WILDWOOD — Coming off their victory in the Manhattan XC Invitational over the weekend, the Red Raider boys cross country team had an easy time at the 2025 Cape May County Championship on Oct. 15 on the Wildwood Boardwalk.
Senior Erik Preisner won the individual title and his Ocean City High School teammates all finished in the top eight spots.
Preisner’s winning time was 16 minutes and 6.54 seconds.
Juniors Nathan Aschmann (16:06.95) and Michael Romano (16:11.09) were second and third. Middle Township junior Jamar Mack broke up the pack by finishing fourth in 16:14.81.
After Mack, the next four spots were all taken up by Red Raiders, a junior followed by three sophomores.
Keenan Neuman was fifth in 16:43.85; Benjamin McCarthy sixth, 16:51.28; Hayden Tarves seventh, 17:22.96; and Ryan Jefferson eighth, 17:31.09.
The OCHS boys won the team title with 17 points. Middle Township was second with 51, Cape May County Tech third with 86 and Lower Cape May Regional fourth with 102.
Talking about the Manhattan XC Invitational, boys head coach Matt Purdue said his team won the Varsity F race, which they also won the previous two years.
“We were going in with a lot of guys who like running the Van Cortland Park course,” he said. The course is in the Bronx. “I feel they get excited for it and we get a chance to go against some teams from north Jersey, New York, Philly and Connecticut.
“They really ran nicely and had a good meet that day. We were excited and I think the guys were equally excited,” he said. The week before the boys won their division at the Six Flags Wild Safari meet.
“We’re still hoping to kind of get our full team healthy and get ready for CALs and sectionals next week, but we’re confident and our guys are training hard and still hoping to kind of gain a little more ground before states,” Purdue said. The Cape-Atlantic League Championship was Tuesday after the Sentinel went to press.
The boys are the defending South Jersey Group III sectional champions and they placed second at the state meet.
The 2025 sectionals are Saturday, Nov. 1, at Dream Park in Logan Township, followed by states Nov. 8 and the Meet of Champions Nov. 15, both at Holmdel.
