Seven North Jersey teams and an individual qualified for the Group 1 and 2 state cross-country championships Nov. 12 at Holmdel Park with their finishes at the North 2 meet held at Central Park of Morris County at Greystone in Parsippany on Saturday.
Harrison will make its first appearance ever in the girls Group 1 race and its first appearance in the boys race since 1985 after top-five finishes Saturday.
The boys, led by Luis Vivaldo in 16th place, finished third behind Whippany Park and McNair Academic and put three runners in the top 25.
The girls grabbed the fifth and final spot by four points over Belvidere, paced by the 13th-place finish of Yeisi Rojas.
The Secaucus boys return to the Group 1 championship for the fifth time in six years, also with a fifth-place finish, by three points over Glen Ridge. Adam Khriss led the Patriots with an 18th-place finish.
Lyndhurst and Rutherford both qualified their boys and girls team in the stronger Group 2 race.
The Lyndhurst boys finished fourth and qualified for its seventh state group race in 8 years, missing last year after moving up to Group 2. Matt Accordino was 10th for the Golden Bears and Andrew Ellis was 14th.
Rutherford was fifth and will make its first back-to-back appearance at states since 2000-01 led by Dan Sullivan, who finished third and teammate Marcus Cabibbo, who was 11th. The Bulldogs beat Fort Lee by 37 points for the final spot but Bridgeman sophomore Masahiro Oikawa became the first Fort Lee boy to qualify since 2004 with a solid eighth-place finish.
Lyndhurst’s girls were a strong third behind Group 2 powers Mountain Lakes and Parsippany, placing five runners within 50 seconds between 11th and 23rd.
— Paul Schwartz / Record Sports
