By Kevin Cranston
Runningco.com Writer
Putting together a five-man spread of 1:22, the Haddon Heights boys’ cross country team, ranked No. 5 in Runningco.com’s Top 20, finished ninth out of 50 teams on Friday at the Brooks Paul Short Run at Lehigh University with 354 points.
Pennsylvania’s Germantown Friends, ranked No. 3 in the Northeast by Dyestat.com, won the race with 124 points.
“I was happy with it,” Heights coach Matt Martin said. “It was the first 5K the varsity ran this season. They weren’t sharp, but I didn’t expect them to be.”
The Garnets’ top finisher was junior Josh Black, who finished the 3.1-mile course in 15:59 for 12th place out of 350 runners.
“He looked good,” Martin said. “I think he could have stuck his nose in the front of the race a little earlier. He was a little cautious early on. Through the first mile, he was in about 25th, but he did a real nice job working his way up over the next two miles.”
Coming in after Black were senior Mickey Borsellino (24th, 16:12), senior Andrew Whitman (80th, 16:54), junior Colin Lynch (121st, 17:17) and senior Colin Cole (127th, 17:21).
“I liked what our gap was,” Martin said. “For Josh to run as well as he did and then to have our No. 5 guy only 1:22 back is great for us right now.”
This was the second year that Heights competed at Paul Short. The team took 10th in 2006.
Junior Doug Smith of Gill St. Bernard’s in Gladstone took the individual title in a course record of 15:10. Smith broke the old record of 15:14, set by Colts Neck’s Craig Forys in 2005.
Other South Jersey boys’ teams that competed in the race were West Deptford, which finished 39th, and Bishop Eustace, which took 46th.
In the girls’ race, which was won by Cumberland Valley, West Deptford placed 35th out of 45 teams, while Haddon Heights finished 38th.
Taking the individual crown was Shippensburg Area senior Neely Spence, who ran 17:37.
