GALLOWAY – The Ocean City High School boys and girls each won Cape-Atlantic League cross country crowns at the CAL meet Oct. 25 at Stockton University, then earned their berths in last Saturday’s state meet with second-place finishes at the South Jersey Group III sectionals at Gloucester County Dream Park, where Mainland’s girls were third.
At the CAL meet, Ocean City put all five of its scorers in the top 10 finishers, led by individual champion Nick Scarangelli, who won in 16 minutes and 18 seconds with teammate Matt Hoffman close behind in 16:37 for second. Fellow Red Raiders Chris Sardy and Ethan Buck were sixth and seventh, both with a time of 17:13 and Kai Heyman was 10th in 17:43.
Ocean City’s other two runners weren’t far behind. Colin Abbott was 13th and Sam Ritti 14th, both with a time of 17:58.
That gave coach Matt Purdue’s team a score of 26, well ahead of Atlantic County Tech, which was second with 109 points, and Mainland Regional, third with 127 points. Sixteen boys teams competed.
Elliot Post was Mainland’s top finisher, ninth in 17:24. Mustang teammates were Ethan Bongiovanni (17:58), 12th; Trey Goldstein (18:42), 24th; Justin Yon (19:38), 34th; Abram Post (20:21), 52nd.
CAL girls crown
Ocean City sophomore Maeve Smith finished second overall at the CAL meet. Her time of 19:24.66 put her behind Atlantic City senior Madeline Dischert, who won in 19:03.34.
The rest of the Ocean City’s scorers crossed the finish close behind, Frankie Ritzel (20:35.49), third; Chloe Care (20:37.61), fourth; Grace McAfee (21:16.03), fifth; and Gabrielle Henry (21:18.81), sixth. Ocean City’s other two runners, Abby Inserra (21:41.36) and Cheryl Connell (21:58.56), were ninth and 10th.
The Red Raiders’ team score was 20 points, well ahead of second-place Cedar Creek with 77 points) and third-place Middle Township, 97 points.
The only team that came close to beating Ocean City during the regular season was Mainland, which opted not to compete at the CAL meet to focus on the South Jersey sectional.
Ten girls teams competed at the CAL meet.
Day, Lovett second, third at sectionals; O.C. second as a team
Ocean City’s girls team was second at the South Jersey Group III sectional meet with 86 points, well behind first-place Clearview, which won with 31 points, but just ahead of Mainland’s team, which was third with 86 points out of the 15 competing teams.
Mainland sophomore Sofia Day, a sophomore, was second at the sectional meet. She finished in 18:12.02, behind Clearview senior Abigail Waddington, who won in 18:01.02. Mustang teammate Gillian Lovett, a junior, was third in 18:26.44.
Ocean City’s Smith led coach Tim Cook’s Red Raider team, finishing seventh in 18:47.44. Teammate Care was 14th in 20:10.19; Ritzel 16th, 20:17.59; Henry 22nd, 20:44.52; McAfee 27th, 21:03.99; Inserra 33rd, 21:26.24; and Connell 34th, 21:27.34.
Mainland’s other finishes were junior Chloe Malone, 17th, 20:24.11; junior Claudia Booth, 30th, 21:09.03; sophomore Ava McDole, 41st, 22:03.99; and senior Sydney Luff, 60th, 24:30.61.
Scarangelli leads O.C.
boys to 2nd in S.J.
Scarangelli, a senior, was third the boys race at sectionals with a time of 15.48.82, close behind Aziz Mohammad-Kane (15:46.42). Peyton Shute, a junior from Co-op Gateway/Woodbury, won the race in 15:16.31 and Highland Regional took the team title with 44 points.
Ocean City, as a team, was second overall among 16 teams with 58 points. Mainland was seventh with 217 points.
Red Raider Hoffman was close behind Scarangelli. The junior finished fourth overall in 16:00.73. Other Red Raider runners were Buck, 15th, 16:44.50; Sandy, 16:53.71, 16th; Abbott, 20th, 17:03.04; Heyman, 25th, 17:15.41; and Ritti, 31st, 17:41.68.
For Mainland, Elliot Post was 14th, 16:37.88; Goldstein, 34th, 17:54.23), Yon, 47th, 18:16.51; Micah Miller, 55th, 18:38.69; John Gaffney, 66th, 19:04.87; Abram Post, 70th, 19:23.69; and Ethan Bongiovanni, 81st, 19:58.08.
The top five teams in each group and top 15 individual runners moved on to the state meet Saturday.
at Holmdel.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff