Cross Country: Voorhees boys, Hillsborough girls roll at sectionals

MONROE - The Voorhees boys and the Hillsborough girls cross country teams both walked away with some hardware on Saturday at Thompson Park.

Voorhees placed first with 25 points and an average time of 16:16.95 in the Group II race at the Central Jersey sectional championships while Hillsborough also placed first in the Group IV race with 58 points and a 19:43.83 average.

Senior Robert Whitney (first place, 15:54.66), sophomore Chris Romero (second place, 15:55.75), senior Brendan McGill (fourth place, 16:17.03), junior Evan Minor (eighth place, 16:35.00) and sophomore Joseph Capone (10th place, 16:42.31) led the Vikings.

Senior Stephanie Mauer (fourth place, 19:12.54), senior Paige Novak (sixth place, 19:22.12), junior Peri Bongiovanni (12th place, 19:48.37) and senior Kelly Cianciola (15th place, 20:02.93) paced the Raiders.

The sectional title is the second in a row for Voorhees and the Vikings defended their championship with a spectacular performance.

“It’s definitely good to bring the title back,” Whitney said. “This year, it’s a bigger win for us because the competition was a lot steeper.”

After running the course a few times this year, the Vikings were very comfortable with the terrain.

“We made a move on the downhill and stuck out through the uphill,” Romero said. “We had a meet here a couple weeks ago and both of us were dying on that last hill. Today felt a lot better.”

The Vikings hope that the momentum from Saturday’s win continues to next week, where they hope to meet their own lofty expectations.

“We hope it carries over to groups because we know what we can do,” Romero said. “It’s a confidence booster. We’ve proved what we’re capable of.”

For Hillsborough, the win wasn’t so easy. It has been dealing with a rash of injuries and its third runner, Chloe Wong, became ill this week. Despite the adversity, the Raiders toughed it out with a gutsy performance.

“Today, we were kind of surprised with how we did, we had a lot happen this week,” Mauer said. “I’m happy everybody came back together.”

The Raiders were most concerned about West Windsor-Plainsboro South, the team that defeated them last year. They redeemed themselves and defeated the Pirates by 32 points.

“We were kind of scared against them because we know they like to go out hard,” Mauer said. “We showed a lot of resilience throughout the race. [The redemption] definitely feels good, but we’re also looking forward to how we perform against our entire group next week.”

North Section 2 Championships

The New Providence boys team placed first in Group I behind a first place finish from Jordan Price in 16:14. Mark Pasquariello finished in second in 16:33 and David Adams placed fifth in 17:31 as New Providence averaged 17:16 for 29 points. Glen Ridge came in second with 57 points while Cedar Grove took third with 68.

On the girls side, the Pioneers finished 1-2-3 to finish first ahead of Secaucus 21-74. Jillian Turner placed first in a time of 18:51, Megan Friscia placed second in 19:44 and Kelsey Turner rounded out the trifecta in 20:04.

In Group II, the Bernards boys team placed first with 53 points. Stuart Gruters finished second in 16:30 while teammate and brother Richard Gruters finished fourth in 16:46.

On the girls side, the Mountaineers placed second behind Parsippany, 54-87. Junior Paige Petty came in second in 20:17 and Bernards finished 17, 20, 23, 25, 32 and 42 in an average of 21:45.

The North Huntedon girls team took first in Group IV ahead of Ridge, 40-44. Westfield was fourth with 102 points and averaged a school record 20:13. Watchung Hills took fifth with 108.

Anna DiMarcello placed second with a time of 18:55, Ellie DiMarcello took fourth in 19:04 and Angela Kearsley placed eighth in 19:26. For Ridge, Claire Jones (19:14), Shayna Bains (19:17) and Sophie Spring (19:18) finished 5-6-7. Lizzie Buckley of Watchung Hills placed third in 19:00.

On the boys side Westfield placed second behind Millburn 50-66. Ryan Martins finished in second place in a time of 16:08, North Hunterdon’s Raymond Sellaro (16:10) finished third and Andrew Daly of Ridge (16:12) placed fourth.

The top five teams and first 10 finishers in each group from each public sectional championship and every non-public team advance to the Group Championships next weekend at Holmdel Park.

BOYS RESULTS

GROUP I

Top finishers: 1. Jordan Price (New Providence) 16:14; 2. Mark Pasquariello (New Providence) 16:33; 3. Nick DeGennaro (Cedar Grove) 16:54; 4. Pelle Nogueria (Glen Ridge) 17:03; 5. David Adams (New Providence) 17:31; 6. Pat Smurla (Cedar Grove) 17:43; 7. Braden Keenan (Belvidere) 17:46; 8. Cameron Dignan (Glen Ridge) 17:48; 9. Dante Gonzalez (Palisades Park) 17:51; 10. Justin Dignan (Glen Ridge) 17:52.

Team scores: 1. New Providence 29; 2. Glen Ridge 57; 3. Cedar Grove 68; 4. Dayton 141; 5. Verona 146; 6. Belvidere 155; 7. Secaucus 168; 8. Harrison 211; 9. Ridgefield Memorial 221; 10. Essex County Tech 300.

