Earlier this morning I posted a deeper look at the six earlier races at Saturday’s State Group championships at Holmdel County Park and projected that four teams and three to six other individuals could advance to the State Meet of Champions November 22, also at Holmdel.
Here’s a look at the last six races:
Group 4 Girls (1 p.m.) — Ridgewood is one of only four public school girls teams to make as many as 17 State Meet of Champions appearances since the girls meet started in 1974 (Haddonfield, Shawnee and Voorhees are the others) and the Maroons have made 10 podium finishes (top six), winning in 1992 and 1999 and taking second in 1980 and 1997. But this year’s group coached by Jacob Brown, who has coached every Ridgewood cross-country runner from day one for the program, might be the best team the school has ever produced.
Saturday the Maroons, paced by a terrific quartet of seniors Carleen Jeffers (who committed to Brown University yesterday) and Kelly Cleary, junior Sam Halvorsen and sophomore Olympia Martin are favored to grab their fifth group title (1980, 1992, 1998, 1999) against one of the deepest fields in state history. The Maroons crushed the previous Darlington County Park team course record by 18 seconds a girl in winning their 28th Lou Molino Bergen Meet of Champs title two weeks ago and ran the second fastest time in team (and Bergen County history) in winning a record 22nd sectional title a week ago.
Jeffers and Halvorsen make up perhaps the most potent upfront duo of any team in the state and quietly Martin has become one of the top sophomores as well and has shown her competitiveness in catching multiple runners in the final stages of the race. Cleary has quietly returned to her sophomore year form and always seems to run well at Holmdel. But it’s the new 5-6-7 runners that were thrust into the spotlight by illness and injury this fall that may give Ridgewood the edge over a fabulous Ridge pack team, an injury-scarred Randolph team and solid units from Shawnee, West Windsor South, North Hunterdon and Hillsborough.
All seven runners were back from Ridgewood’s 2013 team that finished sixth in the State Meet of Champions. But three of them never ran a varsity step this year because of various ailments. So three other girls, who had never run a varsity race before stepped up and the Ridgewood engine never stopped performing, even fighting off a sensational Northern Highlands team earlier in the season.
Senior Abby Butler seems to get better every week, nearly breaking 20 minutes at Garret Mountain last Saturday after a 19:43 5,000 meter performance at the much faster Darlington course the week before. Freshman Meghan Adams has been a solid varsity performer all year and sophomore Corina Cobb has emerged from a large group of potential seventh girls to be a dependable back of the pack presence.
It won’t be easy — Ridge made the North 2 race look ridiculously easy, putting its seven runners in a tight 37 second pack between fourth and 10th last week and Shawnee is always a major threat. But the Maroons should prevail and may have the best shot of any team in the state in knocking off a Red Bank Catholic team that has looked invincible from the first meet of the season at the State Meet of Champions. Eve Glasergreen of North Hunterdon should win the race but Halvorsen and Jeffers can go 2-3.
A word about Bergen Tech junior Michelle Kubasek, who with fellow junior Abigail McLaughlin has lit up the North Jersey cross-country sky this fall in their first seasons, with great running and amazing presence. She’s never raced at Holmdel before but she’s run against some of the best runners in the state on a regular basis. She might not reach the top 10 this week, but I think she has a great chance at one of 10 individual wild cards. Clifton’s Megan Jozefczyk could also compete for a wild card as well.
Girls Group 1 (1:30 p.m.) — After a long run of Meet of Champs qualifiers in this group (15 between 1986 and 2006), just Westwood (2009) and Kinnelon (2011) have qualified in recent years. But Cresskill has been creeping closer (sixth place last year) and with a strong experienced veteran pack (three seniors and three juniors among its top seven), the Cougars have an outside shot at a top three finish this year. North Warren and New Providence are the favorites with Mountain Lakes probably third ahead of a pack that includes Cresskill, Haddon Township, Shore and Pitman but coach Mike Pasciuto’s Cougars run well together and if they can draw 15-20 seconds closer to Mountain Lakes’ top four, could break through because of a potential fifth girl problem for the Lakers.
