Saturday was a lovely day to be outside and a terrific day to open the North Jersey Cross-Country season. Thirty-six of the thirty-eight teams in the Big North (all but Pascack Hills and Dumont) made their debut in a series of fourteen races at Darlington County Park and while it’s very early, there were a lot of good signs for the season to come.
Actually there were 16 races including an early morning and late morning freshman race and here’s a look at all 16 with some very early season observations. Kinnelon and Secaucus ran at Friday night’s Randolph Invitational under the lights and we’ll look at those performances too.
First Saturday at Darlington, race by race:
8:45 A.M. The first of two freshman races on the 1.7 mile Darlington course. It may be the first ever organized race for a lot of the boys and girls in this mixed field. Indian Hills’ Tom Holster and Will McKee of Northern Highlands wage a wing-ding battle in the first race of the year with Holster winning in 8:55. Anything under 9 on the freshman course is an indication of a star in the making so we’ll follow both these youngsters after a very promising start. Melina North, the third sister in the talented Northern Highlands family makes her debut by winning the girls race in 10:40 with Highlands teammates Haley Sobel (11:00) and Evan Goldstein (11:10) right behind. While many freshman girls run immediately with varsity, a sub-11 minute time is certainly one to watch.
North’s oldest sister, Ariana, had a very successful debut for George Washington, finishing as the Colonials’ No. 2 runner with a sixth place finish in the 6,000 meter Catholic University Invitational in Washington, running 23:28.9.
9 A.M.: The first varsity race of the year is a doozy on the boys end with three of North Jersey’s top 10 teams, Indian Hills, Ridgewood and Hackensack hooking up. David Frering of Ridgewood (16:06) outraced Hackensack’s Chris Mascetti (16:07) and Indian Hills’ Bobby Corcoran (16:10) as all three set personal Darlington bests but Indian Hills beat Ridgewood, 27-28 and Hackensack, 23-38, as Chris Evans and soph Matt Cohane passed Ridgewood runners in the final dash for home turning a 25-30 loss into a 27-28 win.
The girls race saw Northern Highlands, without the not-yet eligible transfer Catherine Pagano beat Paramus, 19-44 and Ramapo, 24-31. Ramapo senior Deanna DiLandro won the race in 19:48 ahead of Anna Richard of Northern Highlands (career best 20:22) and Lindsay Lucas of Paramus (21:11). Paramus was missing some better runners to injury and Ramapo was bolstered by the Xc debut of Suzie Abribat, fourth in 21:25.
9:20: Ramsey’s boys look good placing six runners ahead of River Dell’s fourth and a total of 15 ahead of the Golden Hawks No. 5 man. But the real story here is the varsity debut performances of RD sophs Will Daly (16:33), his twin brother Colin (16:37) and Patrick Robertson (16:41) who finish 1-2-4 in the race and force Ramsey to a tiebreaker at 29-29 before the Rams prevail.
Alesia Pessaro of Westwood (21:43) edges Mikayla Pacilio of Mahwah (21:52) in the girls race. Corinne Myers of Westwood would have won the race in about 21 minutes but stepped off before the finish as she was an official practice short of being able to race because of summer commitments. Mahwah puts 6 ahead of Westwood’s 3rd and wins 23-36.
9:40: Erik Helstrom is missing from Paramus’ lineup but with a win from soph Alex Gee (17:33), Paramus edges Northern Highlands, 28-30 and Ramapo 28-29 while Northern Highlands beats Ramapo 25-32. Paramus should be a top 15 team with Helstrom.
The girls race matches up Ridgewood and Indian Hills, two of North Jersey’s best. Julia Guerra practically trots to a 49-second win in 19:06, less than 20 seconds from her best and with assistance from Kelly Buccisano (20:14) and Krissy Gaffney (20:27) propels Indian Hills to a 28-29 upset of defending Bergen champ Ridgewood, who is led by soph Vanessa Reis (19:55). But all is not it appears as the Maroons are missing Sam Halvorsen, out with a cut foot and Kelly Cleary finishes 5th in 20:35 in her slow road back from last spring’s mono attack. And Ridgewood put 19 (Yes Nineteen) runners ahead of Indian Hills’ 5th, which would kill the Braves in a major meet. Still, it’s an exciting win for the Braves! Hackensack gets a nice race from junior Yanibel DeJesus (20:38).
10:00: He’s not as comfortable as he is at 800 meters, but indoor All-American James Buser of Mahwah eases away to a 31-second win over Westwood’s Paul Antonick in 16:45, and says that his college choices lok to be between Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Penn and Stanford — not too shabby! Mahwah wins the race 26-29.
Freshman Victoria Clinton (the latest in a long line of running Clintons at Ramsey) wins her debut in a solid 20:44, well ahead of River Dell’s Emily Croonquist as the Rams win 25-32.  Big sister Alex started her senior year at Syracuse with an eighth place finish in the Harry Lang Invitational.
10:20: A big race and big win here for longtime (13 years) Old Tappan boys coach Paul Capuzzo, who records his 100th and 101st wins over strong Demarest (20-37) and Teaneck (19-42) teams. Demarest senior Kevin Rogovich outruns OT’s Ian Clarke 16:41 to 16:47 to win the race with Teaneck’s first year cross-country runner junior Darren Guzman third at 16:58. But the Golden Knights take the next four spots as seniors Kevin Lawlor, Tim Hoer and Sam Greenberg and first year cross-country runner soph James Weissenborn finish in a tight 10 second pack. Teaneck’s 3 and 4 were unavailable but don’t count the Highwaymen out of a stron season.
