Cross-country: Highlights from the Bergen County group championships

The top 11 teams and runners who finished in the top 50 of the overall meet merge qualified for Saturday's Lou Molino Bergen Meet of Champions at the Bergen Group cross-country championships on Oct. 14 at a wet Darlington County Park in Mahwah.

Here's a look at the races, group by group with the full team scores and qualifiers listed for the BMOC.

Group D

Hasbrouck Heights sweeps team titles; Boys first to win six straight

Midway through the season, it looked like the Hasbrouck Heights boys team would not be able to grab the sixth straight Boys Group D title, that eluded Bogota in 2017 and Palisades Park in 1998 when the division was called group 1.

While the Aviators had a strong top three including potential state group 1 champion Aidan Morrow, junior Ryan Ober and senior Ayaan Modak, all of whom figured to be in or near the top five in the race, injuries, illness and bad performances saw the Aviators lose to Bogota in dual meets and for the NJIC Meadowlands title.

"But I knew we still had some good runners in the back of the top seven, who if they did what they supposed to do, we could win counties and maybe even sectionals,'' said veteran coach Mike Ryan.

Morrow easily won the individual, going our hard for the first mile and burning off a future potential champ in Bogota sophomore Emmanuel Marin (who faded to third). Morrow eased to a 140 meter win over Waldwick's Marshall Carver, while Ober took fourth and Modak fifth.

But it was personal bests by the next four Hasbrouck Heights finishers, juniors Max Mazza (13th), Louis Perdomo (16th), Connor Ng (19th) and Andriy Mandzy (23rd) that provided a surprisingly easy 39-57 win over New Milford with Bogota third.

"I thought our second and third guys could catch Marin if he went out too hard and they almost did,'' said Ryan "And our back kids beat New Milford and Bogota's back kids to give us the win.''

"It was really inspirational to see those guys step up like they did,'' said Morrow. "When we lost two guys who've really been a big part of the team to injuries, and then everybody else stepped up, it shifted our whole mood for the rest of the year.''

There was no such concern for the Aviators girls, who won their ninth crown since 2008 with the second lowest score in meet history, beating defending champion Bogota, 26-44.

"These girls feed off of each other and they're the best of friends,'' said Ryan after his team put five girls in the top eight and six in the top 12. "They watched Isabella Drezek (now at Tufts) for two years and want to emulate her.''

Bogota's Isabel Michel won the race over Mackenzie Bua of Hasbrouck Heights by about 15 meters in 20:01, with Lexi Powers of Hasbrouck Heights another 10 meters back. Nina Castellano (6th), Silvia Andrade (7th) and Shantal Urgiles (8th) completed the Aviator scoring as all five runners set personal bests.

"They want to run hard in every race the rest of the season and see if they can win the sectionals, do well in the Bergen Meet of Champions and see what happens at State Groups,'' Ryan says. "This team takes so short cuts.''

BOYS TEAM SCORES: HASBROUCK HEIGHTS 39, New Milford 57, Bogota 70, Waldwick 96, Cresskill 110, Saddle Brook 143, Ridgefield 191, Palisades Park 224, North Arlington 262.

BOYS INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS: 1. Aidan Morrow, Hasbrouck Heights, 16:20; 2. Marshall Carver, Waldwick, 16:46*; 3. Emmanuel Marin, Bogota, 17:12*; 4. Ryan Ober, Hasbrouck Heights, 17:25; 5. Ayaan Modak, Hasbrouck Heights, 17:30.

GIRLS TEAM SCORES: HASBROUCK HEIGHTS 26, Bogota 44, Saddle Brook 92, Waldwick 98, Ridgefield 143, New Milford 184, Cresskill 188, Palisades Park 197, North Arlington 228.

GIRLS INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS: 1. Isabel Michel, Bogota, 20:01*; 2. Mackenzie Bua, Hasbrouck Heights, 20:05; 3. Lexi Powers, Hasbrouck Heights, 20:08; 4. Ana Michel, Bogota, 21:31*.

Teams in CAPS qualify for BMOC plus individuals with an *.

