Ed Grant's Weekly Roundup

SEVENTH OF THE SEASON

The Eastern HS cross-country season will come to a smashing conclusion this Saturday 
with the annual Footlocker Regional trials at Van Cortlandt Park, a meet that should be 
one to remember, particularly on the boys’ side.

      Off the results of last weekend’s all-group finals at Holmdel County Park, where 
eight boys ran under 16:00, the Garden State could provide a suitable Northeast 
representation all by itself. But, given the way things are going this fall in New England 
and the Middle Atlantic states, we may be lucky to get as many as two of the eight 
slots, though we have a hunch it may turn out to be more than that.
 
         Our girls’ entry is not as deep and is also very young, though not as young 
as it could be were the race open---as so many state meets are these days---to 
sub-9th graders.

        The all-group meet went pretty much as expected with one major exception, 
Voorhees’ loss to defending Shawnee in the girls’ team competition. Mohamed 
Khadraoui of Peterson Kennedy repeated in the boys’ race, Brittany Sedberry of Ocean 
City won the duel of sophomores in the girls and Mainland joined Shawnee as a repeat 
winner with a six-point victory over Christian Brothers.
 
      Khadroui ran the second-fastest time in Holmdel history as he won the boys’ title
by some 85 yards from Greg Hughes of Mainland in 15:39. Justin Scheid of Pope 
John, Jon Anderson of Cinnaminson and Chris Pannone of Hunterdon Central took 
the next three places. The only real surprise in the top 10, and it was a minor one, 
was Will Melofchik of CBA in 6th,
 
      The girls’ race may have been decided coming out of the bowl when Jen Clausen, 
Sedberry’s main rival for the gold, fell as she was trying to pass Brittany and Arianna 
McKinney of Highland, who wound up 2nd in 18:58, 17 seconds behind the winner. 
Her knee bruised in the fall, Clausen limped home in 4th behind Pope John frosh Lara 
Heigis. The “interloper” in this race was Alexis Gray of Toms River East in 7th, six 
places higher than she had finished in Gr. IV a week earlier.
 
      Shawnee, running as usual in secondary uniforms, built up a 12-point margin 
over Voorhees with its first three finishers, but fell two points back as the fourth 
runners for each came across. But Shawnee’s greater depth paid off as soph Betsy 
Arnot finished 12 places (nine team points) ahead of the Vikings’ Cara Baumgartner, 
filling in as 5th girl for Eva Rhodes, who had an off day.
 
       Mainland had the edge of CBA in each of the first four places, but had to sweat 
out a 33-second wait for Alex Palmentieri to come across in 66th place to clinch the 
win. This gap cost the Mustangs a new course average record as they finish at 16:19+, 
a scond off CBA’s 1982 mark. The Colts also made the all-time top 10 with their 16:27.
 
      Both team winners will have trouble trying to make it a threepeat in 2004. Mainland 
loses five of its top six, Shawnee its first three finishers. Looking ahead, CBA and 5-th 
place Cherokee appear ready to duel for the boys’ crown, while the four teams which 
finished behind Shawnee and Voorhees---Morris Knolls, Ridge, Ocean City and West 
Windsor-Plainsboro South—all have plenty coming back. New frosh talent, as usual, 
may also play a big part.
 
      Getting back to this Saturday, the hot boys’ field is headed by home-schooled 
Jason McDougal of Peru, NY, who recently broke the HS record for the 5K course 
at the New York Road Runners annual age-group meet, running 15:09. He looks like 
a sure thing, but after that, anything can happen. The top girls’ runner appears to be 
another upstate New Yorker, soph Nicole Blood of Saratoga.

      The NJ entry will, as noted above, be missing its fastest teenage Holmdel runner 
this season, seventh-grader Brianna Jackucewicz of Howell Middle School. Brianna 
ran 18:15 there earlier this season and came back last Sunday with a second-place 
18:28 behind former Footlocker finalist Cheryl Bauer in the Alumni/a Shootout. But 
she will have to wait to 2005 foi her crack at Footlocker.
 
       And now for the final Top 10 rankings of the season, not an easy task the way 
things have gone the last couple of weeks. 
  
 
         THE TOP TENS

    BOYS

   


 

GIRLS



 

Sixth of the season

The questions about Saturday’s all-group championships at Holmdel County Park center 
chiefly on the individual action with Mainland and Voorhees going in as strong favorites 
for team honors.
 
     The boys’ race is just as wide open as it was when the season got under way 10 
weeks ago. Defending champ Mohamed Khadraoui of Paterson Kennedy turned in 
the fastest time last Saturday as he won the Gr. IV race in 15:39, but there are at 
least half a dozen boys who have gold in their dreams this week, including a couple 
who would like to do what Mohamed did a year ago, turn a second-place group finish 
into an all-group victory.
 
     The most likely of the challengers is undefeated Justin Scheid of Pope John, who 
coasted to a 15:54 victory in the Parochial A race. This was only the fourth fastest 
on the day---Chris Pannone of Hunterdon Central and James Wyner of Mainland ran f
aster chasing Khadraoui home. But it was obvious that Justin had plenty of running 
left as he crossed the line 125 yards ahead of Will Melofchik of CBA.
 
   The other contenders include Gr. III winner Rob Dennis of Red Bank, Group II champ 
Jon Anderson of Cinnaminson, another easy winner, and the 1-2 finishers in a close 
Parochial B race, Oskar Nordenbring of Montclair Kimberley and Bobby Papazian of 
Gill-St. Bernard’s, the only junior in the lot. Their race was a repeat of the  battle in 
the Shore Coaches meet seven weeks earlier, but a lot closer as both finished in 16:06.

