Chargers’ No. 6 runner finishes ahead of Moorestown’s sixth
By Kevin Cranston
Runningco.com Writer
DEPTFORD
In a cross country meet, a team’s top five runners is all a coach usually has to worry about for scoring purposes.
But in the case of a tie, having a pretty good sixth runner can really make a difference.
Timber Creek High School girls’ cross country coach Melanie Porterfield found this out first-hand on Saturday at the Fourth Annual South Jersey Cross Country Shootout at Gloucester County College.
When the meet’s three girls’ races were finished, Porterfield’s Chargers were in a first-place tie with Moorestown as both teams had 33 points.
To decide the team title, the scorers looked at which team had the better sixth runner. And with Timber Creek’s Jackie Inaldo finishing ahead of Moorestown’s Kelsey Wheeler in the 5-6-7 race, the Chargers, ranked No. 5 in Runningco.com’s Preseason Top 20, were awarded the title over No. 10 Moorestown. No. 7 Paul VI was third with 41.
The scoring was based on a team’s top two runners from the 1-2 race, the top two runners from the 3-4 race and the top runner in the 5-6-7 race.
“Winning this title is something we have to live up to for the rest of the year,” Porterfield said. “This means big things for this team. I come from a sprint/hurdle background, so I’m still learning some things. But we have talented and dedicated girls on this team who can contend for team titles.”
Timber Creek was led by Megan Arnold, who took seventh in the 1-2 race, completing GCC’s 3.1-mile course in 19:46. The rest of the top five consisted of Megan Short (eighth in 1-2 race, 20:02), Amira Abdullah (fourth in the 3-4 race, 21:10), Brooke Dovell (13th in the 3-4 race, 21:35) and Amanda Kerno (first in the 5-6-7 race, 21:42). Inaldo, who helped the team clinch the title, took 10th in the 5-6-7 race in 22:15.
