EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP – Ocean City’s Erik Preisner, Ethan Buck and Keenan Newman took the top three places, respectively, at the Cape-Atlantic League Cross Country Championships Oct. 23 and the two other scorers, Michael Romano and Nathan Aschmann, were seventh and eighth.
That dominant finish gave the Red Raiders the 2024 title with 19 points, far ahead of second-place EHT with 79, third-place Cedar Creek with 93 and the 11 other schools.
Ocean City’s other two team members had solid finishes as well with Zach Hutchinson placing 11th and Kevin Millstein 19th.
Preisner, a junior, posted a winning time of 15:45.46. A senior and a sophomore, Buck and Neuman finished back to back in 15:56.90 and 15.58.70, respectively. Romano and Aschmann, both sophomores, clocked in at 16:23.01 and 16:25.16. Senior Hutchinson’s time was 16:50.01 and Millstein, a freshman, clocked in at 17:27.20.
Millville senior Melvin Lewis was fifth in 16:19.77 and Cedar Creek junior Sean Martino was sixth in 16:21.21.
One hundred and six boys finished the race.
“We looked strong coming in so we were pleased with the race performance today,” head coach Matt Purdue said.
Preisner, he said, “is making great progress this season” and got a confidence boost against the competition in the CAL.
“This is a brand new course. We’ve run at EHT a few times, but the EHT coaches redesigned this course to host big meets,” Purdue said. “It’s a flat, fast course” and “a great spectator course. We’re happy to be here and glad to have a beautiful day and fast running.”
The win at CALs helps propel the boys into the South Jersey Group III sectionals this Saturday at Dream Park in Logan Township.
“We had a tough race in Cape May County. We knew Jamar Mack of Middle Township (ninth in the CAL race) had a great race last week and we saw what Patel had done at the Cumberland meet,” Purdue said. Combined with the performance of Atlantic County teams, the coach knew that the CAL meet would be competitive.
“We hoped in that environment we could get a few guys get near 16 (minutes) and use it as a prep for a tough race next Saturday at sectionals.
Mainland Regional’s young team, led by sophomore Luigi Batioja (29th, 18:16.52), finished 11th at the CAL meet.
– STORY and PHOTO by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
