Voorhees, Old Bridge, Hillsborough show up at Nike Northeast Nationals

The Nike Northeast Regional Cross Country Championships were held Saturday at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., and a number of local teams had top 10 finishes.

The top two teams and top five finishers who didn’t run for a qualifying team advanced to the Nike Nationals on Dec. 5 in Portland, Ore. The Northeast National consisted of teams from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.

The Voorhees High School boys cross country team, which finished 24th last year, placed eighth with 285 points, with Chris Romero coming in 10th in 16:14 and Robert Whitney placed 20th in 16:32.

“We had run in it last year and the goal was to come back as a full varsity squad, we didn’t have the full squad last year due to some injuries and being sick, we wanted to come back and try our hardest to qualify for nationals,” said junior Evan Minor, who came 71st with a time of 17:12. “We were pleased but there’s always wanting to do better, and we wanted to have that one shot to go to Portland for Nationals.”

Old Bridge finished fifth with 195 points, as Rey Rivera placed 15th in a time of 16:26. Gerard D’Ambrosio came in 22nd in 16:39, and Gerard Gill finished in 24th place in 16:41.

Hillsborough placed 27th.

“It’s a lot different racing there because you’re running with top teams and because everybody is trying for the same goal,” Minor said. “It’s different in a sense that it’s a really tough course and everyone is just trying to get one foot in front of the other and it’s more of a strategic race.”

The Hillsborough girls team came in fifth with 197 points as Chloe Wong finished in 26th place in a time of 19:39. Paige Novak finished in 34th in 19:47 and Stephanie Mauer placed 38th in 19:54.

Union Catholic placed 10th with 324 points.

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com