FOUR SHORE - Girls Cross Country Group Championships
With three team champions and one individual, the Shore will send a strong contingent into the girls XC Meet of Champions.
Published: 11/10/2007
By - Scott Clayton - Senior Staff Writer
Now with complete video coverage.
HOLMDEL - No one on the outside looking in really knew who would make up the Toms River North girls cross country team until the racing started in September. The Mariners, however, are not even the most anonymous local girls team to win a state title on Saturday. North's girls, familiar names for all of three weeks, will have to take a backseat to St. Rose in that regard as the Purple Roses surprised the field in Non-Public B.
The conference's remaining champions on Saturday - Monsignor Donovan in Non-Public A and Southern junior Jillian Smith in Group IV - merely continued to cement themselves as the area's best team and individual, respectively.
In his seventh year as head coach at Toms River North, Dave Ytreboe had seen talented teams pass through the program before, and even won a sectional title in 2004, but it is fair to say that few saw this kind of season brewing for the Mariners. Led, as it has been all season, by junior Angela Rugino, Toms River North scored just 108 points to top an all-shore contingent that will send second-place Southern, third-place Colts Neck and fourth-place Howell to Saturday's Meet of Champions back at Holmdel Park.
Rugino placed 15th, running 19:36, while freshman Ashley Kotran and Andrea Mathis broke 20 minutes for the first time, placing 21st and 22nd, respectively, in 19:52 and 19:54. Two more freshmen, Johanna Petruski and Dana Delanoy finished off North's scoring, placing 30th and 33rd.
"As soon as these girls showed up, the first day of practice, I knew we had a chance to be a very good team," Ytreboe said. "Again, very gutsy kids coming out of the eighth grade and I knew a lot about them and I recruited them for two years. They basically were my wishlist. I said, 'I need these five girls to come in,' and all five of them came in which was a great thing."
North earned its fourth state title for the program, after winning Group IV in 1976, 1978 and 1979. The Mariners won the Meet of Champions for the only time in school history in 1978. A top-three team showing and the top 10 individuals in each race, along with two team and 10 individual wild-cards, will return for next week's Meet of Champions.
"Everyone roots for the underdog," Rugino said. "We got really close at Shores (Shore Conference) and that was really like a booster. We were like, 'Oh, let's work a little harder.' And we didn't exactly have our best days so we were like, 'Maybe if we all are on, we can win.'"
It helped North that the competition it faced on Saturday was very familiar. Since falling to Southern at the Ocean County Championships and a dual meet to decide Class A South, the Mariners have rattled off head-to-head wins now for three straight weeks over the Rams, including a tie-breaker for third at the Shore Conference Championships behind Monsignor Donovan and Colts Neck. Defending Group IV champion Colts Neck also hosted Toms River North at its XC University camp in the summer.
"Southern was that team that just beat us in those first two matchups, but once we tied them and beat them we realized maybe we do have a chance the following week," Ytreboe said.
What had been a 1:20 spread between the one and five runners for North at the Shore Conference meet was tightened to just 45 seconds on Saturday, easily the tightest pack among the title contenders.
"Usually, we're a little more spread apart," Rugino said. "Our friends were sitting there cheering for us and they're yelling, 'Go Rugino,' and then I just heard, 'Go Ashley, Go Andrea, Go Johanna.' I heard everyone behind me and that just pushed me to go faster."
Only the top three finishers in Group III, Voorhees, Ridge and Roxbury, compiled faster team times on the day than the 19:58.2 of Southern and 20:00.2 of Toms River North. Voorhees broke Roxbury's two-year-old state record with a 19:04.8 average and is a heavy favorite for next week's title. The Lady Mariners are one of several teams in the hunt for second-place.
"The girls probably won't look much at these teams, but I'll evaluate it and I'll see where we are," Ytreboe said.
Up front in the Group IV race, Southern junior Jillian Smith continued her unbeaten season with an 18:29 win, crossing the line 70 meters ahead of runner-up Jillian Prentice of Montgomery. Colts Neck's Briana Jackucewicz made up ground in the final mile for third-place, but announced that she would be likely to miss next week's race after struggling with a calf injury. Without Jackucewicz in top form, Smith may have had the most effortless finish of the day, while running the day's fifth-fastest time.