     The girls’ individual title is also up for grabs, but with a much smaller field.. It 
seems to come down to two sophomores, both undefeated this year, Jen Clausen 
of Jackson, who won Gr. IV in 18:54 and Brittany Sedberry of Ocean City. who took 
Gr. III in 18:43. Each won with something to spare from the same girls they had 
beaten a week before in the sectionals, Casey Nelson of Hunterdon Central and 
Arianna McKinney of Highland, who will get some company this weekend from two 
gold medalists, Vanessa Wright of Haddonfield and Leah Brogan of Msgr, Donovan, 
who ran almost identical times in winning Gr. II and Parochial A, respectively.

        Mainland  affirmed its No. 1 ranking among the boys with a 16:25 average in 
Gr, IV, while CBA, winning Parochial A for the ninth year in a row (19 all told, two 
less than Bernards’ record 21), averaged 16:36 while giving No. 2 man Jake Zorski 
and No. 5 Brett Fiorovanti the weekend off. Toms River North was only a second off 
that, placing 2nd to Mainland. The other winners, Red Bank in Gr. III, the young 
Morris Hills team in Gr. II, Bernards in Gr. I and Pingry in Parochial B were well 
behind those marks.
 
      Voorhees was most impressive taking the girls’ Gr. III race, averaging 19:54 
even though Eva Rhodes had an off day. Juli  Stensland, Sara Best and Lauren 
Rugge were all well under 20:00, Juli having the sixth-best time of the day at 19:16. 
Shawnee was closest to that at 20:14 with Morris Knolls next in pursuit of the 
Vikings. The most improved team on the day was West Windsor-Plainsboro South, 
which, with great races from a fully-recovered Lisa Miller and fellow junior Michelle 
Barabasch, finished 2nd to Shawnee, ahead of Ridgewood, Toms River East and 
a Cherokee team which, aside from Lisa Burkholder, had a simply awful day.
 
     Though this year’s freshman girls’ group is not as deep as last year, it did produce 
one winner, Abby Hinds of Mountain Lakes in Gr. I, as well as a second from Lara 
Heigis of Pope John in Parochial A. And the boys had Craig Forys place 2nd to 
Dennis in Gr. III, while Hopewell Valley’s trio helped their team place 2nd in Gr, III.

 

         THE TOP TENS

 
     BOYS

1. Mainland
2. Christian Brothers
3. Toms River North
4. Ridgewood
5. Cherokee
6. Bridgewater
7. Red Bank
8. Hunterdon Central
9. Pope John
10.Morris Hills

 
GIRLS

1. Vorhees
2. Shawnee
3. Morris Knolls
4. Ridge
5. West Windsor-Plainsboro
6. Ridgewood
7. Cherokee
8. Ocean City
9. Ridgewood
10.Toms River East

 

 

Fifth of season
As if the sectional course differentials were not problem enough in trying 
to figure out what might happen this weekend in the group championships 
at Holmdel, the cold and windy weather which struck the state on Nov. 8 
made things even more complicated. Nevertheless, we’ll take a shot at 
figuring out just what may happen in the 12-race program which begins 
this Saturday at 10 a.m., following the same order as last weekend, with 
the Parochial races in the middle of the day between the two sets of four 
public school events.

 

BOYS

 

      Gr. IV: Mainland faced its toughest rival at the SJ meet and came 
out with a solid 25-49 victory over Toms River North, averaging 19:49 
on a course which is some 40-45 seconds faster than Holmdel. Greg 
Hughes won there in 15:22, which does not quite match the 15:58 turned 
in by Mohamed Khadraoui of Paterson Kennedy in the NJ 1 meet at Garrett 
Mountain, where Ridgewood easily defeated Memorial, 32-81.

    Bridgewater outclassed its new rivals in the NJ 2 meet at Warinanco 
Park with a 1-2 finish from Mike Zecca (16:50) and John Guzman. 
Fifth man troubles again dogged Hunterdon Central in the CJ meet where a 
1-2 finish by Chris Pannone (16:21) and Will Rowland failed to stop a 61-70 
win for Old Bridge.

      There will be five team qualifiers from this race with Mainland likely to be 
followed by Toms River North and Ridgewood for the three slotted berths, while 
Cherokee, Old Bridge, Bridgewater and Hunterdon Central scrap for the two wild 
card spots.

     Individually, Khadraoui has to be the favorite, but Hughes, Ari Zamir of 
Ridgewood, Paul Kornaszewski of Clifton and Dave Alfano of West Orange 
will make him run for it.  

 

        Gr. III: There was a 1-2-3 finish for Red Bank in the CJ meet from Rob Dennis, 
Joe Kinsgbery and Steve Waite and this held up for a 62-90 win over Hopewell 
Valley. These two teams should also go 1-2 on Nov. 15. The other winners were 
Wayne Valley and Jeff Klatsky of Nutley (16:05) in NJ 1, Phillipsburg and Kyle 
Alpaugh of Voorhees (16:57) in NJ 2 and Jim Kavaliauskas (16:30) and his 
Highland teammates in SJ. Klatsky is the only one with a chance to break up 
another Buc parade; the third team spot is up for grabs among the other sectional 
champs.  

 

       Gr. II: This one seems wide open with all the sectional winners having a shot: 
Morris Hills from NJ 1, Cranford from NJ 2, Spotswood from CJ and Cinnaminson 
from SJ. And Indian Hills, a close runner-up to Morris Hills, isn’t out of it either. 
Jon Anderson of Cinnaminson remains the individual favorite after his 15:51 win 
in SJ. The other sectional winners were Mike Burghoffer of Wallkill Valley in NJ 1 
at 16:24, Hany Abdullah of Madison in NJ 2 at 17:14 and Thomas Walsh of Matawan 
at 16:48.