Group B

Demarest boys and Old Tappan girls take a pack approach to earn titles

Neither the Old Tappan girls nor the Demarest boys figure to put a runner in the top 15 at the Bergen Meet of Champions Saturday, and neither had a contender for the group title on Oct. 14. Yet both teams won comfortably, with Old Tappan taking a third straight girls title, 37-47 over Demarest and Demarest defeating Leonia, 39-58 for its first boys title since 2017.

But if both teams duplicate the tightness of their pack efforts at BMOC, both figure to be comfortably in the top five in the final local event of the year.

Demarest boys went 3-6-8-10-12-13-14 with a 61 second spread from its first finisher to its last, while Old Tappan did even better, going 5-6-7-9-11 with its five scorers finishing within a remarkable 21 seconds.

"Ridgewood and Northern Highlands are in a league of their own,'' said Old Tappan girls coach Jeff Clark, "But we're pretty good. And as the freshmen learn how to race better, we'll do very well, and hopefully retain our (group 2) sectional title.''

With all-Bergen stars of the past like Cara Hlbocki, Kristen Johnson and Kate Meeks all off at college, the upfront power of the Golden Knights that led to fourth and fifth place finishes in the last two state group meets is gone. But in its place is a young (only one senior in the top five) and developing group of girls who run well together, even when the race doesn't go as expected.

As expected, River Dell's Christina Allen dominated and won her third straight individual title, by about 350 meters over teammate Isabella Gabay and Demarest took the next two spots before freshmen Emme Fermin (5th) and Maiumi Quiros (7th) and junior Sophia Katechis (6th) finished together at 21 miknutes for the 5,000 meter distance. Five seconds later, Rowan Leddy, the only senior, crossed the line and 16 seconds and two places after that sophomore Claire Bailey completed the scoring.

"We've had a different girl finish first for us each of the last three races,'' said an elated Clark, "Today, Christina took the lead early and then backed off and our freshmen didn't know what to do, so they backed off too. I think they'll learn from this and be better next week, although Maiumi has to miss the race because of a conflict.''

Pascack Valley's Patrick Kurtz and Marcus Koshy followed their own race plan in the boys race and took the race out hard and never backed off, with the senior Kurtz holding off the sophomore Koshy in a personal best 16:34, about 10 meters ahead of his teammate and 175 meters ahead of Demarest's no. 1 first year cross-country runner Enrico Parrella.

"He was a basketball player who came out for track last year, mostly as a 400 guy,'' said Demarest coach Mike Ippolito. "We talked him into giving cross a shot and he's still learning how to race. I think next week with a lot of people around him he could surprise some people.''

Veteran junior Ivan Timochko was sixth and senior Maxim Gilbert PR'd in eighth. Soph Markus White, senior Matt Sands and juniors Alec Stratton, and Yahel Rahiv took four of the next six spots with Stratton and Rahiv producing personal bests and White and Sands just missing.

"This team has worked very hard and they all seem to get at least a little bit better every week,'' said Ippolito. "This has been a rewarding year.''

BOYS TEAM SCORES: DEMAREST 39, LEONIA 58, Old Tappan 89, Pascack Valley 103, Ridgefield Park 149, Mahwah 164, Fort Lee 165, Dwight Morrow 218.

BOYS INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS: 1. Patrick Kurtz, Pascack Valley, 16:34*; 2. Marcus Koshy, Pascack Valley, 16:36*; 3. Enrico Parrella, Demarest, 17:09; 4. Benjamin Johnson, Old Tappan, 17:17*; 5. Ian Cortez, Leonia, 17:29; 6. Ivan Timochko, Demarest, 17:33.

GIRLS TEAM SCORES: OLD TAPPAN 37, DEMAREST 47, River Dell 74, Ridgefield Park 111, Leonia 118, Fort Lee 161, Mahwah 185.

GIRLS INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS: 1. Christina Allen, River Dell, 19:09*; 2. Isabella Gabay, River Dell, 20:31*; 3. Melissa Cen, Demarest, 20:48; 4. Maya Gueguen, Demarest, 20:50; 5. Emme Fermin, Old Tappan, 21:00; 6. Sophia Katechis, Old Tappan, 21:00; 7. Maiumi Quiros, Old Tappan, 21;01; 8. Sasha Raskin, Leonia, 21:04*; 9. Rowan Leddy, Old Tappan, 21:05; 10. Sofia Lee, Paramus, 21:19*; 11. Claire Bailey, Old Tappan, 21:21; 10. Aviv Mosayov, Demarest, 21:40.