"I feel good, surprisingly," Smith said. "Usually in track, you know, you're starting to feel tired towards the end (of the season), but I still feel fresh and ready to go. I think I was pretty conservative. I just wanted to get to the finish line as quick as I could, but I wasn't red-lining it or anything, just tempoing it to the finish line."
Smith stayed with the pack up to 'the Bowl' at the halfway point of the race before starting to stretch out here lead. A similar tact led former teammate Danielle Tauro to the last two Meet of Champions titles. Smith, along with Voorhees' Melanie Thompson, Kingsway's Chelsea Ley and Oak Knoll's Katie McCafferty, is among the favorites for next week's state crown.
"I'm excited for Meet of Champs," Smith said. "Just looking forward to that race. We'll see how that goes. There are a lot and lot of really good competitors. I'm not looking for time-wise next week. I'm just concerned about place."
A Rose Is A Rose
With three runners in the top 10, most observers of the girls Non-Public B race were just awaiting the finish of Mater Dei's fourth and fifth finishers in order to anoint the Seraphs as state champions. A funny thing happened while waiting, however, as St. Rose placed its top five between 12 and 26, with just a 42-second spread, to shock the field and win the title with 90 points. Our Lady of Mercy finished second with 95 while Mater Dei settled for third with 98.
"You not supposed to know us," St. Rose coach John Verga said. "We're like the (Miami Dolphins') no-name defense."
Freshman Nicole Donahue and junior Taylor Shanley finished 12th and 14th for the Roses, followed across the line by sophomore Nicole DelNero (23rd, 21:37), freshman Kaitlin Marsicano (24th, 21:50) and sophomore Kathleen Casagrande (26th, 21:56).
"Every other school had two or three outstanding girls," Verga said. "We just have seven athletic kids. Our whole philosophy this season was pack running and we went to some meets where we tried to run with smaller schools like we would see here. They were gaining confidence from that. Honestly, with a good day we thought we could get first."
"We all work together as a team," Shanley said. "They don't think cross country is a team sport, but it is. We push each other the whole race."
Mater Dei's Liz Shaw, Meg Corless and Marie Walsh all enjoyed top-10 finishes.
Donovan Decisive
Expected to be one of the most competitive team races of the day, the Non-Public A girls did not disappoint. Back where it expected to be three weeks after a disappointing Ocean County race, Monsignor Donovan took the state crown for the second time in four years with a 61-point showing. Runner-up Red Bank Catholic tallied 71 points with Immaculate Heart Academy coming in at 73.
With junior Krissa Loretto still battling illness and coming in as the Griffins' fourth runner, Donovan relied on experience with seniors Brianna Crowe and Molly Kempton setting the pace with fifth- and sixth-place finishes. Junior Devin Solvik placed 10th with Loretto (17th) and Meagan Brosnan (23rd) finishing off the scoring.
"It's been such an up-and-down season for us," Crowe said. "With our team we all work together and we know we have such good depth. We have eight girls really and we just train together so we know that anyone of us can have a good race at any given time."
As freshmen, Crowe (19:46) and Kempton (19:54) were key cogs to a team that won Ocean County, Shore Conference and Non-Public A titles before a second-place finish at the Meet of Champions.
"It's great that we started off as freshmen winning everything," Crowe said. "We're used to winning, but it's great because it's so close that they are good races now."
Red Bank Catholic was led by freshman Molly McNamara's third-place finish, but the top local finish in the race came from St. John Vianney sophomore Chelsea Delaney, who placed second to Immaculate Heart's Sarah Pagano in 19:33.
"Around the mile mark I was somewhat near them (Red Bank Catholic)," Delaney said. "So going down 'the Bowl' and up 'the Bowl' I gradually just got into second, so that's where I picked it up. I'm pretty proud of my season so far."
Other Qualifiers
Holmdel's second-place showing in Group II matched the finish of the boys and will send first-year head coach Casey Redding and her squad to the Meet of Champions, making it a whopping nine Shore Conference schools in the 20-team field. Rumson-Fair Haven junior Hannah Satzke and Matawan senior Lauren Pica qualified as individuals from Group II, joining Delaney as the only local individuals who will compete next week.
Click here for full results.
|