 

       Gr. I: Oft-time winner Bernards had the best sectional race as it averaged 17:51 
at the NJ 2 meet behind a 1-2 finish by Evan Geilich (17:14) and John Gould. Maple 
Shade’s 17:30 in SJ may have been misleading as No. 3 runner Jim Bulnicky had 
an off day while teammates Rick Hall (16:46) and Tim Rose were going 1-2. Midland 
Park won easily in NJ 1 and Keansburg likewise in CJ, with Chris Guerriero of Saddle 
Brook continuing his winning ways at Garret Mountain in 16:41 and Thomas 
Gemignami leading a one through six sweep for Keansburg in 17:33 at Holmdel. 
Bernards, Maple Shade and Midland Park are the likely team qualifiers; Guerriero 
could well complete a sweep of the small school races he has entered this year.

 

   Par A: Christian Brothers left little doubt that it would repeat here with its 33-91 win 
over Seton Hall in the NJCTC meet at Warinanco. Will Melofchik led the strong 
showing by the Colts, finishing 2nd to repeating Justin Scheid of third-place Pope 
John (16:08) in 16:18. These three teams seem the class of the field, though 
Delbarton will strengthen its bid with the addition of Scott Bastek. Scheid seems 
a sure winner with the CBA crew, Conrad Laskowski of Red Bank Catholic, Mike 
Rolek of Seton Hall and Brian Lang of St. Peter’s probably chasing him home.

 

        Par B: In this same meet, Bishop Eustace finished 22 points ahead of 
Oratory, the difference being in the 5th position. Pingry was not present, 
but will have a lot to say on Nov. 15.  Oratory was missing its third man 
last Saturday and his return would be a big boost to a first title since 1975. 
Anthony Arnold of St. Rose was the first B runner over the line, but, of course, 
the individual race here is between Oskar Nordenbring of Montclair-Kimberley 
and Bobby Papazian of Gill-St. Bernard’s who, like Pingry, had last weekend off.

 

 

GIRLS

     Voorhees was easily the top team in the sectionals and seems headed for 
victory in the strong Gr. III race this weekend and in the AG meet to follow. 
After that, though, it’s wide open, as the close finishes between North 
Hunterdon and Ridge for 2nd in NJ 2 Gr. III and between Cherokee and 
Shawnee in SJ Gr. IV would evidence, not to mention strong showings 
by sectional winners Ridgewood in NJ 1 and Old Bridge in CJ.

 

    Two sophomores headed the individual action last weekend, Jen Clausen 
of Jackson at Holmdel in CJ IV and Brittany Sedberry of Ocean City in SJ III, 
both finishing far ahead of strong challengers. Now let’s look at each group race:

 

     Gr. IV: As already noted, a wide-open team scrap featuring the four teams 
mentioned above. Ridgewood averaged 20:25 in its 45-54 defeat of Morristown, 
Old Bridge hit 20:47 at Holmdel in a 66-87 victory over West Windsor-Plainsboro 
South and Hillsborough and Cherokee and Shawnee were both around 19:45
 in SJ with Toms River East not far back. Westfield took NJ 2 in a close one with 
Columbia.

     Clausen outclassed the other winners with her 100-yard win over Casey 
Nelson in 18:41. Justine Lupo led Ridgewood with a 19:19 win at Garret, Erin 
Higgins ran away from the field at Warinanco in 20:10 and Lisa Burkholder led 
Cherokee’s 63-64 upset of Shawnee in 18:50 at Delsea. It will be strictly a two-
girl race this weekend with Burkholder a good bet  to take the third from Lisa 
Miller of West Windsor-Plainsboro South. Kim Bonner of Shawnee and Andrea 
Campbell of Mainland.

 

     Gr. III: Voorhees had all five at 20:25 or better in its decisive 35-71-72 
defeat of North Hunterdon and Ridge in the day’s top team race at Warinanco. 
Two other winners, Morris Knolls from NJ 1 and Ocean City from SJ, are likely
to make the AG meet as well, though one of the Gr. IV quartet could slip in. 
Princeton, the CJ champ, lacks only a fifth girl to be in the picture as well.

     Sedberry’s 17:55 in her 175-yard win over previously undefeated Arianna 
McKinney of Highland was the fastest race of the day. But the other winners 
had notable efforts as well: Lauren Berard of Knolls at 19:21, Erin Enderly of 
Ocean Twp at 19:21 in CJ and Becky Crossin of North Hunterdon at 19:31 in 
NJ 2. Again, a two-girl race between the South Jersey rivals.

 

     Gr. II: Shore Regional outclassed the field with a 21:04 average of Holmdel, 
led by Julie Ullmeyer’s 19:55 win. But she has two tough rivals for group honors, 
Meghan Gaffney of Pompton Lakes, who won NJ 1 in 19:21, and Vanessa Wright, 
who led Haddonfield to another SJ crown in 19:19. Mallory Harlin had a 20:22 as 
Cranford completed a sweep at Warinanco. Indian Hills took the NJ 1 crown in a 
close one with Kittatinny. The other two team berths will probably come from the 
other three sectionals winners. \with Delaware Valley and Rumson having an outside 
chance.

 

      Gr. I: It will be NJ 1 against SJ here. Glen Rock topped Mountain Lakes,
54-65, in NJ 1, but the Lakers should pick up a lot more points at Holmdel 
with its 1-2 punch of frosh Abby Hinds and senior Katie Chambers. Gloucester 
took SJ, 35-47, from Schalick, but had a big time differential which will also 
pay off this weekend. The other sectional winners, Palisades Park in NJ 2 
and New Providence, in CJ, do not figure.

       Hinds seems headed for victory at Holmdel with her closest competition 
coming from NJ 2 winner Caitlin Walsh of Verona, Amy VanAlstine of Midland 
Park and teammate Chambers. Lisa Wagner of New Providence and Lindsey 
Ritchings of Pt. Pleasant Beach were the other sectional winners.

 

      Par. A: Msgr. Donovan won the NJCTC race at Warinanco from B defender 
Mt. St. Mary’s, but Pope John and Red Bank Catholic weren’t far back and 
Paul VI (which ran its B team at the South Jersey K of C meet) should make 
it a close four-way race. Leah Brogan of Donovan and frosh Lara Heigis of 
Pope John will probably repeat their NJCTC battle for the individual crown.

 

      Par B: Pingry and Oak Knoll were idle, but St. Rose, splitting its team 
between the varsity and frosh races, was close enough in the NJCTC race 
to make this a five-way race when it merges its forces on Nov. 15, while 
Bishop Eustace won impressively at the South Jersey K. of C. meet Defender 
Jen Croghan of Lacordaire took the weekend off, as did Amanda Smith of 
Pingry and Liz Hankinson of Oak Knoll, but Kerry Cahill of Mt. St. Mary’s 
had a 20:23 in 5th at Warinanco to give them an idea of what they will face this weekend.

 

THE TOP TENS

BOYS




 

GIRLS




 

Fourth of season

    A flurry of individual upsets at the Essex and Morris County meets over the weekend 
marked the final preparations for the state cross-country championships which get under 
way this Saturday with sectional competition at four sites around New Jersey.

     For the most part, form was followed at this last batch of county and conference 
meets, particularly in the team competitions, but such was not the case in the Essex 
meet on Friday at Brookdale Park in Bloomfield and on Saturday in the Morris County 
meet at the Nabisco grounds in East Hanover.
 
     The boys’ race at the Essex meet saw two-time defender Oskar Nordenbring 
of Montclair-Kimberley Academy set a burning pace, no doubt aimed at shaking 
off Bryan Scotland of St. Benedict’s, who was coming back with only one day of 
rest from the state prep meet on a rainy, muddy afternoon at Blair Academy. The 
strategy worked as far as Bryan was concerned, for he eventually faded to sixth 
place. It was also too much for Jeff Klatsky of Nutley, who ran the first lap with 
Oskar and Bryan and wound up third.
 
     But Dave Alfano of West Orange, who prefers to run his races from behind, 
stayed just far enough off the pace to avoid such problems and just close 
enough to the three leaders to be within striking distance on the second loop 
and he came on to win by 100 yards in 15:01. The time meant little since this 
was a newly-designed course due to the renovations of the track and infield at 
Brookdale and was somewhat short of the 5K distance.
 
     Earlier, Caitlin Walsh of Verona had scored the first major cross-country 
win of her promising career as she outran defending champ Jen Croghan of 
Lacordaire and pre-race favorite Katelyn Sammon of Columbia by 70 yards 
in 18:58. Croghan was making her first start in more than a month and ran 
with Walsh most of the way before dropping back to third and then outkicking 
Sammon for the silver. She appears ready to defend her Parochial B title Nov. 
15 at Holmdel against Liz Hankinson of Oak Knoll, who won the Union County 
crown last Wednesday, and Amanda Smith of Pingry.
 
     The next day, at Nabisco, freshman Abby Hinds of Mountain Lakes 
surprised her various sophomore rivals in the Morris meet, finishing 25 yards 
ahead of Lauren Berard of Morris Knolls in 20:01. (Ashley Wolf of Montville 
as packed it in for the season.) Then, in the boys’ race, Jeremy Zagorski of 
Parsippany Hills was 30 yards ahead at the two mile mark and seemed 
headed for his first county CC title when he suddenly ran out of gas and 
was passed by Dan Whitt of Delbarton who won in 16:58 on a course 
slowed by recent rains.
 
      The team battles at these two meets went as expected, however. In 
Essex, Columbia was an easy winner in the girls event and Seton hall ran 
away with the boys’ title. At Nabisco, Morris Knolls outclassed its girls’ 
rivals, while Morris Hills won a very close boys’ race from Delbarton.
 
    There was one team surprise in the rest of the schedule when, on Friday 
at Deer Path Park, Bridgewater’s balance overcame a 1-2-4 finish by Chris 
Pannone and his Hunterdon Central teammates to win the Skylands’ boys’ 
title., The girls’ race went to top-ranked Voorhees by a wide margin. 
Pannone led teammate Will Rowland home in the boys’ race in 16:01, 
while Casey Nelson of Hunterdon Central tuned up for her first state CC 
meet and she finished 100 yards ahead of Becky Crossin of North 
Hunterdon in 18:36.
 
     In the other Friday meets, Carmen Cavella of Washington Twp and 
Lisa Burkholder of Cherokee took individual honors at the Olympic 
Conference, with Triton (in the absence of Cherokee’s A team) and 
second-ranked Shawnee the respective team winners, while Hopewell 
Valley’s freshman-laden boys’ team and West Windsor-Plainsboro 
outh’s girls won in the Mercer County meet at Veterans Park, where 
the big individual news was the return to form of Lisa Miller of WWP, 
who had been ailing the past month. Morgan Seybert of Hun became 
the first from his school to win the boys’ title, just two days after his 
prep battle with Scotland.

     The big meet on Saturday was the Shore Conference championships 
at Holmdel County Park. A year ago, CBA had edged Toms River North
 by a point; this time, it was not that close as the Colts turned in a 
16:32 average to win, 32-49. The talent-laded individual race saw Joe
Kingsbery and Robbie Denis of Red Bank emulate the Trotter twins with 
a virtual tie at 16:00. In the girls’ event, Jen Clausen of Jackson remained 
undefeated with her best Holmdel time ever, 18:30, while Toms River East 
took a surprisingly close team race from Shore, 134-138.
 
      In Bergen County, Ridgewood prepped for its Gr. IV bid with an easy 
team win at that county’s own Meet of Champions, Ari Zamir leading the 
way in 15:46. Ridgewood made it a perfect day as Meghan O’Connell 
led the Maroon girls to another easy win in 18:54. In the Hudson County 
open meet, St. Dominic and Memorial repeated their earlier wins at the 
HCIAA league meet while Chris Capetola of the Blue Devils and Brian 
Lang of St. Peter’s both made it four-for-four in local meets this season.
 
     The order of event this Saturday has Groups III and II girls opening the 
action, followed by Gr. III and II boys. The second set of events has Gr. IV 
and I girls followed by Gr. IV and I boys.