Division C

Indian Hills sweeps for second straight year as Maybeck and Phillips continue remarkable comebacks

Glen Rock gave Indian Hills everything it had in both the boys and girls races, but the Braves, led by victories by come-backing seniors Dan Phillips and Alyssa Maybeck, retained their titles in races that were closer than expected.

Maybeck, whose running career was in jeopardy after she dropped off the team last spring, victimized by low iron which led to lower motivation, scored an impressive victory in 20:00, about 45 meters ahead of runner-up Mika Tampadong of Becton with defending champ Summer Myrhen of Indian Hills a close third.

Maybeck and Myrhen were joined in the top five by teammate Camryn Finn, who finished fifth. Indian Hills' early power, helped by a near personal best by sprinter Avarie Bergen and a huge PR by junior first year cross-country runner Madeline Coppa gave the Braves a 42-53 win over Glen Rock. which scored an impressive pack performance placing its top five runners between eighth and 13th, ahead of the Indian Hills 4-5.

But it was Maybeck who truly surprised.

"I was really worried about her last spring,'' said Indian Hills coach Pete Tuohy. "She only ran one race but was diagnosed with low iron and almost stopped running. I told her we would work together and get her back and she believed me and did the right things physically and mentally to get back.''

"I never experienced anything like that before,'' said Maybeck, "It really messed with my motivation, but running's been a big part of my life since I started in middle school. I took a break from training but even then I still tried to run two miles a day. Sometimes it was really hard to do that.''

But Maybeck stayed with it, incorporating high iron foods like spinach and salmon and taking iron supplements, gradually returning to training by the time summer running camp came.

She remained in the Braves' top three early in the season and by the time she finished 27th in the Shore Coaches Girls C race, she had begun to lead the team and the league meet and county meets gave her an increasing level of confidence.

"Going into the race Saturday, I didn't have much of a game plan,'' she said. "I just wanted to stick with Becton girl (Tampadong) and Summer and see what happened.''

What happened was grabbing and never relinquishing the lead, surprising even herself. "I don't know where that came from,'' she joked. "I haven't won a lot of races before.''

Phillips led the Braves to a 43-67 win over Glen Rock by winning the race by about 60 meters in 16:38 over Glen Rock's Ben Habler. The Panthers, Park Ridge/Emerson and Pascack Hills each put two runners in the top seven, sending an unprecedented four teams to the 11 team BMOC, more than any other group.

Phillips continued his return from a series of injuries that have hampered him since he finished third in the 2021 group cross-country championships and earned his fourth win of the year.

"I think he has a shot to run with anyone next week,'' said Tuohy.

Indian Hills freshmen Frank Coppa and Lukas Kertesz went 8-10 with junior Justin Vitale 11th and Nico Tucci 13th. The gap from Phillips to Vitale was just 52 seconds and from Coppa to Vitale 16, but Tuohy wasn't impressed despite the win.

"We ran a dumb race in the boys meet,'' he said. "We went out slower than I wanted us to but next week we'll have more of a plan."

BOYS TEAM SCORES: INDIAN HILLS 43, GLEN ROCK 67, PARK RIDGE/EMERSON 73, PASCACK HILLS 90, Dumont 148, Rutherford 178, Becton 178, Lyndhurst 180, Ramsey 234, Westwood 292.

BOYS INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS: 1. Dan Phillips, Indian Hills, 16:38; 2. Ben Habler, Glen Rock, 16:50; 3. Ben Raser, Glen Rock, 16:53; 4. Patrick Tallman, Park Ridge/Emerson, 16:57; 5. William O'Donovan, Park Ridge/Emerson, 16:57; 6. Dylan Barrett, Pascack Hills, 17:06; 7. Peter Priestner, Pascack Hills, 17:14; 8. Frank Coppa, Indian Hills, 17:14; 9. Max Thorn, Becton, 17:16*; 10. Lukas Kertesz, Indian Hills, 17:26; 11. Justin Vitale, Indian Hills, 17:29; 12. Karl Andre III, Dumont, 17:29*; 13. Nico Tucci, Indian Hills, 17:30; 14. Ryan Wolfe, Glen Rock, 17:33.

