By DAVID NAHAN
Sentinel staff
HOLMDEL – Red Raider and Mustang runners placed in the top 10 Saturday at the state Group III cross country championships at Holmdel Park.
The Ocean City High School boys and girls cross country teams each finished sixth at the meet. The Ocean City boys were led by senior Nick Scarangelli, who finished sixth overall.
Mainland Regional High School had two girls finish in the top 10 – junior Gillian Lovett in fifth place in a time of 19:27 and sophomore Sofia Day in seventh in 19:41.
With only four finishers, Mainland did not have a team score. It’s other two finishers were juniors Claudia Booth (22:37) and Chloe Malone (22:43), who were 88th and 90th, respectively.
Ocean City boys sixth
As a team, Ocean City finished with 174 points. Summit won the team title with 106 points; North Hunterdon was second with 126, Chatham third with 128, Colts Neck fourth with 130 and Mendam fifth with 138.
Ocean City finished just ahead of South Jersey’s Highland Regional, which was seventh with 184 points. There were 28 teams in the Group III state meet.
Scarangelli’s time was 16:36. Rahway senior Micah Lawson was first in 15:45.
Other Red Raiders included junior Matt Hoffman, 22nd, 17:09; senior Chris Sardy, 51st, 17:52; senior Colin Abbott, 72nd, 18:17; sophomore Ethan Buck, 76th, 18:20; sophomore Kai Heyman, 83rd, 18:28: and sophomore Sam Ritti, 121st, 19:30.
Mainland Regional’s Elliot Post was 67th in 18:10.
Ocean City girls sixth
Sophomore Maeve Smith was the first Red Raider across the finish in 16th place.
Smith finished in 20:16 and the Red Raider girls had 215 points for their sixth-place team finish. Clearview Regional took the Group III state title with 57 points; North Hunterdon was second with 85; Northern Highlands Regional third with 85; Allentown fourth with 189; and Mendham fifth with 208.
The individual winner was Northern Burlington sophomore Lilah Gordon, who finished the hilly Holmdel course in 18:57.
The other Ocean City girls were sophomore Chloe Care, 54th, 21:52; junior Frankie Ritzel, 70th, 22:11; senior Grace McAfee, 71st, 22:13; senior Olivia Palmieri, 78th, 22:21; freshman Gabrielle Henry, 94th, 22:48; and senior Abby Inserra, 97th, 22:52.