   The top team race of the day is undoubtedly the opening Gr. III girls 
one at Warinanco Park. Three former Central Jersey teams will contend 
for the first time there: No. 1 Voorhees, No. 3 North Hunterdon and No. 
4 Ridge. The race also will have an interesting individual contest among 
Becky Cross of North Hunterdon, Kathy Henry of Ridge and the Voorhees 
trio of Jill Stensland, Sara Best and Lauren Rugge. Casey Nelson of 
Hunterdon Central will run later in the Gr. IV event
 
      The leading individual boys’ race should be at Garret Mountain in 
Gr. IV where Alfano goes against defending all-group champ Mohamed 
Khadroui of Paterson Kennedy, Paul Kornaszewski of Clifton and Zamir. 
Another good matchup is in South Jersey Gr. III at Delsea where Arianna 
McKinney of Highland and Brittany Sedberry of Ocean City go at it for 
the second time this season, Arianna having won the previous matchup 
at the Shore Coaches Invitational. That’s also an early bird event at 10 a.m.
 
     Cross-country addicts will have doubleheaders at both Warinanco 
and Delsea. At Warinanco, the 48th New Jersey Catholic Track Conference 
will get under way at 2 p.m. with Christian Brothers going for its 22nd 
consecutive team win and Justin Scheid of Pope John matching strides 
with Scotland and Melofchik. while Leah Brogan and her Msgr, Donovan 
teammates try to make a sweep of the girls’ race on their way to a similar 
bid the following week in the Parochial A race at Holmdel. At Delsea, 
it will be the South Jersey Parochial meet with Paul VI likely to pick up most 
of the honors, particularly is Jim Redmond and his Bishop Eustace teammate 
choose to run at Warinanco.

 

 

THE TOP TENS                                                                                                                                    


BOYS                                                                                                                                                                                     

 

                               

Girls



 
 
Third of the season  

        Any doubt that the brilliant freshman girls class of 2002 has lost nothing in the past 
12 months was certainly dispelled this past weekend when they totally dominated the 
scene as the first stage of local championships came to an end.
 
        From Warinanco Park to Mill Creek Park, and points between, the results poured 
in: on Friiday, it was Brittnee Bynoe of Willingboro repeating as Burlington County champion 
and Jen Clausen of Jackson smashing the course record in Ocean County Park; on 
Saturday, Tara Duggan of Morristown led a parade of sophomores in the Iron Division 
of the Iron Hills meet at Warinanco, while Vickie Latella of Mount Olive took the Hills 
Vrace. Earlier in the week, Kellee Hand Hand had led Howell to its first Monmouth 
County title. And, before that, it was Brittany Sedberry running away with the Cape 
May County title,
 
        The week ahead should provide new honors: Sedberry goes in the Cape-Atlantic 
meet at Stockton State College on Thursday, Jen Croghan of Lacordaire is due to 
defend her Essex County title on Friday at Brookdale Patk (though there is some 
question as to her readiness; she has not run since the first weeks of the season), 
and, on Saturday, Clausen looks like a runaway winner in the Shore Conference 
meet at Holmdel County Park and Duggan and Latella will be challenging Jennifer 
Ennis of Roxbury, defender in the Morris County meet at Nabisco.
 
        Clausen's race was easily the gem of the past week. She took 30 seconds 
off the course record at Ocean County park, a record set by later collegiate 
all-American, Amy Beykirch of Pinelands. It was her fifth win in as many tries 
this year and came after a three-week layoff from major competition.  Almost as 
impressive was the 18:08 by junior Leah Brogan of Msgr, Donovan in 2nd. Clausen's 
time was 20 seconds faster than Sedberry had run a week earlier in the Cape may 
race on the equally flat Cape May Park course.
 
        Bynoe's win came at the expense of still another sophomore, Lisa Burkholder 
of Cherokee, who is in her first cross-country campaign. Her time was a lot slower 
than last year, but that was also the case in the boys' race, indicating a possible 
stiffening of the course at Mill Creek Park. Ar Warinanco, all five sophs beat 20:00 
with Duggan---who was not among the elite group last year---the fastest at 19:27, 
followed by Ennis at 19:31 and Latella at 19:36. It should be quite a race Saturday 
when they go against Ashley Wolf of Montville, who hasn't had a major outing in a 
month.
 
        Jill Stensland of Voorhees, who also has been missing lately, returned to action 
with a vengeance at Friday;s Hunterdon-Warren meet at Delaware Valley, placing a 
close second to Casey Nelson of Hunterdon central, who ran 18:48. The Vikings 
had three more in the top eight for a 27-43 defeat of North Hunterdon, a win which 
put them at the head of the Top Ten again.
 
        Another team which improved its rating was Morris Knolls with a solid 
performance in the iron Hills meet, averaging 20:27 which matches the best 
at Holmdel this season. Cherokee moved into the top five as it finished only three 
points behind Shawnee in Burlington County. Toms River East  and Ridgewood 
had easy wins in Ocean County and the Bergen County A race to round out the 
elite group.
 
        Nothing changed at the top of the boys' rankings as Mainland had the week 
off and the next six scored easy victories. But there was some shuffling after that 
as Old Bridge took the Middlesex title from previously ranked East Brunswick, 
Southern Regional edged Jackson for 2nd in Ocean County and Cranford and 
Morris Hills turned in almost identical efforts on successive days at Warinanco 
Park when adjustments were made for the diifgfernces u the dual meet and 
championship course.
 
        Of the top individuals in action over the weekend,Chris Pannone won easily 
in Hunterdon-Warren, as did Ari Zamir of Ridgewood in Bergen, Justin Scheid in 
Susses and Jon Anderson in Burlington. Scheid let it out a little and ran 15:37 
on the new course at the Sussex County Fair Grounds. There was a slight 
surprise in the Ocean race as junior Chris Pisano of Toms River North edged 
Paul Bahamondes in 15:32.
 
