield, ranked No. 2 in the state, rested its top five of Luke Andresen, Bennett Wright, Peter Simpson, Benjamin Andrus and Ryan Gibson.

Also in the top 10 were Haddon Heights senior Reggie Hernandez [4th in 17:17], Winslow Township senior Dominic Bassey [5th in 17:24], Gloucester junior Marcus Flagg [7th in 17:28] and Paul VI sophomores Chase Cooley [9th in 17:30] and Max Long [10th in 17:43].

Others who ran sub-18: Winslow junior Vincent Perri [11th in 17:44], Camden County Vo-Tech / Sicklerville senior Julian Rich [12th in 17:45], Paul VI sophomore Caden Briggs [13th in 17:52] and Audubon junior Logan Camm [15th in 17:59].

Northern Burlington senior Liliah Gordon won her 3rd consecutive Burlington County Open title with the largest victory margin in meet history, and the Cherokee girls won their 8th team title and 5th in the last six years.

Gordon placed 2nd to Cherokee’s Nicole Clifford as a freshman, won the 2022 race in 18:31 and won last year in 18:25.

On Friday, Gordon ran 17:56 at Mill Creek Park in Willingboro on an amended course that circumvented the two trips up the hill, which isn’t in passable condition. She finished about 375 meters ahead of junior Madeline Meder and senior Megan Niglio of Cherokee, who finished 2nd and 3rd, both in 19:18.

Gordon’s margin of victory was a record 82 seconds. The largest previous margin came at the 1977 race – the first Burlington County girls championship race ever held -when Delran’s Janet Kimbleton won in 17:46 over three miles at Burlington County College in Pemberton, and Kennedy’s Kathy Sjolie took 2nd in 19:03 – a 77-second margin of victory.

The only other margin of victory of more than a miute came in 1985, when Shawnee’s Deanna Germano won by 67 seconds in 18:54 for 5K at Mill Creek over teammate Chris Danks.

Gordon became only the second three-time winner in the meet’s 47-year history. Liz Moore of Shawnee won in 1992 and 1993 at Mill Creek Park and 1994 at Cherokee.

Her time is 2nd-fastest ever at a County Open on any 5K course behind only Megan Lacy’s 17:53 on the full Mill Creek course in 2010.

Cherokee placed all five scorers in the top 12 to hold off Moorestown, which had all seven runners in the top 21. Cherokee won by a 31-49 score, with Northern Burlington 3rd with 64 points.

For Cherokee, Meder and Niglio were backed up by freshman Erin Healy [8th in 20:14], junior Maya Kumar [9th in 20:17] and senior Grace Wojciechowski [12th in 20:30] with sophomore Genisa John and junior Sofia Recinto also under 22 minuters, John in 23rd in 21:19 and Recinto 26th in 21:55.

Cherokee has won six of the last seven county titles – 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024. The Chiefs also won in 2004, 2009 and 2010.

Junior Julia Flanagan of Holy Cross placed 4th in 19:20, the highest placing by a Holy Cross girl in 27 years, since Kathleen Porter ran 2nd in the 1997 race in 19:33 at Cherokee.

Moorestown was led by senior Gabrielle DeJoseph [5th in 20:04] and freshman Hope Edwards [7th in 20:12]. The rest of the Quaker scoring pack included senior Noelia Reyes [11th in 20:29], junior Lillian Stack Maya [14th in 20:41] and sophomore Sophia DiFiore [19th in 20:57], with freshman Makayla Zell [20th in 21:02] and junior Celia Frederico [21st in 21:02] giving Moorestown a 58-second gap from one through seven.

Also in the top 10 were Northern Burlington senior Kayla Leonhardt [6th in 20:09] and Shawnee senior Paige Cline [10th in 20:24].

Also running sub-21: Delran junior Ashley Doyle [13th in 20:34], Northern senior Zoe Chou [15th in 20:41], Lenape sophomore Audrey McCorkle [16th in 20:43], Maple Shade senior Crystal Benito [17th in 20:53] and Shawnee freshman Kelsey Beer [18th in 20:54].

Jack Tindall became the first freshman ever to win a Burlington County Open, and Cherokee packed its five scorers in 13 seconds on the way to its 26th title and 12th in a row.

Cherokee, ranked 5th in New Jersey, went 1-3-4-5-6 for a score of points, tied for 2nd-lowest in meet history. Cherokee scored 15 last year. Cherokee scored 19 in 1999 and again in 2019.

Shawnee was 2nd with 68 points and Cinnaminson 3rd with 98.

Tindall ran 16:35 on a Mill Creek Course missing the two trips up the hill, which meet officials decided wasn’t safely navigable.

