Ridgewood Sweeps Lou Molino Bergen Meet of Champions; Allen gets her title
Ridgewood's boys and girls sweep team titles; Pash wins boys race
The Bergen County Meet of Champions in cross-country dates back to 1973 for the boys and to 1978 for the girls, when the county was divided into divisions. The boys had only one race from 1954-1964 and the girls just one from 1974-1977 before the Meet of Champions was created. The meet was named for the late Lou Molino, the legendary Ramsey track and cross-country coach and athletic director after his death in 2011.
Saturday at Darlington Park, Ridgewood swept the boys and girls team championships for the 11th time, the only school ever to accomplish that feat. In fact, the Maroons are the only school to win a title in both genders. It was the 33th win in 45 girls meet for Ridgewood, as no other school has more than four. It was a record-tying 17th title for Ridgewood, the same as Don Bosco's total.
Arguably this was the most dominant of all the Ridgewood sweeps. The boys put six runners in the top 10 and the girls five, as both teams scored just 23 points, the second best score in meet history for the boys and fourth best for the girls.
The outstanding performance came one year after the bulk of both teams suffered difficult defeats in the same meet.
The boys were heavily favored but were upset by an inspired Don Bosco team, while the girls weren't able to sustain their early season success against Northern Highlands a year ago.
"We learned after that big defeat last year that nothing is ever guaranteed,'' said senior DJ Murphy, one of five Maroons who ran in the race a year ago. "This time we went all in and made a difference in training both in the summer and this fall, dedicating ourselves to run as a pack.''
This time there was no stopping the Maroons. They went 1-5-6-7-8-9 with the latter five finishing within 19 seconds of each other behind junior county champ Luke Pash, who won by more than 150 meters in 15:27, tied for #11 in course and the fastest race run in seven years
"They were perfect today,'' said boys coach Patrick Ryan. "They were so confident and were within two or three seconds off of their targets at the intermediate splits.''
"This was an important race beyond winning the title,'' said Ryan. "We've been so conservative all year and this was the chance to let us really race hard. It's only our second race of the year and the first where we've had all our guys.''
Pash agreed.
"It felt really good to finally let loose and get after it,'' said Pash, who broke the race open soon after the first mile after falling on the slippery starting line when the gun went off.''
"I didn't totally faceplant, but I went down,'' said Pash, ruefully. "I might have been dead list bvut I told myself not to panic and looked for an opening, so I could move up pretty quickly.''
Pash moved through the 89 runner field and by the 800 meter mark, reached the lead pack of Tejada, Don Bosco's Ryan Locicero, Aidan Morrow of Hasbrouck Heights and Murphy and broke away soon after.
Murphy finished fifth followed quickly by Trevor Kane, Chris Brady, Tom Mevissen and Jett Lincoln as Ridgewood averaged 16:13, one of the top 20 team times in course history on a day where the course was very muddy and full of ruts.
"We lost this race last year and we're really weren't happy that it happened,'' said Brady, with Murphy the only seniors on this year's varsity and one of the captains. "Every single step we've run this year we've run with an attitude and executed what we want to do.''
"Next week there's sectionals, which we didn't win either last year and then state groups at Holmdel, and then the State Meet of Champions,'' Brady continued. "We've had individuals make it there but we haven't been there as a team in a while (2016) because we just haven't run well at Holmdel. We have a plan to make this year different.''
Maroon girls are getting better each race
Avery Sheridan and Cellina Rabolli are the last vestiges of the Ridgewood girls team that finished second four years in a row at the State Meet of Champions or its equivalent between 2018 and 2021 (2020 was the Holmdel Invitational, the unofficial replacement because of the cancellation of the meet by the COVID-19 pandemic). The Maroons also won BMOC easily the three times they were able to run it.
The senior duo finished ninth and second, respectively as the Maroons used a brilliant team pack effort, placing five runners in the top 10, en route to an easy 23-54 win over defending champion Northern Highlands, which returned their top five runners from 2022 who took fourth place in the State Meet of Champions in addition to winning BMOC. Rabolli, junior Eilat Kissil, freshman Katherine Keating, Sheridan and junior Ayla Cooke finished with 27 seconds of each other, placing 2-3-4-9-10 behind race winner Christina Allen of River Dell.
"It was such a different year from last year (when the Maroons still got back to the SMOC after graduating the greatest cross-country class in North Jersey history),'' said Sheridan. "We realized that those great girls weren't here any more and we couldn't county on them anymore, so we had to step up and be those girls.''
"This race meant so much to me and to all of my teammates,'' added Rabolli, whose Lucia was an integral part of the group that ended up sending eight girls to compete at Division 1 programs. "Everyone put so much into this season so far and we're making all of ourselves proud.''
Sheridan pointed to a mid-September team building trip to legendary retired Ridgewood Jacob Brown's home in Vermont as a key point in the continued development of the current group.
"We changed our mindset from the past and created a new mindset,'' she said.
Girls head coach Steve Opremcak was concerned that the delayed trip, usually held in late August, but postponed by logistical issues, might have hurt the Maroons. It forced them to skip their usual early season race at Bowdoin Park in New York, site of the Nike Northeast Regionals, but after the Maroons' overwhelming win, feels differently now.