Palisades Park has a formidable 1-2 punch in Alexandra Lacorazza and Arianna Lopez (who was 10th last year) and either or both could crack the top 10.
And how about a tip of the cap to Secaucus’ fine junior senior group which delivered longtime coach Stan Fryzcynski his first sectional title last year and could provide him with his first top 10 group finish since 1992.
Look for Rachel Suss of Metuchen to hold off defending champion Kelly Sheaffer of South Hunterdon and Yaminah Smith of Weequahic for theindividual title.
Boys Group 3 (2 p.m.) — It’s been agonizing for Indian Hills the last seven years — seven top seven finishes in the group meets, including heartbreaking fourth place finishes in 2010 and 2013. The Braves made the Meet of Champs in 2002 and 2003 and haven’t been out of the top 10 at groups in 13 years.
But this year’s group has to return to its dominating early season form that included wins at Wild Safari, at a Maryland invitational and an impressive performance at the Shore Coaches meet at Holmdel six weeks ago that propelled them to a brief stay at No. five in some state rankings.
The Braves have been good lately, winning the North 1 sectional by 33 points and taking third in the Bergen Meet of Champions two weeks ago.
But in order to overcome two from a group of Chatham, Colts Neck and Middletown North behind presumptive winner, Summit, the Braves have to run better from top to bottom then they have recently. Matt Tuohy is capable of a top 10 finish and Matt Cohane, Tom McPhee and Ryan Kleber aren’t far behind him. Alex Fiori, Tom Holster and Chris Corcoran are all capable of big races as well. The Braves just need to put it together one more time and they’ll make it to the MOC.
Wayne Hills has had a very good year and Rishi Jashnani has been a revelation — winning the Passaic County and Sectional meets impressively and stamping himself as a probable top 10 finisher this weekend who might be able to reach as high as third behind Leland Jones of Summit and Paul Ehmann of Mendham. Junior teammate George Galkin has gone from afterthought and almost off the team to a possible Meet of Champs qualifier and Wayne Hills could finish as high as eighth, which would be the second best finish in school history.
Old Tappan could also put a pair in the Meet of Champs, with junior James Weissenborn and senior Marc Rienas, newly signed at Northeastern, both running well. Mike Germinario of Wayne Valley could also move on and if his talented classmate Adam Herskovits can return to early season form — he could also advance.
Another tip of the cap here to Pascack Valley putting together its top season in a decade.
Boys Group 2 (2:30 p.m.) — I really, really want to pick River Dell to qualify for the State Meet of Champions for the first time. Not because of the three Daly “twins†(Will, Colin, and Patrick Robertson) although this trio is as likable as you get and anyone who read Darren Cooper’s warm and wonderful story about their relationship with some autistic members of the their team has become a fan of theirs for life. No I really really want the Golden Hawks to make the meet this year because of their senior leader Rob Klopf, who will be a freshman in college when River Dell with their stellar junior trio, sophomores Dan and Christopher Murray and freshman Gary Wilhelm are securely within the top 10 teams in the state next fall. Klopf, who is clearly a member of the All-North Jersey Most Improved Team deserves a chance to run in the state’s biggest meet.
But those same good young runners make River Dell the youngest team of the four schools competing for three slots and Voorhees (the heavy favorite), Robbinsville and Haddonfield are all much more experienced in the back of the pack and their fifth runners are much closer to their fourth than the Golden Hawks’ fifth is. So River Dell might have to wait a year to qualify, although the Dalys should both make it individually this year after just Will made it in 2013 (Colin missed by two seconds). But there’s still hope this year. Dan Murray was 62 seconds behind Klopf at the Bergen Meet of Champions and 35 seconds behind last week at sectionals. If he can get 10 seconds closer this week, assuming the top four repeat their seasonal performances, things could get very interesting in the scoring tent. Look for Jekabs Hayes of Pascack Hills to advance, too and his teammate Will Colgan could squeeze in too. And don’t count out North 2 sectional champ Sean Sullivan of Rutherford. If he runs a smart first 2 1/2 miles, he should be in position to use his strong close to earn a spot too.
Look for the Dalys to be up front with Aaron Barlev of Holmdel and Joe Dragon of High Point in an exciting individual race.
Girls Group 3 (3 p.m.) — Before the season started, Northern Highlands figured to be a top five North Jersey team led by the return of a now healthy Catherine Pagano, who missed last fall with an injury but had a memorable spring. The Highlanders would also welcome back seniors Karina North and Veronica Mahler and had a pretty 2013 freshman class that figured to provide some help. They’d also have junior Jodi Hinchen, who’d also missed the cross-country season and had a decent spring, running 5:30 and 12:06 for 1,600 and 3,200 meters, respectively.
Enter the Hebner twins, Monica and Isabel and from the outset the Highlanders had leaped from also-ran to state group contender. Pagano has been magnificent, breaking a course record at Darlington, running the fastest race at Garret Mountain by a Bergen County girl since 1984, running the fastest time of the time at the Shore Coaches Invitational at Holmdel.
North and Mahler have been good and Hinchen much better than anticipated, including a 15th place finish at the Bergen Meet of Champions. But the Hebners turned the Highlanders from a nice little team into a powerhouse, with Monica the fastest freshman in the area and one of the top 10 in the state and sister Isabel a dependable high placing number four.
The Highlanders lost their race at the Shore Coaches on a tiebreaker to Mendham which has gotten even more explosive over the last six weeks and is now favored to win the group. But Highlands should still take its first bid to the State Meet of Champions since 1993 and third overall — although Princeton, Summit and Seneca are also strong squads.
Pagano is still favored to win North Jersey’s second straight group 3 title (Josette Norris of Tenafly won last year), but she’ll be tested by Epiphany Grisbaum of Ocean City, Sierra Castaneda of West Morris Central and Grace Dwyer of Hamilton North and oh, yes, junior Julia Guerra of Indian Hills, who is quietly putting together one of the great careers in North Jersey track/cross-country history and a pretty fine season also.
Guerra was second to Pagano in both the BMOC (her 17:57 the fastest non-winning performance in meet history and number six on the all-time Darlington list) and last week’s state sectional (her 18:23 there also the fastest non-winning performance in COURSE history and number 11 on the all-time Garret list).
She already has two state MOC medals outdoors and one indoors at 1,600 meters and finished ninth at last year’s State Meet of Champions in cross-country.
Pagano should still win but don’t be surprised if the second person on the final downhill at Holmdel is the Indian Hills star.
It’s her next to last chance to run with her teammates as she will head to the Foot Locker Northeast Regional at Van Cortlandt Park November 29, as the rest of the squad competes in the NXN Northeast Regional at Bowdoin Park in Wappinger Falls, N.Y. the same day.
Look for Veronica Rocco of Tenafly to grab a wild card or even a top 10 slot.
Group 2 Girls (3:30 p.m.) — The final race of the day isn’t a particularly good one for North Jersey, although Ramsey and River Dell have top 10 hopes. (Glen Rock, loser in a tiebreaker to Ramsey last week saw its team hopes decimated by college visits and a lacrosse tournament (A LACROSSE TOURNAMENT???? SERIOUSLY???). Rumson-Fair Haven, Voorhees and Haddonfield will duke it out in perhaps the best three-way battle of the day ). And Briana Gess of Haddonfield takes her next step to what she hopes is a repeat MOC title.
Glen Rock’s Alex Walter can reach the top 10, another great step in a great season for the freshman. And I’ll play a hunch here — Rutherford senior Alison Regan could sneak into the top 10 — she seems to run 20 minutes at any course from Darlington to Garret to Greystone. If she does it here again, she might advance to the MOC.
As I hit “post†it’s almost exactly 35 hours to the first race. I can;’t wait!!!!