Cross-country: Highlights from Week 2 in North Jersey

Cross-country: Highlights from Week 2

Morrow and Keogh earn impressive wins at Back to the Mountain Invitational

Hasbrouck Heights junior Aidan Morrow and Ramapo senior Amelia Keogh are among the top runners in North Jersey and appear ready to take the next step to statewide prominence.

Both qualified for the State Meet of Champions last fall, Morrow after a sixth place finish in boys group 1 and Keogh as a wild card after finishing 13th in girls group 3. But this year they want a lot more than just qualification. And after impressive victories in their races at the Back to the Mountain Invitational on Sept. 16, they're well on the way to earning that next level of recognition.

"Being an upperclassman now gives me extra responsibility to make sure our team can continue to be held to the high standards we've had,'' said Morrow, who broke away after the first 150 meters of the small schools race and went on to a 275 meter victory over Owen Dybus of perennial group 1 team contender Haddon Township, in 16:40, a school record for the Garret Mountain course. "I've had three personal bests in my first three races and even though I don't expect one every meet, I have higher goals for the end of the season.''

Morrow spent much of the summer training with older brother, Rutgers sophomore Evan Morrow and added a lot more weight training to his regimen.

"He's on a different training schedule than me but I like to join him on weekend long runs (of 8 to 10 miles),'' said Aidan. "I feel a lot stronger than I did last year and the weight training should keep me healthier."

"Hitting under 16 minutes on any course would be a good goal,'' said Morrow, who set the Aviator school record at Darlington at the Season Opener meet. "And I want to contend in the Bergen County and State Group 1 races.''

Haddon Township took the boys small schools team title, 51-100 over Kinnelon with Demarest next with 107 points.

Clifton junior Lamarr Olive matched Morrow's 16:40 winning time, holding off North Hunterdon's Chase Kober by 15 meters in the large schools race. North Hunterdon won the team title, 83-119 over Sparta with Tenafly third with 168 points. North Hunterdon is ranked 19th in the state according to NJ MileSplit.

Confidence high, Keogh gets off to a great start for Ramapo

Even though Amelia Keogh had some great races last year, she wasn't always comfortable racing in some situations.

"It was hard when you start to perform well and then you face higher expectations and begin to lose your love for the sport,'' said Keogh, who just missed the top 20 podium at the State Meet of Champions last fall, but struggled in some other races. "It's so much better to do a sport because you love it.''

Keogh returned to training this summer with a whole new mindset, a lot of good training, increased mileage and much more comfort in her ability as a runner. And her first two races have reflected it.

"I'm ready to run fast and I'm ready to compete,'' said Keogh, who ran well in an 80 meter win at the Big North Freedom batch meet and 48 hours later, won by 100 meters over teammate Brianna Potaki in 19:54 at Garret Mountain in the large schools Back to the Mountain race. "I started lifting a lot more this summer as my mileage increased (hitting a high of 65 miles per week in mid-summer, before backing off). Now I feel confident that I can be more consistent and shoot for the win in every race.''

This weekend, Keogh returns to the Six Flags Wild Safari Invitational in Jackson, a place where she ran her PR of 18:50 last year, the ninth fastest time of the day at one of the biggest invitationals of the season.

Randolph beat Montclair, 101-113 with Ramapo fourth with 151 points in the large schools team race. Ema Hercules of Gill St. Bernards won the small schools race in 21:35. about 50 meters ahead of Mika Tampadong of Becton. Hasbrouck Heights put four runners in the top 20 and edged Old Tappan, 58-67, for the girls small schools title.

Ridgewood sweeps delayed Freedom division races, girls upset Northern Highlands

The thunderstorm that postponed the first attempt at running the Big North Freedom batch meet from Sept. 11 to Sept. 14, and Jett Lincoln took advantage running a personal best of 16:40 at Darlington County Park, more than a minute faster than his personal best as Ridgewood took five of the six spots in the highly competitive division.

Ridgewood easily captured the four boys dual meets, placing its top five runners within 37 seconds of each other in a mostly controlled run. Ramapo's Ryan Welch was third in 16:56 in his first cross-country race.

In the first of several battles expected this season, No. 2 North Jersey girls team Ridgewood defeated No. 1 Northern Highlands, 23-36, putting seven runners ahead of the Highlanders' fourth.

Amelia Keogh of Ramapo won the girls batch meet by about 80 meters over Ridgewood's No 1, Cellina Rabolli, in 19:17 and Ramapo's Brianna Potaki was third in 19:42, just edging Eilat Kissil of Ridgewood. Northern Highlands took three of the next four places as seniors Autumn Ritter (19:540, Rebecca Maclaren (20:00) and Allison Courtney (20:03).

AYla Cooke, Avery Sheridan, Sofia Laniszera, Katherine Keating and Lola Jacqueline all finished between 20:01 and 20:43 for the Maroons, who won't race again until the Shore Coaches Invitational Sept. 30.

Aidan Morrow and Isabel Michel lead NJIC opening races

Ben Raser of Glen Rock (17:56), Aidan Morrow of Hasbrouck Heights (16:56) and Aidan Nogueira of Lyndhurst (18:57) won the three boys races at Garret Mountain in Woodland Park Wednesday in the first series of NJIC races for the year. Rutherford swept four dual meets in the third race of the meet, edging Dwight-Englewood, 29-30, in the closest race. New Milford also goes 4-0, edging Secaucus, 29-30.

Bogota swept four duals in race 2, with 11 point wins over Cresskill and Waldwick, while Park Ridge took three duals without a loss, beating Hasbrouck Heights, 25-32, in its closest race. Glen Rock went 4-0 in race 1, edging Leonia, 27-29 in its closest dual, while Hawthorne Christian won its two dual meets.

Razil Fernandes of Dwight-Englewood (22:28), Mika Tampadong of Becton (22:31) and Isabel Michel of Bogota (21:06) won the girls races. Michel's win helped the Bucs go undefeated in their dual meets including a 26-32 win over Weehawken. The two teams should battle for the division and league titles and also for the North 2 group 1 sectional title won by Bogota a year ago. Hasbrouck Heights, which will also be in the sectional mix, went undefeated in its duals held during the same race.

Glen Rock (4-0) and Hawthorne Christian (2-0) went unbeaten in race 2, while Saddle Brook and Rutherford went unbeaten in race 3.

Don Bosco boys and IHA dominate Big North United batch meets

Ryan Locicero of Don Bosco led eight Ironmen into the top 10 at the Big North United batch meet on Sept. 13 at Darlington, as the defending Bergen County champs easily defeated their four opponents in the batch. Locicero ran 16:35, finishing 90 meters ahead of teammate Jack Dowd.

IHA took the first six places in the three-way girls race, as Marcelle Seckin defeated Reagan Scarpelli by 175 meters , running 21:20.

Cliffside Park sweeps Big North American batch meets

Cliffside Park has won nine of the 12 boys titles and seven girls titles since the Big North American division was formed in 2010. And the Red Raiders took several large steps to extending that record on Sept. 12 when they swept all four dual meets in both the boys and girls batch meet at Darlington Park.

Darwin Ruiz won the boys race by more than 300 meters in 17:34 over sophomore John Walsh of Fort Lee and the Red Raiders put its top seven runners in the first 13 finishers. The closest margin in the dual meet results was 22-39 over Ridgefield Park.

The girls races were considerably closer with Cliffside edging both Fort Lee and Ridgefield Park by 28-29 scores. Dumont's Katelyn Reuter outran the girls field, winning by about 15 meters over Leah Fedouchik of Cliffside Park in 22:22. Ridgefield Park put four runners in the top 10, led by fourth place finisher Gabriella Ramos.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ cross-country: Highlights from Week 2 in North Jersey