Haddon Twp. also a winner in Group 1; Kingsway’s Ley with third-fastest time of day

By Kevin Cranston
Runningco.com Writer

HOLMDEL

Up until this point in the season with the Haddonfield High School girls’ (ranked #1 by runningco.com) cross country team, you’ve pretty much known what you’re going to see out of the Bulldawgs before they even step on the line: sophomore Marielle Hall will be at the front of the race, the rest of the top five will finish within about a minute of her and the team will have one of the best averages of the meet.

It’s the team’s consistent strong performances that have resulted in titles in every major meet they’ve be in this season. And that same consistency Haddonfield has shown all season long was on display once again on Saturday as the Bulldawgs cruised to the Group 2 title at the NJSIAA state group championships at Holmdel Park with a 56-113 victory over Holmdel. North Warren was third with 175.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better race,” coach Mike Busarello said after his team picked up its third straight Group 2 title and the program’s seventh state title overall.

Providing yet another top-notch performance for the Bulldawgs was sophomore Marielle Hall, who held a comfortable lead for essentially the entire race as she won by 14 seconds over Delaware Valley’s Julia Mark in 19:30.

Hall is the third Haddonfield girl to ever win a state group title.

“Her race today was a reflection of her recent workouts,” Busarello said. “She has certainly been grooming herself for this the past couple weeks and I think she handled everything very well.”

Finishing as the No. 2 girl for the Bulldawgs was sophomore Lizzy Sikkema, who ran 19:49 for fourth. Senior Alyssa D’Orazio (20:17), junior Monica Ramstad (20:23) and junior Jackie Sikkema (20:24) finished 17th, 18th and 19th , respectively, to round out the team’s top five.

“Having Marielle win was huge for us,” Busarello said. “But the rest of the girls made sure they kept each other in sight and kept the gap close.”

The Bulldawgs finished the race with a five-girl spread of 54 seconds. Their team average of 20:04.6 was South Jersey’s best by 25 seconds and the sixth-best out of the six group races.

Kingsway sophomore Chelsea Ley

experienced defeat for the first time this season on Saturday as she finished second to Voorhees junior Melanie Thompson, 18:18-18:20, in a fast Group 3 race, in which the first eight girls broke 19 minutes.

Ley’s time, a four-second Holmdel PR, was the third-fastest time of all six races. Oak Knoll’s Kathleen McCafferty, the Non-Public B winner, had the top the top time of 18:13. Next best was Thompson’s 18:18.

“We were together the whole time,” Ley said of Thompson. “We were battling, going back-and-forth. It was an amazing race.

“Overall, I’m happy with it. I was hoping for 18-flat. I felt that if I got that time I could win.”

Ley certainly put herself into position to win the race. She went through the opening mile in 6:20 with Thompson and Roxbury senior Lauren Penny (third, 18:26). She stayed with those two until after the bowl (during the second mile), which is when Penny surged ahead. Eventually, Ley and Thompson caught up to Penny and it was just those two going after it for the remainder of the race.

Ley was only a few strides behind Thompson when the two came out of the woods for the final long straightway, but Ley didn’t have enough to overtake her.

“At the end of the race, I gave it everything I had, but she was just power housing it out,” Ley said. “She was just a little bit better than me today.”

After the race, Ley did point to one part of the race she wished she ran a little differently.

“I think I could have made the first mile a little faster and been at 6:15,” Ley said. “I gotta get out faster next week (at the Meet of Champions).”

As for next week, Ley still feels she’ll be right in the mix for the title.

“I definitely think I can win next week,” she said. “18-flat is still the goal I’m looking for.”

No. 16 Haddon Township

picked up its second team title in as many weeks as the Hawks, winners of last Saturday’s South Group 1 sectional, defeated Mountain Lakes 88-111 to capture its first-ever state title. Metuchen was third with 113.

The Hawks got out fairly well through the first mile, but it was definitely during the second half of the race where they took control and put it away.

“From the bowl (during the second mile) to the tennis courts (about 600 meters into the third mile) was key for us,” Township coach Sylvia Smith said.

Freshman Holly Gallagher was once again the team’s top finisher as she took third with a time of 20:21. Following her were senior Eileen O’Mara (11th, 21:05), senior Marisa Baumann (15th, 21:33), junior Courtney McGee (36th, 22:47) and senior Sarah Scholz (40th, 22:51).

For Smith, it wasn’t until O’Mara, who was injured for a good portion of the season, returned to the lineup at the Colonial Conference all-star meet on Oct. 25 that she even thought about a state title. Things became a little clearer after last weekend, though.

“After sectionals, I thought we could do it,” Smith said. “Everything was just starting to click for us. The girls were healthy and not burned out.

“This whole week I was telling them they had a shot. I kept saying don’t back off, don’t back off.”

No. 2 Lenape,

for the second straight week, didn’t have quite the performance its capable of, but the Indians still ran well enough to move on to next Saturday’s Meet of Champions – for the second consecutive year – as an at-large team. The Indians finished fifth in Group 4 with 194 points.

Receiving an at-large bid means Lenape had one of the top two total team times from all fourth and fifth place teams out of the six groups combined. The Indians had a total team time of 1:42:29.0 (20:29.8 average). The 20:29.8 was the second-best South Jersey average on the day.

First in for Lenape was sophomore Caitlin Orr, who took 14th with a time of 19:34.

Shawnee freshman Casey Doyle,

in her first race at Holmdel, ran an impressive 18:50 to finish fourth in the Group 3 race. Doyle’s time was the second-fastest on the day by a South Jersey runner. Besides Ley, Doyle was the only other South Jersey girl to break 19 minutes.

Doyle is the first Shawnee girl to place in the top five at the state meet since 2002, when Kim Bonner ran 19:33 to take second in Group 4.

No. 18 Our Lady of Mercy

earned its first-ever trip to the M of C as it scored 95 points to finish second in Non-Public B, a race in which the top five teams were separated by only 13 points. Saint Rose won the race with 90.

Top finisher for the Villagers was senior Jena Peacock, who took third in 19:17. It’s the second straight year Peacock has finished in the top five in Non-Public B; she was fourth in 20:11 in 2006.

Other Individual Qualifiers

Williamstown junior Maria Ruiz, who finished eighth in the Group 4 race in 19:04; Highland freshman Megan Venables, who ran 19:13 to take 10th in Group 3; Wildwood Catholic sophomore Tara Wuko, who was seventh in the Non-Public B race in 19:59 and Wildwood Catholic sophomore Chrissy Casiello, who placed eighth in 20:21.

Wildcards: Cherry Hill East senior Missy Showers (12th in Group 4, 19:26), Millville junior Lindsay Bertulis (13th in Group 4, 19:31), Timber Creek junior Megan Arnold (15th in Group 3, 19:37) and Millville junior Brooke Kott (18th in Group 4, 19:48).