While the NJ cross-country season might be over, many of the state’s best teams and runners competed today in regional meets in hopes of qualifying for national meets.
The two major regional meets were the Nike Northeast Regionals at Bowdoin Park in Wappinger Falls, NY and the Champs Northeast Regionals at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.
Here’s a look at the results along with who qualified for the two national meets, one being the Nike Nationals in Portland, OR on December 3rd and the other being the Champs National Championships in San Diego, CA on December 10th.
Boys
On the team side of things, Christian Brothers, The No. 1 team in the state, took the win at the Nike Northeast Regionals with a 88-128 margin, advancing to nationals for the 11th-straight year.
Nicholas Sullivan of Christian Brothers led the list of runners from the Garden State, finishing eighth in 16:04.3 with Avery Keith of Westfield coming in right behind him in ninth in 16:10.8. Patrick Ditmars of Cherokee was 10th in 16:12.5, Chrstian Brothers’ Joe Barrett finished 11th in 16:12.7 with Union Catholic’s Alex Saldana placing 14th in 16:20 and Haddonfield’s George Andrus coming in 15th at 16:20.6.
Union Catholic’s Ryan Cichocki placed 19th (16:32), Fabian Ramales of Southern came across the line 21st (16:35.7), Zack Shroba of Chrisitian Brothers was 23rd (16:37.8) and Cherokee’s Nick Kuenkel finished 24th (16:38.4), placing nine NJ runners inside the Top 25.
The list of runners inside the Top 20 is much shorter for the Champs Northeast Regional, with Lakeland’s Owen Horevay being the only one, finishing 15th in 15:55.10. Ayush Saran of West Windsor-Plainsboro South was also solid, finishing 24th in 16:12.80 with Edison’s Akshay Vadul placing 29th in 16:22.60.
Girls
The Union Catholic girls advance to the Nike Nationals after placing second at the Nike Northeast Regionals with 71 points, with Haddonfield just missing out on automatic qualification as it was third with 73 points.
Cate DeSousa of Red Bank Catholic will also be in the national race as she finished third in 18:49.1 to lead all NJ runners. Union Catholic’s Kaleigh Gunsiorowski and Courtney Kaiser came across the line sixth (19:09.9) and seventh (19:12.1) with North Hunterdon’s Cassidy Roop placing 14th in 19:39.3.
The Haddonfield girls were solid once again, with Ava Thomas leading the way, coming across the line 15th in 19:41.5. Helene Usher, Riley Slootsky and Riley Austin went 21, 22 and 23 with Paige Boyce of North Hunterdon finishing 24th in , giving the Garden State nine runners inside the top 25.
At the Champs Northeast Regional, Emma Zawatski led the way for NJ girls, finishing 10th in 18:35.90, securing a spot at the Champs Nationals. Pingry’s Olivia Murray finished 11th in 18:49.90, but also earned a spot at nationals after the ninth-place girl declined to go. Lindsay Hausman of Kent Place was also solid, coming across the line 14th in 19:02 with Northern Burlington’s Liliah Gordon finishing 20th in 19:16.10.
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