In the girls race Josette Norris of Tenafly was on an official recruiting visit to the University of North Carolina (She’s made visits to Georgetown and Virginia and an unofficial to Penn with two more officials to come). So her junior teammate Veronica Rocco steps up for an easy win in 21:06 running at about 85% after a summer training injury. She beats Pascack Valley’s Bessie Zavidow, ironic, since Zavidow’s soph brother Max is on the Tenafly boys team. Bessie is a senior and will finish out at PV after her family moved this summer. Tenafly beats PV, 21-39.
10:40: Seniors Anthony D’Annunzio and Moe Abulebda lead a 1-2-3-4 finish vs Fort Lee in the absence of #1 Adham Ziyadeh, missing the meet for violating a team rule as Cliffside Park wins 16-44. Ridgefield Park has a walkover in the girls race.
11:00: Sophs Frank Maloney, Max Zavidow and Mike Silverman are among Tenafly’s top five as the Tigers sweep PV and Bergenfield.
On the girls side, junior Christina Welzer of Demarest looks sensational (20:20), more than a minute ahead of Old Tappan’s Courtney Brunet, but OT gets the next three and five of the next six en route to a 23-34 win.
11:20: The morning ends with a Ridgefield Park boys sweep and Junior Daniela Rodriguez (21:24) edges Melanie Plattner of Fort Lee (21:36) en route to a 21-38 Cliffside Park win over Fort Lee.
11:40: The afternoon gets underway with a frosh race, with Calib Shaia of Bergen Catholic blowing away the boys field in 8:59 and Kelly DiCristina doing the same to the girls in 10:59.
12:00: Jeremy Hernandez is off to a great start crushing teammate Justin Tanayan 16:39-17:12 as Clifton goes 1-2-4 en route to defeating Passaic, 21-36 and PCT, 17-44.
Bergen Tech has a walkover over Kennedy and Eastside but Bergen Tech’s look very good and the Knights might be a league threat.
12:20: Defending Passaic County champ Brendan Ungemach looks fabulous in a day’s best 16:05, rolling to a 72-second victory and leading Wayne Hills over archrival Wayne Valley, 25-33. Freshman Joe Zisa is Wayne Hills’ fourth in 17:37. Both teams easily beat Fair Lawn.
In the girls race, IHA’s Colleen Buckley edges a recovering Lydon Kersting of Holy Angels, 19:58 to 20:04 with IHA freshman Giavanna Tabbachino in 20:09. The Angels have a nice pack from 5 to 8 but IHA, despite the DNF of all-Bergen Erin Ahearn still holds on for a 27-28 win.
12:40: Bergen Tech’s boys breeze past Eastside and Kennedy as Kevin Serrao continues rehabilitating after a late spring injury.
Katherine Rodriguez and Leslie Castro go 1-2 for Passaic in the girls race but Clifton takes the next seven spots and beats the Indians, 25-36. Passaic beats PCT, 24-32.
1:00: Lakeland’s boys are expecting a good year and a nice pair of wins over Passaic Valley, 21-37 and West Milford, 17-43 as John Lutz, Bailey Canning and Andy Biss finish 1-2-3. Milena Hareza wins the girls race for DePaul but Paramus Catholic takes the next four slots and wins, 24-31.
1:20: Both preseason #1 teams are in this race and Boys #1 Don Bosco doesn’t run any of its presumed top 5 — with Bergen champ Kyle Levermore at the University of Texas on an official visit and Rob Townsend recovering from a broken toe — and sweep No. 4 Bergen Catholic, 15-50 led by juniors Bobby Gonzalez (16:30) and Zack Weland (16:31).
More as the story develops but the big news of the day comes from the girls race where preseason No. 1 Wayne Hills crushes Wayne Valley, 21-37 as seniors Jillian O’Donohue and Stephanie Bitcon go 1-2 in 18:55 and 18:56, becoming just the sixth and seventh Passaic girls under 19 minutes at Darlington. Alyssa Loffredo was third in 19:40. But the Patriots were missing two of its top five runners and several others in its top 12 after a horrific hit and run accident two weeks ago where a woman apparently texting on her cell phone plowed through the team running in a crosswalk on a training run while making a left turn. The woman then took off without even stopping. Wayne police are investigating. It’s probable that all of the athletes will be okay but for the moment, one of the state’s top teams is hampered.
1:40: The day’s comes to an end as Paramus Catholic’s Dominick Savino wins in 18:17 and Joe White of DePaul finishes third in his first cross-country race. PC beats DePaul, 22-37 and St. Joseph beats Paramus Catholic, 23-34.
Soph Madeline Pluta wins the girls race in 22:10 as West Milford shuts out Lakeland and Passaic Valley.
Finally from the Randolph Invitational Friday at Freedom Park in Randolph: Kinnelon is 5th and Secaucus 7th in the Boys C race with junior Andrew Bertollo of Kinnelon 10th in 17:29 and Secaucus junior Shaun O’Brien following in 17:37.
Kinnelon is third and Secaucus 5th in the girls race as Kinnelon senior Rachel Rosenberg is 10th in 21:17 and junior Samantha Nesheiwat of Secaucus 17th in 22:07.
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