        No question that the Shore Conference meet will be tops on the boys' agenda 
this weekend. The team battle matches the 2-3 teams in the state, CBA and TR North 
and it should be a sizzler. The individual battle has at least six all-state candidates: 
Pisano, Bahamondes, Monmouth County champ Joe Kingsbery and Robbie Dennis 
of red Bank, super-frosh Craig Forys of Cotts Neck and Will Melofchik of CBA. Essex 
County also has an interesting individual contest among two-time winner Oskar 
Nordenbring of Montclair-Kimberley Academy, Bryan Scotland of St. Benedict;s 
and Northern Hills winner Dave Alfano of West Orange.
 
TOP TEN
                                                                                        
BOYS 
                                                                                                                       


GIRLS




SECOND WEEK 
       
        We would like this post to be llimitedto a review of recent action in (and outside) the state, 
but unfortunately it cannot be. A situation has developed which overshadows everything that it 
happening on the field of action and, since the newspapers of our state seem unwilling or unable 
to address it, it falls to us to do so.
 
        One of the beauties of high school athletics in New Jersey during the 60 years that we 
have covered them professionally has been their openness, an openness which has been in 
sharp contrast to too many other states in this supposedly free society, including those right 
on our borders.
 
        A story or two from the past may illustrate what we mean. In the 1950s, New Jersey was 
blessed with some remarkable high school athletes, so remarkable that they were invited to 
compete in the major events at Madison Sqiare Garden against college and postgradiate stars.
I was present at a meeting of New York and New Jersey coaches and officials just after one of 
these events and heard the New Yorkers present complain about our athletes being allowed to 
accept these invitations, something their own could not do.
 
        Some years later, New Jersey had a state sprint champion, Billy Gaines, who not only 
competed against older athletes, but won two national AAU 55-meter titles and equalled the 
world record in the process. This happened at the height of what has been falsely labelled the 
"feud" between the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Amateur Athletic Union 
(it was actually an all-out takeover attempt by the NCAA with the backing of the National 
Federation of High School Atrhletic Associatins.) The then executive director of the NJSIAA 
said publicly that "this boy will have to decide whether he is a high school athlete or an open 
athlete," but the tradition of openness was too strong and Gaines went on to win both Group 
II sprints that spring, in the process setting or trying state records in both events. 
 
        Whatever rules were enforced against boys flew out the window when girls entered the scene. 
New Jersey also had a remarkable group female athletes in those early years and a number of them-
--Joetta Clark, Carol Lewis, Michelle Glover, et all, competed individually or, in one case at least as 
an "all-star" relay team and no action was taken against them though, a few years earlier, Ken Blackwell 
of Westfield had been threatened with loss of his senior outdoor season after competing in the long jump 
at the March indoor New Jersey AAU championships at Jadwin Gym. a threat that eventually fell by the 
wayside.
 
        But what happened this past week indicates that things may be changing. The National Federation, 
which has a big time scandal in another sport in its background, has evidently decided to show its muscle 
and the first (or is it the first?) victim is the St. Benedict;s cross-country team.
 
        When we arrived at the Manhattan meet at Van Cortlandt Park last Saturday, the sight that greeted 
our eyes was splendid to behold. On a bright, sunny day---in sharp contrast to the torrents and mud of a 
year ago---there were tents of all colors spread along the big plain. Youngsters from close to 20 states 
were preparing to meet in friendly "combat," combat which the great Glenn Cunnibgham described so 
well as mainly the internal one in each athlete's body and soul. But our elation at viewing this was 
quickly dimmed when meet director Ed Bowes told us of his problem with the St. Benedict;s entry.
 
        Phone calls to his assistant Warren Ring from a National Federation official had requested, in fact 
demanded, that the Gray Bees---the oldest cross-country power in New Jersey---not be allowed to 
compete. Compounding the problem for Bowes was the coincidental fact that St. Benedict's coach 
Marty Hannon was a teammate of Ed's at Bishop Loughlin High School. In the end, St. Benedict's 
did run and Bryan Scotland become one of three New Jersey boys to win his race in 12:38. But 
others were not so lucky.
 
        Somehow, the only two New Jersey entries in the 7th-8th grade races were also caught up in 
this power play. Now while some states, including New York, allow athletes to compete in high 
school races, New Jersey does not do so. Had these two attempted to do so, they would have been 
out of bounds, but theior entries were in races which in no way come under the purview of the NJSIAA, 
much less the National Federation. As it turned out, the boy did run, placed 2nd, but was left out of 
the official summaries, The girl---you might guess who it was---did not, going instead the next day to 
Randolph's Brundage Park where she smashed the 4K course record (held by Jenn Ennis) by 40 
econds, running a time (on perhaps a more difficult course) what would have put her in the top 10 
in the Eastern championship race.
 
        And then came the final blow. The NJSIAA called up St. Benedict's a day or so ago and requested 
that the school not compete in this weekend's Brown Invitational. The request will be honored, so Scotland 
missed a chance for a "hat trick," adding a win in Providence to his victories the past two weeks at 
Holmdel and Van Cortlandt), But this also assured a first team all-state berth foir Bryan this season 
unless he seriously stumbles in the races he will, we hope, be allowed to run: the Essex County 
championships, the New Jersey Catholic Track Conference championships and the Footlocker Trials.
 
        We have learned that the National Federation, a year or two ago, told East Coast Relays officials 
that St. Benedict's, Lawrenceville and Blair Academy could not compete in that meet. The ECR had 
gone through the usual practice of sending a sanction request to the national office to be forwarded to 
the states which might wish to enter the meet. When this message arrived, however, the ECR switched 
to an alternate route, requesting an "adjacent state" sanction from the NJSIAA which limited its field to 
NJ, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. Of course, the meet has been ,imited (by individual 
school choice) to NY and NJ for some years now, so this sanction was perfectly adequate for the porpose.
 
        This is not so, of course, for Manhattan or Brown or any other meet with a wider geographical scope. 
Hannon is justly worried about what effect the new federation poolicy might have on his indoor season. 
Aside from its conference (NJCTC), county (Essex) and state Prep outings, the Gray Bees depend greatly 
on the open meets at the New York Armory for a full season. For that matter, what about the Penn Relays 
where countless schools which have no connection with the National Federation (read Jamaia) compete.
 Or is Penn just too big for the federation to tackle?
 
        Some one might rightly ask where the federation gets the idea that they have the power to 
regulate the competition of a non-member school. Well, it can be done in a backhanded way, by 
telling meet directors that, if St. Benedict's (or any other independent school) does compete, the 
dsnction will be withdrawn, effectively killing the meet. But that brings up another problem for the 
associations. The NJSIAA, for exampole, claims to be a vlpuntary organization with no one forced 
to join, This is true, but its truth is somewhat tainted if and when it exerts any force upon a non-
member school.
 
        We have heard that a nearby state (not NY) complained that the Gray Bees used post-
graduates, which indeed they do on their basketball team. But that team plays for the most 
part other schools which also have post-graduates and, in any case, its schedule is almostly 
entirely made up of two-team contests (they may play a tournament or two with four or more 
teams entered) which do not come under the purview of the federation. (In point of fact, perhaps
 75 percent of the sanction applications receieved by the federation are for our sport). 
And the St. Benedict's track team has no post-graduates---Scotland is a 16-year olf junior 
whose father also attended the school.  
 
        There is, in New Jersey, a long history of schools playing both sides of the fence, 
as it were. St. Benedict's itself won an NJSIAA outdoor Parochial title in the 1940s when 
its football and baseball teams had a number of post-graduates. Seton Hall also had a prep 
school team of some repute in the 1940s, but, in 1949, Fred Dwyer won the Pariochial mile 
title indoors and out, as well as the crosspcountry crown.And let us not go into the "five-year 
plans" employed by a number of public school athletic powers of that perior, a practice that 
led to the introduction of the "eight-term" rule in 1947.
 
        The quicker this matter is settled the better. Since the Kelly Tripucka case of a 
generation ago, the State Department of Education has had officiasl oversight of the NJSIAA, 
an oversight that,m we feel, has been sadly neglected in some cases. It would take no more 
than an oder from the State Board of Education to the NJSIAA to iether tell the National 
Federation to keep its nose out of New Jersey affairs or quit the federation outright. This 
would have no repercussions as the federation is hardly likely to ask its remaining 
members to boycott an entire state.
 
        So let's turn to brighter topics, namely the outstanding effort of the New Jersey 
boys at Manhattan. Four teams won their races: Mainland, Christian Brothers, Red 
Bank and Cherokee. Mainland, CBA and Ridgewood (second to the Colts) finished
 2-3-4 behind Shenendehowa in the fast-time sweepstakes. Scotland was joined 
as an individual winner by Justin Scheid of Pope John, who ran 12:40, and Greg 
Hughes of Mainland as 12:46, while Robbie Dennis of Red Bank ran 12:39 while 
finishing 2nd in his race.
 
        The girls had a very modest entry with Casey Nelson of Hunterdon Central 
running 15th in the championship race in 15:12 and Becky Crossin of North Hunterdon
2nd in her race in 15:22. The entry will be a lot stronger this Saturday at the Fordham
 Invitational.
 
        Two Toms River schools traveled a lot farther last weekend, North taking its 
entire varsity and East its girls to the Disney Classic in Florida. Chris Pisano won 
the boys; 4A (read Gr. IV) event in 16:03 and  the Mariners had an easy team 
victory with all five in the top 10 for a 23-point tally. East was 3rd and 
North 4th in the girls' race. Alison Root of East being the individual leader 
in 8th in 20:15.
 
        The South Jersey IOpen at Delsea was highlighted by birthday present 
victories for two girls' coaches, Cliff Scott of Shawnee in the A race and 
Roxanne Hughes of Bishop Eustace in C. The B race went to  Moorestown 
in a close finish with Ocean City, 73-76. This race produced the top individual 
effort as Brittany Sedberry of Oean City outran fellow soph Brittnee Bynoe of 
Willingboro in 18:06, The other winners were soph Vanessa Wright of 
Haddonfield in C in 18:49 and Robin McDowell of Shawnee in 18:57.
   
        The absence of Mainland and Cherokee took the shine off the boys' 
competition. Ib their absence, Toms River South took the A race with Moorestown 
winning B and Haddonfield scoring in C, led by individual wins from Ken Thompson 
in 16:20 and Brian Goldberg in 16:11.

 Please excuse an obvious omission from the above report.  John Anderson of 
Cinnaminson had the fastest NJ time of the day, winning the A race in 12:36. 
This was exceded today at the Forsham Eastern, in cooler weather, as Chris 
Pannone of Hunterdon central won the Eastern championship race in 12:22.9, 
by a shade the third fastest for  a BJ boy on the 2.5M championship course 
behind Brad Hudson (still the course record-holder) and Jason DiJoseph.
 
        The week's action did little to change the Top Ten rankings, however.
BOYS 
                                                                                                                                     

        

GIRLS



1st of the season
 
 
            If the Shore Coaches Invitational last Saturday is any indication, this should be 
quite a year for cross-country in New Jersey.
 
        This meet traditionally provides a pretty fair perspective on what to expect when 
the state championships begin five weeks later. And with all the juggling that has taken 
place this year, both in groups and sections, it might be well to assess the results in 
light of these changes.
 
        First, a quick look at the final meet. Mainland established itself as a definite 
favorite to repeat as boys' all-group champions with its 16:22 average in winning the 
B race last saturday, the sixth fastest team performance ever at Holmdel. Its chief rival, 
Christian Brothers, chose to give its very able second team its only chance to run a 
varsity race at Holmdel, while preparing the A squad for Manhattan this weekend, but 
the Colts are going to have to improve on their Great American effort if they are to 
catch the Atlantic County team, which is probably among the top three in the nation 
at this point and will be even stronger in November with the expected return of Matt 
McGraorty.
 
