Wineland, Day individual winners; showdown with Ocean City at CAL meet
POMONA – The Mainland Regional boys and girls won the team titles at the Atlantic County Cross Country Championships Thursday with Linden Wineland taking the boys individual title and fellow Mustang Sofia Day finishing as the fastest girl.
WIneland, a senior, finished a half-minute ahead of the second-place finisher with a time of 15:49.66 on the course at Stockton University.
Day, a freshman, also blew away the field with her time of 18:23.39, which was 45 seconds better than the second-place finisher, Madeline Dischert of Atlantic City High School (19:08.84).
With Ocean City High School winning the Cape May County Championship a day later, this sets up a rematch between the Red Raiders and Mustangs at this week’s Cape-Atlantic League Cross Country Championships.
The Mustang boys beat Ocean City by a point during the regular season, handing the Red Raiders their only loss of the season. The Mustang girls also gave the Ocean City girls their only loss of the season as well.
Girls Champions
The Mainland girls won the team title by putting all five scorers in the top seven finishers at Stockton, with their other two finishing in 10th and 13th.
Gillian Lovett, a sophomore, was third overall in 19:20.35. Egg Harbor Township’s Michaela Schema was fourth (19:46.42) followed by three Mainland runners in fifth, sixth and seventh.
Sophomore Claudia Booth was fifth in 20:07.66, senior Lily Malone sixth in 20:26.83 and freshman Ava McDole seventh in 20:34.85.
Teammates Chloe Malone, a sophomore, was 10th with a time of 20:54.19, and junior Sydney Luff was 13th in 21:27.98.
The Mustang girls finished with 22 points as a team for first place, well ahead of second-place Egg Harbor Township with 66 points and Cedar Creek with 78 points.
The average time for the Mainland girls was 29 seconds faster than second-place EHT.
Boys Champions
Three of Wineland’s teammates finished in the top seven at the Atlantic County Championships and the fifth was 18th to give the Mustangs the win well ahead of the rest of the field of teams.
“They’re building up toward the end of the year so they’re training really hard through this week. I knew they’d be a little behind, but we felt confident our top four would run strong and they did,” said Mainland head coach Dan Heyman. “Some guys ran a little farther apart than they normally are, but the top four got into the top 10 like we thought they would. And our fifth guy is improving. We’re using it as a steppingstone for (the CAL) meet so hopefully it will pay off.”
“Linden had a great race,” Heyman said. “He had the field clear and he ran a lot the day before. We know we can’t do that in the next few weeks because we have tougher races coming up. We’re just happy how it turned out.”
He said the Atlantic County Championship was a great way to prepare for the Cape-Atlantic League Championships that are set for this Thursday at Stockton University.
“We’re running the same course next week so it’s great,” Heyman said last week. “Anyone who felt they could do better at some part of the race will get a redo in seven days. It’s nice. I wish they did sectionals there. It’s a great course, well manicured, good on the legs. I think they’ll be fine for next week. It’s going to be close. Ocean City is really tough. We’re going to have to run out of our minds to beat them, but that’s what it’s about.”
The 10-0 Mustangs handed 10-1 Ocean City its only loss of the season by a one-point margin, 32-33.
“One point is not enough of a cushion, not with them running better and better and us still trying to find our fifth (runner). Our four are running well but we need to find that fifth and that’s what’s getting us right now,” Heyman said.
At the Atlantic County Championships, Ryan Taylor of Egg Harbor Township was second in 16:20.67 followed by Mustang Elliot Post, a junior, in 16:27.36. Cedar Creek’s Dalton Culleny was fourth in 16:34.21 followed by Mainland senior Vaughn Blanchet in fifth in 16:40.71. Buena Regional’s Kayden Platania was sixth (16:54.71) and Mustang sophomore Ethan Mitnick was seventh in 17:07.33.
Mainland Regional’s fifth finisher was sophomore Ethan Bongiovanni, who was 18th in 18:24.38.
The Mustang’s sixth runner was sophomore Micah Miller, who was 26th in 18:53.59.
The top five Mustangs combined for 33 points, well ahead of second-place Egg Harbor Township with 88 points, Cedar Creek in third with 90 points and St. Augustine Prep in fourth with 99 points. There were 10 teams competing at the meet including Holy Spirit, Atlantic County Tech, Oakcrest, Hammonton, Absegami and Atlantic City.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff