Neuman, Tolson individual winners; Tolson sets school record at Holmdel
HOLMDEL – It was a big day for Ocean City High School’s boys and girls cross country teams at the Shore Coaches Invitational Saturday, Oct. 3.
Both came away as the 2026 Varsity C champions.
Coach Matt Purdue’s Red Raider boys took the top three spots with senior Keenan Neuman winning in 16:07.78, fellow senior Nathan Aschmann second and junior Nevin Millstein third.
Junior Riley Tolson set the Holmdel cross country course on fire with the second-fastest girls time of the day to lead the OCHS team to their Varsity C Championship.
After Tolson posted a time of 18:05.29, a new OCHS record for the course, coach Tim Cook’s Red Raiders put two more girls in the top 10 – seniors Carly Godfrey and Lillian Flora were ninth and tenth in 19:57.88 and 19:58.23, respectively.
Junior Lenna Driscoll was 14th (20:18.16), and freshman Mackenzie Jenkins was 17th (20:40.11). Freshman Cara Jefferson was 23rd (21:15.84) and senior Peighton Clemens was 58th (22:23.56).
The team score was 43. NV-Old Tappan was second with 79 points, Hopewell Valley was third with 114, Northern Burlington was fourth with 121 and Summit was fifth with 143 out of the 24 teams.
The Mainland Regional High School girls team was eighth overall. Senior Lauren LaMonaca was first on the team, placing 32nd in 21:31.80; junior Adrian Sykes was 37th (21:35.10); senior Cecelia Foreman was 40th (21:44.24); freshman Quinlan Smith was 42nd (21:53.74) and freshman Kate LaVigna was 46th (21:56.85). Freshman Janice Yon was 65th (22:43.19) and sophomore Alisa Kalika 129th (26:23.29).
Leah Starkey, a junior from Ocean Township High School, was the fastest girl, winning the Varsity D race in 17:08.09.
The boys
Aschmann (16:17.03) and Millstein (16:29.36) were followed by junior Benjamin McCarthy, ninth in 16:54.80; and senior Michael Romano, 13th in 17:04.31. Fellow Raiders Hayden Tarves, a junior, was 34th in 17:40.50, and senior Jeffrey Taccarino was 73rd in 18:22.84.
The Mainland Regional boys team finished 22nd out of the 32 teams. Mustang junior William Gerhardt finished first for his team, placing 63rd in 18:17.82; freshman Jameson Foreman was 78th (18:24.56); sophomore Chase Kern, 115th (19:14.49); freshman Will Reinder, 156th (20:23.60); sophomore David Gregory, 158th (20:23.88); and junior Maxwell Yu, 160th (20:29.57).
Junior Varsity
Ocean City’s junior varsity boys won their C division race as well with 125 points, behind Princeton with 35. There were 21 teams in the division.
Finishers for the Red Raider JV were sophomore Peyton Spaulding, ninth, 18:49.90; sophomore Aidan Sokorai, 11th, 18:58.44; senior Logan Goodwin, 23rd, 19:12.82; freshman Sam Strabuck, 42nd 19:42.24; junior Todd Smith, 44th, 19:47.28; senior Josh Tornblom, 77th, 20:43.83; and freshman Gunner Juelg, 85th, 20:53.85.
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