        The individual boys' picture is not so clear. Oskar Nordenbring of Montclair-Kimberley 
and Bobby Papazian of Gill-St. Bernard's put on quite a show in the F race and Chris 
Pannone of Hunterdon Central, without a serious challenge, went under 16:00 in the closing 
A event. But the favorites probably remain Mohamed Khadraoui of Paterson Kennedy, who 
shattered Bob Keino's Garret Mountain the day before and Justin Scheid of Pope John, who 
reversed his 2002 loss to Jon Anderson of Cinnaminson in the E race at Holmdel in a modest, 
for him, 16:08.
 
        The girls' team race looks like a battle between defending Shawnee, which won the B 
race, and Voorhees, which ran away with D despite the absence of Jill Stensland, resting a 
sore ankle. Their respective team averages were only a second apart. Toms River East and 
North Hunterdon need to tighten their lineup to catch the top two.
 
        Jen Clausen of Jackson remains the individual favorite after her fourth win of the season, 
a decisive one over CC newcomer Casey Nelson. But there is another interesting "newcomer" 
in Arianna McKinney of Highland, who has improved vastly over her sophomore form and was 
able to finish 45 yards ahead of sub-11:00 3200-meter runner Brittany Sedberry of Ocean City 
in the C event.
 
        Now for a look at the various groups and sections:
 
                                                                                                
Group IV Boys

        The evening out of the various sectional enrollments has lifted Mainland to Group IV, much 
to the dismay of such traditional powers as Cherokee, winner of the A race at Holmdel, and 
Ridgewood, a solid second to Mainland in B without its lead runner, Ari Zamir. Toms River North 
was also missing its top man, Dan Bingham, as it finished a close 2nd in the Salesianum 
Invitational last Saturday. These four seem sure to make the all-group meet and Hunterdon 
Central will probably make it five from this group.
        Sectionally, Mainland is the pick in South, Hunterdon Central in Central, newcomer 
Bridgewater-raritan in North 2 and Ridgewood in North 1.
 
                                                                                                    
Group III Boys

        With Mainland gone, this one appears wide open with Red Bank, which ran third in a 
Vermont race Saturday, needing only a better fifth man effort to defeat Holmdel, a very young 
(three freshmen) Hopewell Valley team and Moorestown, who ran almost identical races at 
Holmdel. Red Bank and Hopewell will meet in the Central race, Moorestown and Holmdel 
will be the favorites in South and North 2 and the North 1 race is up for grabs among 
Parsippany Hills, Mount Olive, Wayne Valley and Old Tappan.
 
                                                                                                    
Group II Boys

        The sophomore-led Morris Hills team took the D event at Holmdel with a solid margin 
over the other contenders. But Haddonfield was missing lead runner Brian Goldberg (on a 
college visit) in E and will likely have the edge over Cinnaminson in the South race. Spotswood 
could claim its first sectional crown in Central and Cranford is a prohibitive favorite in North 2. 
Morris Hills is now in North 1, where it made a brief and successful appearance many years 
ago, and will get stiff opposition there from Indian Hills
 
                                                                                                        
Group I Boys

        Bernards and Maple Shade went into the Holmdel meet as favorites for this crown and 
remain so, with the former winning the first match, 78-95. They should have no trouble on the 
sectional level (Bernards is now in North 1). Keansburg and Midland Park, the Central and 
North 1 favorites, will battle for the third AG spot.
 
                                                                                                        
Parochial A Boys

 
        Christian Brothers remains the strong favorite here with Delbarton, Seton Hall and Pope John 
battling for the other AG places (Our figures show Pope John moving up from B, but this is not definite).
 
                                                                                                        
Parochial B Boys

 
        If Pope John is indeed out of the way here, it should be a close battle among Oratory, Bishop 
Eustace and Pingry, which had very close performances last Saturday. If not, they will contend for 
the other two all--group slots.
 
                                                                                                            
Group IV Girls

        Though Shawnee was in the B race last Saturday, it is very much a Gr. IV team and will be 
favored to defend its title against Toms River East in both the sectional and group races. Like the 
boys, five teams could qualify here, the others being chosen from among Old Bridge, Hillsboro 
and Howell from Central and Ridgewood and Morristown from North 1. Westfield seems unbeatable 
in North 2.
 
                                                                                                            
Group III Girls

        The top three teams here could come from the same sectional race, Central Jersey, where two 
Holmdel winners, Voorhees and Ridge, and one runner-up, North Hunterdon, will go at it. But Ocean 
City in South and Morris Knolls in North 1 can't be counted out and this may again be the group that 
claims five AG places. Princeton heads the Central Jersey field.
 
                                                                                                            
Group II Girls

        Shore moved up to Group II in the reshuffling, but should continue its reign off its easy E win at 
Holmdel. The other sectional favorites will contend for the other two AG slots, Haddonfield in South, 
Chatham in North 2 and Indian Hills in North 1.
 
                                                                                                                
Group I Girls

        Two hot contenders from North 1 were missing at Holmdel, Glen Rock and Mountain Lakes. 
Gloucester. the South favorite. Bernards and Verona in North 2 and New Providence in Central will 
probably have to settle for the third AG place.
 
                                                                                                                
Parochial A Girls

        Msgr. Donovan, another Holmdel absentee, and Pope John (with the same proviso as the boys) 
seem above the rest of the field here with paul VI likely claiming the third slot.
 
                                                                                                                
Parochial B Girls

        Pingry edged defending Mt. St. Mary's here with a nine-point edge in the fifth place comparison, 
but St. Rose ran most of its team in the freshman race and will have to be considered on what amounts 
to its home course.

TOP TEN BOYS                         

TOP TEN GIRLS

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