Shore Coaches Invitational
Saturday October 5th the girls headed up to Holmdel Park to compete in the Shore Coaches Invitational. This meet is akin to pre Nats in College. It is a chance for everyone to race on the State course and see how they stack up against the rest of the State. In total 132 teams competed in Varsity Races A through F. This meet would mark our first 5k race this season on arguably the hardest course in the state. To quote a famous movie, "Bold move Cotton". The weather was a crisp 72 degrees and sunny. With the wind blowing, it wasn't that bad.
First up was the freshman race at 11:55, which runs two miles. They basically eliminate the second mile which goes through the bowl. Chloe Burdette finished 54th running 16:38. She was followed by Kyla Petragnani who ran 17:02 to place 66th. Joelle Barcenas ran 18:31 to finish 114th and Karien Mansour ran 22:29 to place 160th.
Our second race was the Varsity A race at 1:25. This was definitely an exciting race to watch. In a pretty stacked race the girls lined up with Freehold Township(currently ranked 7th in the state, Cherry Hill East 10th, Westfield 17th and us who appeared 19th in the latest state rankings. To say everyone mattered is an understatement. Through 4 runners we were tied with Freehold Township. Came down to our fifth runners which set us apart by 6 points. The girls managed a 80 to 86 upset victory over Freehold Township.
Megan Niglio and Maddie Meder led the way finishing 4th and 5th. Megan clocked 19:31 and Maddie ran 19:38 for her first go at Holmdel park. Her time is #12 all time ever run at Holmdel by a Cherokee girl. Freshman Erin Healy after a nasty fall right before exiting the woods towards the finish crossed the line in 20:56 to place 18th. Her time is the second fastest time ever for a freshman behind Megan Niglio 19:58. Side note Megan ran 21:28 at Shore coaches her freshman year and ended that year with a 19:58 at the Meet of Champions. Junior Maya Kumar was our 4th runner stopping the clock at 21:08 to place 26th. Her time was over a minute faster than she has ever run at Holmdel. Senior Grace Wojciechowski was right on Maya's shoulder running 21:10 to place 27th. In their first races at Holmdel, senior Brooke Hibbs clocked 22:45 to place 70th and Emily Butler ran 22:57 to place 75th. This marks just the second time in school history that the girls have won the Varsity A race. In the Merged results, the team placed 5th out of all the teams that competed. Their team average of 20:28.40 is the second fastest we have ever run at Shore Coaches and the 9th fastest ever for a team racing at Holmdel.
The JV A race was our last of the day that went off at 3:05. Genisa John and Sofia Recinto took the lead early and never looked back. Genisa clocked an impressive 22:11 to take home first place followed by Sofia who ran 22:28 to get the runner up spot. Gabby Urban was next in for us running 24:02 to place 15th. Grace Gorsline stopped the clock at 25:23 to place 42nd and Alexa Butler was our 5th runner with a 76th place finish running 26:47. Sonal Patel ran 27:20 to place 85th, Selen Arkan 28:07 was 91st and Sydney Morrison finished 110th running 30:05 after a bad ankle sprain early in the race. The JV Team placed 4th out of the 12 teams in their race.
All in all, we wanted to see where we stacked up at this point of the season, and now we know. Next up for the girls will be the South Jersey Open for most of the team minus the Varsity. After that, the Championship part of the season is upon us as we go from the County meet to the Conference meet, and then to Sectionals.
