Bulldawgs finish behind NY’s Kellenberg and PA’s LaSalle

By Kevin Cranston
Runningco.com Writer

October 21, 2007

On Saturday, the Haddonfield High School boys’ cross country team, ranked No. 1 in runningco.com’s Top 20, traveled to the hallowed hills of New York’s Van Cortlandt Park, where the Bulldawgs finished third in the “A” race at the Eastern States Championships with 76 points.

Kellenberg, the fifth-ranked team in New York, won the race with 63, while Pennsylvania’s LaSalle was second with 75. No. 4 Haddon Heights was fourth with 118.

Continuing his strong sophomore season for Haddonfield was Boo Vitez, who was the team’s first finisher, placing second overall with his 12:55 on VCP’s 2.5-mile layout. LaSalle’s Dan Lowry won the race in 12:46.46.

“Boo ran a great race,” coach Nick Baker said. “Breaking 13 minutes up there is the benchmark for a great time, especially for a sophomore. With his time, he passed his brother Tim and Mike Burke to move up to No. 7 on our all-time list for that course. So he’s in pretty good company.”

Following Vitez was senior Dan Carreon, who was sick most of last week, but still gutted out a 13:21 for 10th place. The rest of the top five consisted of sophomore Ray Schlitt (12th, 13:27), sophomore Colin Baker (15th, 13:37) and freshman Ethan Quanci (37th, 14:10).

Haddonfield’s usual No. 5 runner, sophomore David Twitchell, was with Colin Baker with three quarters of a mile to go, but ran out of gas and struggled to the finish line, according to Nick Baker. Twitchell ended up 39th in 14:14.

“There’s no question I think we could have won the meet,” Nick Baker said. “For the most part, we ran well. The top four looked good and we just have to work on getting our fifth to close up the gap. We’re not real disappointed because we know it was just an invitational and not a state meet. The whole experience did nothing but help us as we get ready for sectionals, states and the Meet of Champs.”

Heights was led by junior Josh Black, who finished sixth overall in 13:11.

In other boys’ races, No. 11 Cherry Hill East won the “C” race on a sixth runner tiebreaker over New York’s Xavier. The Cougars finished with 44 points. The team’s top finisher was Joel Burt, who was third in 13:51.

South Jersey earned the top two spots in the “D” race as Haddon Township, led by individual winner Chris Hubler (14:05.23), took the team title with 31 points over Maple Shade (53). Brian Abate ran 14:21 for second as Shade’s first finisher.