Sophomore Benjamin Realley, junior Logan Bromley and seniors Enzo Corona and Liam Tindall all ran between 16:41 and 16:48, and senior Benjamin Weiner and sophomore Sean Sooy backed up the Chiefs’ top 5 in 7th and 8th with 16:49 and 16:52. That’s five in 13 seconds and seven in 17 seconds.

Since 1995, Cherokee has won 24 of a possible 30 Open titles. The Chiefs also won in 1988, 1989, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.

A Cherokee sweep was broken up Cinnaminson junior Jacob Wickersham, who placed 2nd in 16:37.

Also in the top 10 were Shawnee seniors Noah Stapleton [9th in 17:02] and Simon Barnhardt [10th in 17:12].

Others under 17:30 were Northern Burlington senior Caleb Wiederholt [11th in 17:17], junior Yanni Ekatomatis [12th in 17:19], Rancocas Valley seniors Christian Rouzard [13th in 17:20] and Christopher Gray [14th in 17:21], Shawnee senior Elias Knoll [15th in 17:24] and Rancocas Valley junior Teddy Jones [16th in 17:27].

Junior Macy Huber and sophomore Grace Gutowski finished 1-2 and led the Paul VI girls to their first Camden County title since 2016 in Gloucester Township.

Huber ran 19:29 at Timber Creek Park and Gutowski 19:52, and the Eagles placed their five scorers in the top eight. Paul VI, ranked 5th in the state, scored just 22 points. That equals the lowest winning score since Paul VI won the 1987 race at Camden County College with 19 points. Haddonfield also scored 22 in 2020.

Freshman Payton Blake, freshman Morgan Kuzma and sophomore Kara Salamone were also in PVI’s scoring pack, Blake in 4th [20:42], Kuzma 7th [21:16] and Salamone 8th [21:22].

Paul VI also had a 1-2 finish in 2022 with Shaelan McNally and Huber.

Paul VI won 2016 with Annie Skiles and Bridget Lyons finishing 2nd and 3rd on the same course.

Camden Catholic senior Nilaa Ponnappan placed 3rd in 20:18, Haddonfield sophomores Devon Gervasi and Harper Benjamin ran 20:59 and 21:07 for 4th and 5th, Triton sophomore Emily Lutner was 9th in 21:34 and Haddonfield junior Elizabeth Pappas 10th in 21:39.

Others under 22 minutes were Haddonfield juniors Edith Green [11th in 21:45] and Lauren Hamblin [12th in 21:46], Paul VI freshman Johanna Trampe [13th in 21:49],Winslow senior Ava Millner [14th in 21:52] and Haddonfield junior Chloe Rusc [15th in 21:59]

Haddonfield, which rested a number of its regulars, finished 2nd with 41 points.

Williamstown junior Sophia Aldridge won the individual race and Delsea won its first team title in 13 years Thursday at the Gloucester County Championships at West Deptford Park

Aldridge became the 2nd straight Williamstown girl to win the Gloucester County title. Alyssa Boucher won last year with Aldridge 2nd.

On Thursday, Aldridge ran 19:19 and won by 80 meters over Kingsway Aubrey Bishop, who placed 2nd in 19:39. The county title is Aldridge’s 1st in either track or cross country.

Despite just one finisher in the top eight, Delsea recorded a 52-68 win over Williamstown for the team title, with Clearview [70], Washington Township [72] and Kingsway [73] all close.

Senior Juliana Sieminski led led the Crusaders in 3rd place in 19:46, and Delsea’s five scorers all placed in the top 16.

Senior Laney Vecchio placed 9th in 20:29, junior Olivia Mashburn 13th in 20:54, junior Isabella Moran 14th in 21:08 and junior Sofia Moran 16th in 21:26

Others in the top 10 were Washington Township senior Kaylee Russen [4th in 20:00], Williamstown senior Delaney Harbison [5th in 20:08], senior Clearview Lilla Porter [6th in 20:22], Kingsway senior Alaina Zabielski [7th in 20:25], senior Washington Township Rachael Wilson [8th in 20:25] and West Deptford sophomore Taylor Sierzega [10th in 20:35].

Egg Harbor outscored Cedar Creek 36-50 to win its 3rd straight Atlantic County meet title, and junior Sean Martino became Cedar Creek’s first individual winner Thursday at Hammonton Lake Park.

EHT packed its five scorers in 35 seconds an all seven runners in 48 seconds to offset Cedar Creek, with three in the top six – Martino in first, Vincenzo Vecchio in 3rd [15:37] and Ryan McCann 6th [16::08].

Martino ran 15:30 over 4,750 meters (2.9 miles) to edge Pleasantville Melvin Lewis by 25 meters. The best previous finish by a Cedar Creek runner in the county meet was a 3rd by Matthew Winterbottom in 2022.

Matthew McDevitt and Matthew Reed led Egg Harbor in 4th and 5th, McDevitt in 15:45 and Reed in 15:52.