GIRLS TEAM SCORES: INDIAN HILLS 42, GLEN ROCK 53, Rutherford 95, Ramsey 119, Becton 132, Pascack Hills 139, Westwood 200, Dumont 206, Elmwood Park 218, Lyndhurst 229.

GIRLS INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS: 1. Alyssa Maybeck, Indian Hills, 20:00; 2. Mika Tampadong, Becton, 20:09*; 3. Summer Myrhen, Indian Hills, 20:21; 4. Madison Sovak, Ramsey, 20:36*; 5. Camryn Finn, Indian Hills, 20:59; 6. Anna Lynch, Ramsey, 21:04*; 7. Katelyn Reuter, Dumont, 21:07*; 8. Jenna Yim, Glen Rock, 21:11; 9. Sophie Walder, Park Ridge/Emerson, 21;18.*

GROUP A

Ridgewood boys and girls continue their domination

No school has dominated any group in North Jersey cross-country like Ridgewood's boys and girls have dominated since the meet went to at least four groups for boys in 1973 and for girls eight years later. Maybe no school has ever dominated any scholastic sport, both boys and girls like the Maroons have.

Saturday was no exception.

For the seventh straight time and record 23rd overall, Ridgewood's boys won the A title by an almost unfathomable 19-111 margin over Bergen Tech.

And for the fifth straight time and 34th time in 41 years, the girls copped the A title, 26-40 over Northern Highlands.

Luke Pash and Cellina Rabolli were the winners of the individual races for Ridgewood, the first time since 2004 that the Maroons had swept the team and individual titles for both genders.

"We're moving the chains a little bit and I'm going to let them loose on Saturday (at the Bergen Meet of Champions),'' said Ridgewood boys coach Pat Ryan. "We ran a very conservative first mile today and we're going after it Saturday.''

A year ago, Ridgewood dominated the Bergen A meet and seemed poised to break a 16-16 tie with rival Don Bosco for the most BMOC titles. But the Ironmen shocked the Maroons, with a 60-74 upset, running their best of the season.

Only two Bosco runners are back from that team, but Ridgewood returns all but its seventh man. The Maroons are unlikely to get caught unawares again.

Despite the difficult weather conditions, Ridgewood put seven of its runners within the top eight in the race and the top 18 of the entire meet Saturday.

Pash had the day's fastest time, 16:06, and defeated Teaneck's Josh Tejada by nearly 125 meters. DJ Murphy, Tom Mevissen, Chris Brady, Jett Lincoln, Trevor Kane and Benjamin Papageorge took the next six spots in the field, with Papageorge finishing in 17:01, one of four Darlington bests on the day.

The girls had tougher competition, as runner-up Northern Highlands is a top 10 team in the state and defeated the Maroons at last year's BMOC and State Meet of Champions with essentially the same lineup it currently fields.

"We're starting to run with confidence and getting over the self doubt,'' said Ridgewood girls coach Steve Opremcak, whose team has beaten Northern Highlands four times this season. "We've shown flashes of this in the past and I still think we need some sort of an edge to make the next step and win a state title.''

The top three Maroons, Rabolli (18:56), Eilat Kissil (18:59) and freshman Katherine Keating (19:07) went 1-2-3 in the race and 1-2-3 overall for the day with Avery Sheridan (8th, 19:29) and Ayla Cooke (11th, 19:46) combining for the 11th fastest team time in Darlington course history and the fastest by a Bergen team in four years.

BOYS TEAM SCORES: RIDGEWOOD 19, BERGEN TECH 111, HACKENSACK 121, Northern Highlands 139, Fair Lawn 153, Tenafly 158, Ramapo 159, Garfield 200, Teaneck 210, Cliffside Park 233, Bergenfield 278.

BOYS INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS: 1. Luke Pash, Ridgewood, 16:06; 2. Joshua Tejada, Teaneck, 16:28*; 3. DJ Murphy, Ridgewood, 16:34; 4. Tom Mevissen, Ridgewood, 16:41; 5. Chris Brady, Ridgewood, 16:42; 6. Jett Lincoln, Ridgewood, 16:52; 7. Trevor Kane, Ridgewood, 16:59; 8. Benjamin Papageorge, Ridgewood, 17:01; 9. Jimmy Hernandez, Bergenfield, 17:09*; 10, Ryan Welch, Ramapo, 17:12*; 11. Darwin Ruiz, Cliffside Park, 17:12*; 12. Dylan Guarquila, Hackensack, 17:13; 13. Michael McGinnity, Hackensack, 17:14; 14. Adrian Gamarra, Bergen Tech, 17:22; 15. Michael Forde, Tenafly, 17:23*; 16. Eashaan Maggon, Bergen Tech, 17:28; 17. Carter Monaco, Northern Highlands, 17:318; 18. Aaron Gilkes, Garfield, 17:31*; 19. Aidan Soukas, Fair Lawn, 17:34*.

GIRLS TEAM SCORES: RIDGEWOOD 26, NORTHERN HIGHLANDS 40, RAMAPO 100, TENAFLY 110, TEANECK 137, Bergen Tech 164, Cliffside Park 192, Garfield 200, Fair Lawn 231.

GIRLS INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS: 1. Cellina Rabolli, Ridgewood, 18:56; 2. Eilat Kissil, Ridgewood, 18:59; 3. Katherine Keating, Ridgewood, 19:07; 4. Sadie Meloro, Northern Highlands, 19:13; 5. Allie Courtney, Northern Highlands, 19:14; 6. Amelia Keogh, Ramapo, 19:16; 7. Autumn Ritter, Northern Highlands, 19:18; 8. Brianna Potaki, Ramapo, 29:21; 9. Avery Sheridan, Ridgewood, 19:29; 10. Rebecca Maclaren, Northern Highlands, 19:35; 11. Ayla Cooke, Ridgewood, 19:46; 12. Sophie Cheesman, Tenafly, 20:29; 13. Lola Jacqueline, Ridgewood, 20:35; 14. Farrah Dello Russo, Northern Highlands, 20:38; 15. Sofia Laniszera, Ridgewood, 20:50; 16. Jasmine Storr, Tenafly, 20:51; 17. Isabella Marinaccio, Bergen Tech, 20:51*; 18. Sophie Smith, Northern Highlands, 21:09*; 19. Makenna Wolmer, Tenafly, 21:12; 20. Leah Fedouchik, Cliffside Park, 21:14*; 21. Elena Guzman, Teaneck, 21:32.

Group E

IHA (4) and Don Bosco (3) easily extend streaks

For both IHA and Don Bosco, the league meet is a duplicate of the Big North United meet a week earlier with the addition of Dwight-Englewood. It made no difference to either team which easily swept the team titles with almost identical scores as in the league meet, although Dwight-Englewood took 1-3 in the girls race behind Razil Fernandes and Uma Rajan. Alas, the Bulldogs did not field a complete team and the quintet of Marcelle Seckin, Darcy Moore, Madeline Schlereth, Emily Wunsch and Reagan Scarpelli finished with 95 seconds in 2-3-5-6-7 to achieve the perfect team score of 15.

Ryan Locicero, whose surprise fourth place finish at BMOC helped fuel the Don Bosco upset of Ridgewood, won the E race by over a minute in 16:07 and seems ready to challenge Pash, Morrow, Kurtz and everyone else for the BMOC title this time around. Juniors Luke O'Brien and Michael-Aidan Ardizzone and sophs Jacob Pullen, Vinny Rodriguez and Matt Maguire all scored top 10 finishes for the Ironmen.

BOYS TEAM SCORES: DON BOSCO 20, Bergen Catholic 54, Paramus Catholic 77, Dwight-Englewood 102, St. Joseph 115.

BOYS INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS: 1. Ryan Locicero, Don Bosco, 16:07; 2. Luke O'Brien, Don Bosco, 17:08; 3. Nicholaus Michel, Paramus Catholic, 17:11*; 4. Jacob Pullen, Don Bosco, 17:20; 5. Brendan O'Rourke, Bergen Catholic, 17:27*; 6. Vinny Rodriguez, Don Bosco, 17:43.

GIRLS TEAM SCORES: IHA 15, Holy Angels 54, Paramus Catholic 67.

GIRLS INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS: 1. Razil Fernandes, Dwight-Englewood, 20:38*; 2. Marcelle Seckin, IHA, 20:49; 3. Uma Rajan, Dwight-Englewood, 21:14*; 4. Darcy Moore, IHA, 21:41.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ cross-country: Highlights from Bergen County group championships