OCEAN CITY — The Ocean City High School boys cross country team has started the season by winning all six of its dual meets, and over the weekend its varsity and JV teams placed second overall at the 33rd annual Carlisle (Pa.) Invitational.
The Red Raiders have the chance to win their fourth straight South Jersey Group III title and to challenge at the state meet, where they finished second last year.
“We’re pretty fortunate in that we have a lot of experience on this team; about a third of the team are seniors,” head coach Matt Purdue said. Six are four-year runners. “To get six guys that have been on the team for four years is pretty special.”
“Our group of seniors have won the South Jersey championship their first three years,” he said. Having a chance to win a fourth straight sectional title “is pretty cool.”
At the Carlisle Invitational cross country race Saturday, Sept. 26, Ocean City put three of its varsity runners in the top 10 — senior Keenan Neuman was third in 15:37.10, senior Nathan Aschmann eighth (15:59.9) and junior Nevin Millstein ninth (16:05). University High School’s Micah Gainer won the race in 15:25. The other varsity runners for OCHS were Michael Romano, Ben McCarthy, Hayden Tarves and Nolan Palombo.
The JV runners were led by Ryan Jefferson, who was second in 17:48; Jeffrey Taccarino seventh (18:08.70); Logan Goodwin eighth (18:19.70); and Eric Buck 10th (18:23.30).
“We’re basically running as a pack right now in our first couple of meets. There’s been a group of six guys running together and then another group of three or four guys. They have similar racing and pacing skills,” Purdue said.
In the six dual meets, Ocean City has won by shutout, 15-50, against Cedar Creek and Egg Harbor Township; and defeated Bridgeton 16-45, Vineland 17-44, Mainland 15-49 and St. Augustine Prep 20-41.
Neuman, Aschmann and Millstein have been the top three runners in the dual meets with McCarthy, Romano and Tarves rounding out the top six and Palombo, Taccarino, Buck and Aidan Sokorai not far behind.
“We have big goals,” the coach said, with different phases of the season. The Carlisle race was the first invitational and three more invitationals are coming up “where we’ll be racing some really very good teams.” That will give them a sense of where they’re at in their fitness and competitiveness.
“Then we really shift gears trying to win the Cape-Atlantic League meet and the South Jersey Championship and then trying to make a run at the state meet,” Purdue said.
The Red Raider boys won four straight sectional titles from 2007 to 2010, but there were only two boys who were on all four teams. “Statewide in all sports, that isn’t very common,” he said of the successive sectional titles.
This year would be the chance to have so many more runners on four sectional championship teams. “You know, four in a row, that would be pretty amazing with some of the guys being on there the whole time. I know they want to accomplish that this year and they’re working very, very hard toward it,” Purdue said.
The seven seniors on the team are Aschmann, Buck, Goodwin, Neuman, Romano, Taccarino and Josh Tornbloom.
“They’ve been a very dedicated, hard-working group and, as a coaching staff, certainly one of the more memorable groups to work with just because of their level of dedication to this sport,” Purdue said.
Last year at the Group III state championship, Colts Neck High School won with 87 points; Ocean City was second with 102. Aschmann was the top finisher for the Red Raiders, coming in eighth; then senior Erik Preisner was 10th; McCarthy was 28th, Romano was 38th and Neuman was 43rd. At the 2025 South Jersey sectional, Preisner won, Aschmann was second, Neuman fourth, Millstein eighth, Romano 10th and McCarthy 12th.
Like the Red Raider girls, a top goal is keeping all the runners healthy. Ryan Jefferson is out right now with an injury.
“When you watch cross country practice, we stretch at the beginning, we stretch at the end. We’re training at a high volume and high intensity and there is a lot of extra work to stay healthy,” Purdue said.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
