Haddonfield has a knack for producing talented cross country runners and on Tuesday at Holmdel Park, Seth Clevenger further solidified himself as one his program’s best.
Clevenger, a senior, ran 15:51 to outdistance Voorhees senior Jack Tavaglione (16:04) and win the NJSIAA Group 2 boys cross-country championship.
Of the 12 boys and girls races, nine of them were held on Saturday before a storm came in and halted the remaining three races, which were completed on Tuesday.
Clevenger led the Bulldawgs to their fourth straight team title. The race was not held last year because of the pandemic.
“(Wining the individual title) meant a lot but most importantly was coming out with my team,” Clevenger said after crossing the finish line. “We have a rich tradition winning states, and I just wanted to make my coach proud and school program proud.”
Clevenger who had placed 11th as sophomore with a time of 16:48, is the first Bulldog to take an individual group title since Ben Potts took the gold for Haddonfield in 2010.
While the postponement of the race was something Clevenger had and has to deal with going forward to Saturday, he also said it wasn’t too much of a factor in his performance on Tuesday.
“It definitely threw me off a little bit, but the main thing is what affect it will have on Saturday (in the Meet of Champions), Clevenger said. “It didn’t really affect my race strategy or anything like that today.”
“I didn’t expect it to go out as fast as it did and I didn’t expect to take the lead as early as I did,” Clevenger added, speaking on Tuesday’s race. “But that’s what happened, and it did work out in my favor.”
Haddonfield places three runners among the top five, including junior George Andrus, who was third in 16:11 and senior Tobias Janssen, who was fifth in 16:24. Madison senior Adam Angelone took fourth in 16:19.
“We did great,” Clevenger said. “(Andrus( was right with me till the end, which shows a lot. Our team definitely came out on and got the job done.”
Clevenger will be making the trip back to Holmdel this Saturday for the Meet of Champions. The Haddonfield senior now has two sub-16 times at the Monmouth county course.
“I kinda want to treat (the Meet of Champions) like this meet,” Clevenger said. “Make my move when I’m ready, and just take it from there. (Strategically) nothing’s set in stone yet.”
The top two teams and top 10 individuals from each race, plus wild cards, will advance to the Meet of Champions to be held next Saturday at Holmdel Park.
The eight fastest non-qualifying teams will advance as team wild cards. The 10 fastest runners on non-qualifying teams will advance as individual wild cards.
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