EHT then packed five runners from 8th through 12th and had five across the line before anyone else had four across.

After McDevitt and Reed, EHT had Aaron Wagner [8th in 16:16], Cam Koryga [9th in 16:18], Ben Gettings [10th in 16:20], Daiel Svec [11th in 16:22] and Stephen Slusarski [12th in 16:33].

Egg won without any of its first four finishers from last year’s victory. Three graduated and one is either hurt or doesn’t appear to be competing in XC this fall.

Also in the top 10 was Atlantic City Trey Goldstein, who ran 16:14 for 7th place.

Sofia Day became the 2nd four-time winner in meet history, and Egg Harbor Township ended Mainland Regional’s streak of five straight team titles on a tiebreaker Thursday at the Atlantic County Championships in Galloway Township.

Day ran 18:09 over 4,750 meters (that’s 2.95 miles) at Hammonton Lake Park to win her 4th straight county title. The only other girl to win four straight Atlantic County individual championships was Mainland Regional’s Alyssa Aldridge from 2014 through 2017.

Three girls placed either 2nd or 3rd as freshmen and then won the race as a sophomore, junior and senior: Patti Niederhofer of Pleasantville was 3rd in 1982 before winning in 1983, 1984 and 1985; Jen Weber of Egg Harbor Township ran 3rd as a freshman in 1985 before winning in 1986, 1987 and 1988; and Julie Schick of Mainland took 2nd as a freshman in 1990 before winning in 1991, 1992 and 1993.

Additionally, Egg Harbor’s Erica Lacovera-Switzer won in 1994, 1995 and 1996 before placing 4th in 1997. Emily Casey of Holy Spirit won three in a row from 2008 through 2010 but didn’t race in 2007 or 2011.

Olivia Shafer of Egg Harbor Township won the race in 2018 and 2019 and it wasn’t held in 2020, so either Aldridge, Shafer or Day has won the Atlantic County title every year since 2014.

In the team race, Egg went 2-3-4-9-11 for 29 points and Mainland 1-5-6-7-10 for 29 points. But EHT’s 6th (and 7th) runners both finished in the top 13 overall, and it was junior Nicole Walczak who was EHT’s critical sixth runner to give the Eagles their 9th team title since 1983 and first since 2017.

After Day crossed the line, Egg Harbor had the next-three finishers: Junior Paige Pacquing [2nd in 18:31], sophomore Addison Lambert [3rd in 18:35] and junior Devyn Per [4th in 18:37]. Freshman Carlee Steet [9th in 19:57] and sophomore Meghan Johnson [11th in 20:06] also placed in the top 10, with Walczak and senior Bithania Andemariam [13th in 20:23] giving Egg seven of the first 13 finishers.

For Mainland, freshman Ella Mokienko, sophomore Cecelia Foreman and senior Ava McDole packed from 5th through 7th in 18:43, 18:58 and 19:03, and 5th runner junior Macie Gannon was 10th in 20:11.

Also in the top 10 was Hammonton senior Natalie Cauhs, who placed 8th in 19:14.

Egg Harbor also won team titles in 1983, 1984, 1985, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2017.

For the 8th time since the meet’s inception in 1974 and the 2nd year in a row, the Ocean City boys threw a perfect game.

Ocean City swept the top five spots and won the 50th annual Cape May XC Championships 15-52 over Middle Township Thursday in Middle Township.

Ocean City also scored 15 points in 1980, 1985, 1986, 2010, 2015, 2019 and 2023.

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 42 of 50 team titles and 41 of the last 47 dating back to 1977. The Raiders have placed 1st or 2nd in 47 consecutive meets. Ocean City placed 4th in the 1976 meet.

They’ve also scored fewer than 40 points in 25 consecutive meets. During their current streak of nine straight wins they’ve averaged 18.2 points.

Junior Erik Preisner, sophomore Keenan Neuman, senior Ethan Buck, sophomore Nathan Aschmann and sophomore Michael Romano swept the top five spots Thursday with an 18-second gap. Ocean City swept the top five spots last year with only Preisner and Buck in the top 5 both years. Last year Buck was 2nd and Preisner 4th.

Senior Zach Hutchinson and freshman Nevin Millstein gave Ocean City seven finishers in the top eight. Hutchinson was 7th in 18:20 and Millstein 8th in 18:21.

Ocean City’s bid for a 2nd consecutive top-7 sweep was broken up by Middle Township sophomore Jamar Mack, who placed 6th in 17:47.

Wildwood Catholic Louis J. Belasco and Cape May County Tech Evan Feliciano also placed in the top 10, Belasco 9th in 19:42 and Feliciano 10th in 19:50.

Ocean City also swept the top 11 spots in the JV race, with junior Gabin Mattina [18:39] and senior Matthew Bell [18:40] running fast enough to place in the varsity top 10.