Race Day: There were no qualifiers for the Meet of Champions when the Morris Hills girls and boys and Morris Knolls girls teams competed in the Group meets at Holmdel Park on Saturday, Nov. 14. But of the 21 runners who competed, 17 will be back for another go at it next season.
Morris Hills girls place 8th in Group 3 cross country
The bad news is that none of the three teams and none of the 21 runners that represented Morris Hills and Morris Knolls at the 2009 NJSIAA State Group Cross Country Championships in Saturday's (Nov. 14) competition at Holmdel Park qualified for the Meet of Champions. The good news is that 17 of the 21 runners who competed are underclassmen and will be back again next season. The Morris Hills girls team had the best showing by finishing eighth in the 20-team Group 3 field. Voorhees won the team title with Hopewell Valley and Seneca 2-3. Kingsway senior Chelsea Ley won the individual title with a time of 17:52.03. The top three teams in each of the four public school races and two non-public school races plus two wild-card teams (the fastest times from the fourth and fifth-place teams in each group) qualify for this Saturday's (Nov. 21) 20-team Meet of Champions at Holmdel. The Lady Knights were led by freshman Ailis Clyne who was 27th in a field of 143, slogging over Holmdel's wet and slippery 3.1-mile course in 20:39.63. All seven Morris Hills runners in the race were underclassmen. Junior Stephanie Churchman finished 37th in 21:05.40; sophomore Erin Gaven was 45th in 21:17.50; freshman Angela Ciallella was 79th in 22:18.86; junior Kira Polimeni placed 94th in 22:35.69; sophomore Zoe Weimersheimer was 122nd in 23:32.45; and junior Jana Sedlacek finished 124th with a time of 23:37.00. Six of the seven runners for the Morris Knolls girls team will back next year as Diana D'Achille was the only senior to compete for the Lady Eagles in Saturday Group 4 race. D'Achille finished an outstanding cross country career by placing 33rd out of 149 runners, completing the Holmdel layout in 20:24.00 as Morris Knolls finished 16th in a field of 20 teams. Freshman Julia Strother was the next Lady Eagle to cross the finish line, placing 68th with a time of 21:04.89. She was followed by sophomore Alyssa Brindle, who was 79th in 21:14.67; freshman Heather Weick, 123rd in 22:33.28; freshman priscilla Ortiz, 130th in 22:43.88; sophomore Kiki Baldassari, 135th in 22:53.61; and freshman Brianna Reggiani, 141st in 23:32.47. Randolph won the team title with Hillsborough and Hunterdon Central running 2-3. West Windsor-Plainsboro South sophomore Caroline Kellner was timed in 18:42.80 to win the individual title. The Morris Hills boys team had three seniors on the team that finished 19th in the Group 3 race. West Windsor-Plainsboro North won the team title and Mendham and Millburn finished 1-2 in the 20-team field. Junior twin brothers Joe and Jim Rosa of West Windsor-PN finished 1-2 with Joe winning in 15:36.76 and Jim a tick behind in 15:36.93. Senior Connor Doyle was the first Knight to cross, finishing 49th in the 146-man field with a time of 17:40.41. Sophomore Nicholas Patterson was the next Morris Hills runner to finish, placing 67th with a time of 17:58.38. Senior Leonardo Valden-benito finished 108th in 18:33.52; sophomore Alex Fayerman was 117th in 18:45.61; freshman Robert Biro was 124th in 18:58.00; sophomore Hemal Shah was 132nd in 19:18.97; and senior Mark DiGennaro was 139th with a time of 19:42.55.
Freshman Robert Biro of Morris Hills, shown here running in a meet earlier this season, was one of 17 Hills and Morris Knolls runners who competed in the All-Groups Cross Country Championships at Holmdel Park on Saturday, Nov. 14.
