OCEAN CITY – When undefeated cross-country rivals Ocean City and Mainland met Tuesday, Oct. 4, they weren’t just battling each other, they had to contend with the fierce winds and whipping rains from the remnants of Hurricane Ian that were roiling the ocean off the island and sending water beneath the boardwalk.
Not wanting to cancel a race this late in the dual-meet season, the Red Raiders and Mustangs took off from Sixth Street, ran north on the boardwalk, around the north end of Ocean City, and back down the boardwalk to finish on the track at Carey Stadium.
When it was done, the Ocean City boys kept their unbeaten streak intact, beating Mainland 18-43.
Manhattan Invitational Varsity B champions
Less than a week after the rainy meet, over the weekend, the Red Raider boys won the Varsity B division title at the Manhattan Invitational, topping 26 other teams.
Ocean City finished with 98 points in the 2.5-mile race, just ahead of Champlain Valley Union with 101. No other teams came close.
Senior Nick Scarangelli was first for Ocean City, finishing sixth overall (13:04.1) among 182 racers.
Matt Hoffman (13:32.3) was 11th; Chris Sardi (14:08.3), 27th; Colin Abbot (14:11.6), 28th; Ethan Buck (14:14.4), 32nd; Zach Hutchinson (15:06.3), 77th; and Sam Ritti (15:20.2), 92nd.
O.C. 27, MRHS 43
Back in Ocean City, Scarangelli led all racers with his first-place time of 16:43, with teammate Matt Hoffman close on his heels, finishing second in 16:52.
Mainland’s Elliot Post was third in 17:12 before a trio of Red Raiders captured the next three scoring spots. Ethan Buck was fourth in 17:19, Chris Sardy fifth in 17:29 and Colin Abbott sixth in 18 flat.
Mustang Ethan Bongiovanni was seventh in 18:06, ahead of another trio of Red Raider runners to close out the top 10: Zach Hutchinson (18:09) eighth, Sam Ritti (18:12) ninth and Robert Cesari 10th (18:26).
That put Ocean City at 6-0 with a home quad meet set for 4 p.m. today (Wednesday), and left Mainland with an utterly respectable record of 5-1. Mainland has its home quad at 4 p.m. today, hosting Absegami, Atlantic City and Atlantic County Institute of Technology.
Red Raiders eyeing the championship season
Ocean City head coach Matt Purdue noted his team finished second in the Varsity C Division at the Shore Coaches Invitational at Holmdel Oct. 1. “We had a good day overall. We were second to Summit, which is a state-caliber team. We were missing a couple guys who were out due to injury or illness, so I think we can still improve.”
Purdue said they saw Scarangelli at the 800-meter mark of the Shore Coaches race “and he was right up there early in the race and he held that. I saw him at the 2-mile mark and he was in third and he held that right up through the end. That was great. That was a big PR (personal record) for him.” He was a second behind the second-place runner.
The coach said Scarangelli has consistently been the team’s top runner. “He has worked hard through the last couple seasons. We think he can go big things this season.”
Among the runners back from the team last season are Hoffman, a junior, and Sardy, a senior. From there, Purdue said, “we have a mix of guys with a little bit of varsity last year who are more consistent this year. In no particular order it’s been Zach Hutchinson, a sophomore, Colin Abbott, one of our seniors, Caleb Aristizabal, a kid who ran track for us who is new to cross country. Ethan Buck has been a consistent top five; he was new to cross country last year. He’s a sophomore, as is Kal Heyman. Sam Ritti ran spring track last season, and we have a handful of freshmen.”
After topping Mainland last week and then wrapping up the dual meets this week, Purdue said the team has goals in the championship season.
“We’re hoping to win the (Cape May) County meet and the Cape-Atlantic League meet, and we’re hoping to compete in the sectional and go for the title, this year, and make it to states.”
Mainland team young, but doing well so far
“We’re super young,” Mainland coach Dan Heyman said. “Half of our roster is freshmen. We were expecting to have a really rough year but so far this is our first loss in the league so we have been pleasantly surprised.”
“We do have one senior. They’re all working hard and getting the hang of things. Hopefully we’re not too far from being good again,” Heyman said, laughing.
Elliot Post is that senior. “He’s strong. He’s been around some of our better programs,” the coach said. “He’s like a one-man show right now. It’s Elliot and then everybody else for us. It’s fine. He’s going to have a good season and he’s been strong all year.
“Behind him we have some juniors who are for the first time starting to be competitive – Ethan Bongiovanni and Micah Miller. Since we’ve had a small team, they’ve been creeping their way up, doing better every year. They’re not where they want to be yet, but they’re doing pretty well. Behind that I have a couple of freshmen, Trey Goldstein and Justin Yan. They’re pretty good. They’re in our top five now so they’re only going to get better.”
Heyman said if they win their meets this week, “8-1 wouldn’t be such a bad year if somehow we put it together against Atlantic City. I know they’re strong so it’s going to challenging on Senior Day, but at least we’re home. Maybe that will help.”
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