"In hindsight, this looks like the best course,'' he said. "This group has matured from last year, having a better summer running more miles and running them faster.''
"When you're more confident you do a better job of following a race plan and we get more comfortable and confident each week.''
Allen finally gets first BMOC title, chooses University of Cincinnati
There was always something standing between Christina Allen and a championship at the Lou Molino Bergen Meet of Champions.
In the fall of 2020, it was the COVID-19 pandemic, which reduced the cross-country season to a fraction of its normal self, leading to the cancellation of any county championships.
In the fall of 2021, it was a coaches decision to skip the meet to prepare for the state series, and then an unfortunate snafu kept her from the State Meet of Champions, where she was a likely top five finisher.
Last fall, she was beaten by IHA's Leanna Johnston (now at Columbia), after a season hampered by the diagnosis of exercise-induced asthma and the impact of getting COVID during the summer of 2022.
Saturday, Allen finally got her title in convincing style, breaking away after a slow early pace to win by nearly 200 meters over Ridgewood senior Cellina Rabolli. The result, while not unexpected, solidified her status as one of the greatest all-around distance runners in North Jersey history.
"I'm happy with how I'm doing this year,'' said Allen, who used the occasion of winning BMOC to announce her verbal commitment to the University of Cincinnati. "I really wanted to win this meet and my first state sectionals this year and then compete as hard as I can in groups and the State Meet of Champions. I feel more prepared for cross-country this year even though we didn't go to any invitationals.''
Allen chose UC over Quinnipiac, Rutgers, Villanova and University of Massachusetts/Lowell and will study Criminal Justice there. The Bearcats complete in the Big 12 Conference.
"I really didn't consider the level of cross-country and track and field when picking a college,'' said Allen, "I wanted a good coach, the right major and not a super small school. I loved everything about it when I went to visit and it's such a pretty campus.''
Allen won the outdoor State Meet of Champions 3,200 meters in the spring of 2021, and the outdoor SMOC 800 the following spring. She has three other top four finishes in the 1,600 meters indoors and outdoors in the state's ultimate meet and six group championships in track.
Full team scores and top 20 individuals
BOYS
TEAM SCORES: Ridgewood (RW) 23, Don Bosco (DB) 93, Indian Hills (IH) 103, Demarest 136, Glen Rock (GR) 149, Hackensack (H) 153, Bergen Tech (BT) 155, Hasbrouck Heights (HH) 194, Leonia 199, Park Ridge/Emerson 200, Pascack Hills 281.
INDIVIDUALS: 1. Luke Pash (RW), 15:27; 2. Josh Tejada, Teaneck, 15:56; 3. Ryan Locicero (HH), 16:01; 4. AIdan Morrow (HH), 16:10; 5. DJ Murphy (RW), 16:14; 6. Trevor Kane (RW), 16:27; 7. Chris Brady (RW), 16:28; 8. Tom Mevissen (RW), 16:29; 9. Jett Lincoln (RW), 16:33; 10. Ryan Welch. Ramapo, 16:36.
11. Ben Raser (GR), 16:36; 12. Patrick Kurtz, Pascack Valley, 16:41; 13. Ben Habler (GR), 16:50; 14. Dan Phillips (IH), 16:57; 15. Marcus Koshy, Pascack Valley, 16:58; 16. Dylan Guarquila (H), 16:59; 17. Michael McGinnity (H), 16:59; 18. Jimmy Hernandez, Bergenfield, 17:05; 19. Adrian Gamarra (BT), 17:08; 20. Frank Coppa (IH), 17:13.
Girls
TEAM SCORES: Ridgewood (RW) 23, Northern Highlands (NH) 53, Old Tappan 143, IHA 144, Hasbrouck Heights (HH) 148, Ramapo (RPO) 162, Demarest 166, Indian Hills (IH) 182, Glen Rock 217, Tenafly 241, Teaneck 250.
INDIVIDUALS: 1. Christina Allen, River Dell, 18:32; 2. Cellina Rabolli (RW), 19:16; 3. Eilat Kissil (RW), 19:28; 4. Katherine Keating (RW), 19:31; 5. Brianna Potaki (RPO), 19:32; 6. Autumn Ritter (NH), 19:35; 7. Allie Courtney (NH), 19:35; 8. Amelia Keogh (RPO), 19:40; 9. Avery Sheridan (RW), 19:43; 10. Ayla Cooke (RW), 19:45.
11. Sadie Meloro (NH), 19:48; 12. Mika Tampadong, Becton, 19:50; 13. Mackenzie Bua (HH), 19:59; 14. Lexi Powers (HH), 20:11; 15. Alyssa Maybeck (IH), 20:17; 16. Rebecca Maclaren (NH), 20:17; 17. Isabel Michel, Bogota, 20:18; 18. Summer Myrhen (IH), 20:26; 19. Lola Jacqueline (RW), 20:32; 20. Isabella Gabay (RD), 20:36.
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This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Ridgewood sweeps Bergen County cross-country Meet of Champions