GROUP II

Top finishers: 1. Sean Sullivan (Rutherford) 16:15; 2. Stuart Gruters (Bernards) 16:30; 3. Eric Schlosser (Parsippany) 16:44; 4. Richard Gruters (Bernards) 16:46; 5. Joseph Thoma (Whippany Park) 16:56; 6. Xavier Locke (Lyndhurst) 17:06; 7. Isaiah Aviles (Lyndhurst) 17:08; 8. Nicholas Thoma (Whippany Park) 17:10; 9. Derek Lewandowski (Ridgefield Park) 17:15; 10. Steven Patracuolla (Parsippany) 17:16.

Team scores: 1. Bernards 53; 2. Whippany Park 100; 3. Parsippany 118; 4. Rutherford 132; 5. McNair 151; 6. Lyndhurst 151; 7. Ridgefield Park 167; 8. Hanover Park 171; 9. Madison 193; 10. Fort Lee 193; 11. West Essex 303; 12. Parsippany Hills 318; 13. Morris County Tech 352; 14. Caldwell 380.

GROUP III

Team scores: 1. Middletown North 77; 2. West Windsor-Plainsboro North 92; 3. Mendham 96; 4. Warren Hills 113; 5. Middletown South 118; 6. Chatham 119; 7. Summit 143; 8. Red Bank Regional 193; 9. Hopewell Valley 193; 10. Nutley 310; 11. Somerville 328; 12. West Morris 360; 13. Long Branch 370; 14. Colonia 425; 15. J.F. Kennedy 447; 16. Belleville 487.

GROUP IV

Top finishers: 1. Matt Grossman (Millburn) 15:34; 2. Ryan Martins (Watchung Hills) 16:08; 3. Raymond Sellaro (North Hunterdon) 16:10; 4. Andrew Daly (Ridge) 16:12; 5. Will Meyer (Millburn) 16:13; 6. Jonathan Mobisa (Union) 16:14; 7. Jake Hardin (Phillipsburg) 16:15; 8. Jared Pangallozzi (Columbia) 16:17; 9. Ryan Siegel (Westfield) 16:22; 10. Ramsey Little (Millburn) 16:23.

Team scores: 1. Millburn 50; 2. Westfield 66; 3. North Hunterdon 99; 4. J.P. Stevens 132; 5. Columbia 153; 6. Watchung Hills 166; 7. Ridge 182; 8. Phillipsburg 216; 9. Scotch Plains-Fanwood 259; 10. Piscataway 303; 11. Union 315; 12. Elizabeth 332; 13. Perth Amboy 366; 14. Bridgewater-Raritan 384; 15. Woodbridge 388; 16. Linden 494.

GIRLS RESULTS

GROUP I

Top finishers: 1. Jillian Turner (New Providence) 18:51; 2. Megan Friscia (New Providence) 19:44; 3. Kelsey Turner (New Providence) 20:04; 4. Arianna Lopez (Palisades Park) 20:41; 5. Roshni Patel (Secaucus) 20:55; 6. Dianna Morganti (Cedar Grove) 21:05; 7. Mehek Parikh (Secaucus) 21:12; 8. Marlee Hornbaker (Belvidere) 21:18; 9. Lauren Pope (New Providence) 21:25; 10. Sydney Peng (New Providence) 21:45.

Team scores: 1. New Providence 21; 2. Secaucus 74; 3. Dayton 81; 4. Verona 101; 5. Belvidere 114; 6. Harrison 132.

GROUP II

Team scores: 1. Parsippany 54; 2. Bernards 87; 3. Lyndhurst 104; 4. Morris County Tech 141; 5. West Essex 164; 6. Whippany Park 167; 7. Hanover Park 187; 8. Rutherford 226; 9. Parsippany Hills 246; 10. Ridgefield Park 270; 11. McNair 298; 12. Caldwell 302; 13. Hackettstown 316; 14. Fort Lee 319; 15. Madison 321.

GROUP III

Team scores: 1. Mendham 50; 2. Summit 89; 3. Red Bank Regional 107; 4. Middletown South 153; 5. West Morris 160; 6. Chatham 162; 7. Somerville 173; 8. West Windsor-Plainsboro North 200; 9. Middletown North 208; 10. Hopewell Valley 230; 11. Nutley 242; 12. Colonia 292; 13. Warren Hills 391; 14. J.F. Kennedy 447; 15. Belleville 473; 16. Orange 476.

GROUP IV

Top finishers: 1. Katie Delidow (Millburn) 18:53; 2. Anna DiMarcello (North Hunterdon) 18:55; 3. Lizzie Buckley (Watchung Hills) 19:00; 4. Ellie DiMarcello (North Hunterdon) 19:04; 5. Claire Jones (Ridge) 19:14; 6. Shayna Bains (Ridge) 19:17; 7. Sophie Spring (Ridge) 19:18; 8. Angela Kearsley (North Hunterdon) 19:26; 9. Jenny Mazzella (Millburn) 19:31; 10. Maddy Bord (Scotch Plains-Fanwood) 19:33.

Team scores: 1. North Hunterdon 40; 2. Ridge 44; 3. Millburn 93; 4. Westfield 102; 5. Watchung Hills 108; 6. Phillipsburg 191; 7. Bridgewater-Raritan 220; 8. J.P. Stevens 231; 9. Scotch Plains-Fanwood 235; 10. Columbia 283; 11. Woodbridge 314; 12. Piscataway 368; 13. Dickinson 379.