Leading up to the Championship Meets

With the Championship part of the season starting the Friday at the County Open, here is a recap of the last three meets we have had.

Sept. 26th ~ Osprey Invitational

This year, we made the trip to Stockton University to compete in the Osprey Invitational. We were able to hold out 5 of our top seven to give some of the younger girls a chance to shine. On the relatively flat course in Galloway NJ,the times certainly reflected it. In the varsity race, Genisa John led the team running 21:11 to finish 36th. Next in was Gabby Urban and freshman Ava Guarini placing 38th and 39th both running 21:13. Ella Holloway and Sonal Patel completed our top 5 running 22:33 and 22:48. Lilly Hazlett and Alexa Butler finished our varsity team which captured a 6th place finish.

Lilly Hazlett

Sonal Patel

Ava Guarini

In the JV race the team finished 3rd led by Elise Barcenas who placed 18th. All in all, some people got to actually race a 5K for the first time, while others either ran a lifetime best or were very close to doing so.

Oct. 4th ~ Shore Coaches Invitational

Next up for the team was Shore Coaches Invitational. Our first 5K for most of the varsity team and also our first look to see where we stack up with the rest of Gr 4 and the State. Our first race was the freshman A race which saw Casey Leisse, Ella Holloway and Lilly Hazlett race at Holmdel for the first time. Casey ran an incredible race placing 2nd over all while running 14:00. Her time is #7 All time in school history on the freshman course. Lilly Hazlett was next in for us running 15:03 to place 16th. Ella Holloway finished it up for us as she ran 15:26 to place 25th.

The Varsity A race was soon to follow. The heat was a little hotter than we would have liked, but that did not take away from what the girls were able to accomplish. Alyssa Suriano seeing Holmdel for her first time ever clocked a 19:14 to place 4th. Her time is #7 AT. Maddie Meder ran 20:09 to place 11th. She was followed by Sofia Recinto 20:31(18th), Erin Healy 20:47(22nd) and Maya Kumar 20:53(24th). Gabby Urban ran 21:52 to place 57th and Genisa John ran 23:13 to place 81st. They combined for 79 points to outpace runner up Cherry Hill East who scored 92. This marked just the third time in school history that we have won the Varsity race at Shore Coaches. Their 5 man team average of 20:18 is the best team average we have ever had at Shore Coaches. In the Merge results, we placed 5th over all and was the 4th team from NJ. Safe to say that the girls are not flying under the radar anymore.

The JV A race was the last for us and once again was saw some really great performances. Chloe Burdette led the way running 24:10 to place 22nd. She was followed closely by Sonal Patel who ran 24:15 to place 24th.

All in all we left Holmdel knowing there is plenty of room for improvement. The Varsity team now has off until the County Open. The rest of the squad will race at the SJ Open at Dream Park.

Oct. 11 ~ South Jersey Open With the varsity sitting out of this meet, it was time for some of the underclassmen to step up and shine. Our first official meet at Dream Park did not disappoint. The weather conditions were very favorable to racing. Due to PSAT, we were missing some of the group and only had 4 runners in the varsity race and 4 runners in the JV race. In the varsity race, freshman Casey Leisse saw her first official 5K of the season and made a huge impact in just her first race. Running 19:43, she finished 9th in the Div. 3 race. That time is #2 AT on the freshman list. She was followed by Ava Guarini who ran 20:45 to place 9th. Her time is #9 AT on the Dream Park Freshman list. Ella Holloway ran a season best time of 22:08 to finish 27th and Sonal Patel ran a huge Dream Park pr of 22:50.

In the JV race Elise Barcenas led the way clocking a 24:32 to place 14th. Kyla Petragnani just missed her lifetime best by 1 second running 25:23 to place 18th. Jocelyn Schwartz ran a lifetime best of 25:33 to place 20th and Taylor Reddington ran a lifetime best time by over a minute clocking 27:04 to place 30th.

Next up for the team is the Burlington County Open. This year marks the first time ever it will be held at Crystal Lake Park in Mansfield NJ That takes place Friday Oct. 17th with the JV race at 3:32 and the varsity race is at 4:45