Six individuals and six teams earned titles Wednesday at the NJIC divisional cross-country championships at Garret Mountain. But unlike the eleven years since the conference was formed in 2010, this was not the end of the conference season.
Those winning teams and individuals will be joined by two other teams in each division and the top individuals in each race at the first-ever Conference championship on Oct. 13 at Darlington County Park in Mahwah.
The Leonia boys (3rd straight), Hasbrouck Heights boys (2nd), Bogota boys (4th), Hasbrouck Heights girls (5th) and Bogota (2nd) all repeated divisional wins and the Park Ridge/Emerson girls won the Colonial title, its first divisional crown since 2016.
Meadowlands: Drezek and Morrow lead Heights sweep
When school ended last June, Hasbrouck Heights coach Mike Ryan wasn’t sure if he even would have a full varsity boys or girls team.
“We had only two boys coming back who had run in meets last year and three girls,” said Ryan. “I had no idea what we would have.”
But Ryan knew he’d have Isabella Drezek and Evan Morrow.
The veteran duo were the only runners to repeat individual titles Wednesday and are two of the runners to meet in the conference championship.
Drezek, who donned a visor at the Bergen County group meet last May on a hot sunny day and won the group C 3,200 in a personal best, adopted it as a good luck charm and might never take it off.
“It helps me against the glare but it’s also good luck,” said Drezek, who tied a school record at Garret, running 20:20 and easily defeating Danielle Tilp of Cresskill by 175 meters. “I’ve been looking at the course records that coach Ryan put up since I was a freshman and now I have some of them.”
Heights freshmen Mackenzie Bua and Lexi Powers took 4-6 for the Aviators and senior Amber Barrios was ninth as the Heights girls held off Pompton Lakes, 37-61.
Morrow got a late start to his spring season after being diagnosed with a stress fracture soon after spring track.
“I had a boot on for three week and I couldn’t start training until August 1,” said Morrow, who outran Younes Abada of Secaucus by 125 meters in a Garret best 17:07. “I think it might be a blessing in disguise because I feel a lot fresher.”
Colonial: It’s Kibbe and Carroll for the wins
Aidan Carroll had won a Colonial division title before, capturing the 2019 crown as a Glen Rock sophomore. But he lost his title to Pompton Lakes star Nathan Armstrong, now at Rider, when the Cardinals came into the division last fall.
Carroll got his championship back as well as his confidence, when he ran 17:03 and defeated Leonia’s Jack Schuller by 100 meters.
“I hurt my back a few weeks ago and I was hoping it was better,” said Carroll Saturday after running at the Shore Coaches Invitational for his first race in nearly a month. “It felt good today even though I didn’t run fast. I know I’m ready to go again.”
Leonia went 2-4-6-7 and easily defeated Lyndhurst, 42-68.
“It’s the first time we’ve gone undefeated in dual meets and won the league title since 2010,” said coach Tim Ryan, who was a runner on that time. “We are the best team in the division and what our times were today were irrelevant. We just came to do our job.”
Tara Kibbe of Lyndhurst continued her sensational season, with an easy victory by 300 meters in the day’s best girls time of 20:16. And Park Ridge/Emerson’s powerful trio of Odalys Guerrero, Cali Marck and Elyse von der Lieth went 2-3-4 to ensure a 37-64 win over Lyndhurst for the team title and give coach Mike Farrell a chance to become the first winning coach of a conference winning team.
“You really can’t look ahead, but we’ve talked about next week a few times during the season,” said Farrell. Now we have a chance to make it happen.”
Patriot: Fernandez and Capuzzo take titles
There’s probably no one in North Jersey who has quietly improved as much as junior Amandine Fernandez of Bogota has. She never broke 22 minutes on any course before this year, but ran 20:10 for third at the Brett Taylor Invitational at Darlington Saturday and has not been out of the top five all season. Wednesday she won her first race running away with a divisional title in a Garret Mountain best of 21:29, more than 300 meters ahead of teammate Isabel Michel as the Lady Bucs took six of the first 12 places to defeat Hawthorne Christian, 22-45.
“She’s a hard worker and tough kid who wants to do well,” said Bogota coach Pat Rochford, whose team also won the boys title over Waldwick, 25-35. “She put in a ton of miles this summer and coach (Jay) Mahoney have known since she was 5 and came to watch her sister Anais run for us. I’m happy for her and think she’ll keep improving.”
Joe Capuzzo of Waldwick ran 17:59 and beat Jorge Hernandez of Midland Park by 60 meters to take the Patriot boys title.
Paul Schwartz covers high school track and field for NorthJersey.com. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis from our Varsity Aces team, subscribe today. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter and download our app. Email: schwartzp@northjersey.com Twitter: @northnjtrack
