HOLMDEL — The Ocean City High School boys and girls cross country teams propelled themselves to this Saturday’s Meet of Champions after finishing second and third, respectively, at the Group III state meets at Holmdel.
The Red Raider boys finished second to winner Colts Neck, scoring 82 points to the champion’s 64. Both teams were well ahead of the competition in Group III. The third-place team, Chatham, finished with 146 points out of the 20 teams competing.
Ocean City had three runners in the top 12. Jay Adimala, a Colts Neck junior, won the race on the hilly Holmdel course in 16 minutes, 10 seconds.
Raider senior Ethan Buck finished ninth in 16:31 and teammate Keenan Neuman, a sophomore, was 10th one second later. Fellow Red Raider Erik Preisner, a junior who won the South Jersey Group III sectional, was 12th in 16:39, and sophomore Nathan Aschmann was 21st in16:53. The other Raider runners were Zach Hutchinson (17:12), a senior, and Michael Romano (17:14), a sophomore. They finished 42nd and 43rd, and freshman Nevin Millstein, 109th in 18:31.
In the girls race, Ocean City was third with 137 points. Colts Neck won the state title with 89 points and Middle Township was second with 100 points. Lilah Gordon of Northern Burlington Regional won the race in 17:58.
Senior Chloe Care was the top finisher for Ocean City, cracking the top 10 with her ninth-place finish in 19:37, closely followed by Mainland senior Sofia Day (19:42) in 10th place.
Freshman Riley Tolson was next for Ocean City, 13th in 19:55, and senior Maeve Smith, who won the South Jersey sectional, was 20th in 20:12. Senior Zoe Zammit was 37th in 20:52 and sophomore Peighton Clemens 78th in 21:44. Teammate Lillian Flora was 92nd in 22:08.
Mainland Regional was 13th out of the 20 teams, scoring 341 points.
In addition to Day, Mustang runners were freshman Ellie Mokienko, 62nd, 21:22; sophomore Cecilia Foreman, 73rd, 21:33; senior Ava McDole, 120th, 22:59; junior Macie Gannon, 126th, 23:29; and sophomore Emily Dill, 144th, 25:42.
The cross country Meet of Champions is Saturday at Holmdel Park.
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
