CVC Boys Championship: Jha prevails over deep boys field, Princeton edges WWP North for team title
The 2025 CVC Championships at Thompson Park were loaded with outstanding performances and exciting finishes. Below are highlights from the individual and team competitions on the boys side. Click below for photos from the race, and find full results here.
Jha, Wittenberg, Qureshi lead fifteen boys at 17:00 or faster
WWP’s formidable duo of Agrim Jha and Paul Wittenberg set the tone for a fast day by going out hard from the gun. By the one-mile mark, they opened up a 5-second gap on third place and were never seriously challenged the rest of the way home. As for the competition between the teammates, the sophomore Jha got the upper hand after pulling away in the final mile to take the individual title in 16:08.2. The junior Wittenberg came through for the silver medal in 16:15.5. Those were big course PRs for both boys.
Behind the two Knights was an excellent three-way battle for bronze between Princeton senior Saboor Qureshi, Allentown senior John O’Leary, and Hopewell Valley junior Finnegan Curley. The order of the three boys was constantly in flux as they each put in surges over the first three miles. O’Leary led the push up the hills in the final mile, but it was Qureshi who made the decisive move going around the baseball fields and was able to hold on to take 3rd place in 16:26.6. Curley, who had briefly lost contact going up the hills, summoned a big last 400m to catch O’Leary on the final stretch and barely hold him off, 16:28.4 to 16:29.0.
Those are very impressive performances by the whole top five. Last year, only two Mercer County boys went sub-16:30 on this course. This year, five have done it, and that’s even before sectionals!
The top five weren’t the only ones running fast. Allentown sophomore Ryan Heissler — racing in his first full 5K at Thompson Park — ran fearlessly right behind Qureshi, Curley, and O’Leary for the first two miles. Although he couldn’t quite hang on over the final hills, his gutsy run paid off with a 6th place finish in 16:41.2.
Behind Qureshi, the Princeton boys exhibited great teamwork to land three more runners in the top 10. Sophomore Lachlan Arnold and junior Finn Wedmid ran side-by-side for over two miles, and then in the third mile they were joined by Braedyn Capone after the senior put in a huge surge up the big hill. Capone kept his momentum going and Arnold went with him, with Wedmid close in tow, as the three Tigers pulled away from the chase pack. Arnold earned the 7th-place medal in 16.49.4, Capone finished right with him in 8th in 16:49.7, and Wedmid took 9th in 16:51.7.
Just behind the Princeton trio, six boys finished in the 6-second span from 16:55 to 17:00. At the front of that group was Steinert senior Tyler Hurst, who had gone out hard and held on to secure a top-10 finish in 16:55.6. WWP North freshman Ashvin Avineni used a strong kick down homestretch to finish 11th in 16:56.7.
WWP South sophomore Aron Zola finished next in 16:58.3, leading a tight string of four boys who ran as a pack just about the whole race. That group also included Allentown freshman Reed Huggins (13th in 16:59.3), Notre Dame junior Timothy Ellingson (14th in 17:00.0), and Hopewell Valley’s Silas Allevik (15th in 17:00.9).
Those were excellent results by the full top fifteen. Of particular note, Avineni and Huggins became just the 7th and 8th freshmen from Mercer County to ever go sub-17:00 at Thompson Park. But even more broadly, it’s clear that the CVC boys are exceptionally deep with talent this season. Consider this: In the prior three county/CVC championships, the 15th-place times were 17:42, 17:42, and 17:20. This year, the 15th-place time was 17:00, and there were 24 boys who went 17:20 or faster.
Princeton wins team title by just 4 points over WWP North
The competition on the boys side was predicated to be a close one, and it lived up to the hype. At the one-mile mark, WWP North had a 8-point lead over Princeton, but Princeton whittled that gap down to 5 by the two-mile mark. Then, with a big last mile, the Princeton boys overtook WWP North and won the title by only 4 points, 47 to 51!
That was a huge statement win for the Tigers, who came into this race as slight underdogs. And it wasn’t that WWP North had an off day — the Knights scored just as many points as Track Mercer projected — it was that Princeton ran a phenomenal race.
In particular, the key to the narrow victory was that the Princeton boys each won their own race-within-a-race. Qureshi won the tight battle for 3rd place. Arnold, Capone, and Wedmid crossed the line just ahead of a big pack of boys. And Princeton’s #5 runner, sophomore Aleric Deess (20th in 17:14), caught both of WWP North’s displacers in the final mile of this race and finished just behind their #5. Those little victories amounted to a big championship for Princeton.
The race played out almost exactly as Princeton chalked it up. They may not have had the speed of the Knights’ top 2 or the depth of the Knights’ top 7, but they knew they had enough talented mid-pack runners to keep it close if they worked together. As Wedmid explained after the race, “We were focusing on just getting as many men together as we could and seeing how many people we could put in front of their third runner.”
The Tigers did just that, ultimately putting four men in front of the Knights’ third runner, and Capone played a key role in that achievement. “I took it out a little lighter, and I really just wanted to attack that hill [in the last mile], to catch up with [Arnold and Wedmid] and work with them,” he said afterwards. “I knew if I caught them, they’d stick with me. And it worked out well.”
One advantage that Princeton had was that they were so well-acquainted with this course, which they consider one of their favorites. Not only did they race the XC Fall Classic here two weeks ago, but they came back again last week for a practice. Being familiar with every plane, hill, and dip at Thompson Park helped the Princeton boys know how to pace themselves and where to make their moves.
“The first half is really flat, but the last hill is crucial,” Arnold described after the race. Capone agreed: “You have to be a little cautious about the first half of the race. You can’t just send it because you know you have that big climb at the end.”
Princeton’s fate depended in large part on their fifth man, the sophomore Deess, but he came through in the clutch for his teammates. “Starting from the bottom of the hill, I saw two North guys in front of me,” he said after the race. “I thought, ‘I have to at least catch these two so that our team can secure victory and perform our best.’ It was kind of stressful, but I’m glad I got it done.”
Princeton’s team was rounded out by two more seniors, Ziyang Ling (37th in 17:55) and senior Evan Raphael (44th in 18:15), who will join Qureshi and Capone to graduate as CVC champions.
Other Team Highlights
WWP North (2nd with 51 pts). WWP North might have barely missed the team title, but they still ran very well. Jha and Wittenberg placed as high as possible, and Avineni ran the 3rd-fastest Thompson Park time by a freshman in the past 10 years. Soham Shah (18th in 17:08) and Veejhay Roy (19th in 17:12) both ran one of their best races of the season, while Rohan Varma (22nd in 17:19) and Andy Chi (25th in 17:24) also set big course PRs. It’s incredibly impressive to put seven boys in the top 25 and at 17:24 or faster! They are still very well positioned for a deep postseason run.
Allentown (3rd with 95 pts). The battle for 3rd place was even closer than the battle for 1st place, as Allentown beat out WWP South by a mere 3 points. The Redbirds hit their goal of a top-three team finish thanks to massive results by O’Leary, Heissler, and Huggins up front, as well as Thompson Park PRs from both Sarth Shah (28th in 17:35) and Matthew Brueggemeier (43rd in 18:13). Sophomore Liam Pecci (47th in 18:26) finished just a few places back to provide some insurance as a 6th man.
WWP South (4th with 98 pts). Great races from all of the Pirates make the battle for 3rd place closer than expected. Zola set the tone up front with his 12th place finish, and the Pirates put two more sophomores in the top 20 and under 17:10, with Sean Maina taking 16th in 17:06 and Harsh Sharma right behind in 17:08 for 17th. Those were clutch performances by both boys; Maina bounced back well after sitting out divisionals last week, and Sharma ran his second-fastest 5K ever, even on this hilly course. With more nice races from Dhruv Kumar (23rd in 17:20) and Jascha Margolis (30th in 17:45), the Pirates fit all five scorers in the top 30.
Hopewell Valley (5th with 121 pts). The Bulldogs were led by Curley in 4th place and Allevik in 15th place. That was an impressive and gusty run for the junior Allevik in just his second race on the comeback trail from an injury. Sophomore Julian Hiraldo (24th in 17:20) added another top 25 finish with a Thompson Park PR. Senior Colin Vickery (32nd in 17:48) similarly did well in his first race since the TCNJ Invitational, and freshman Declan Curley (46th in 18:22) stepped up as their 5th man today.
Hightstown (6th with 162 pts). Junior Mateo Abad-Delgado and senior Mason Johnson teamed up for the first two miles, before Abad-Delgado attacked the hills and managed to get around a small pack just ahead of them. He finished 21st in 17:19, a new 5K PR, which shows his great progress after dealing with a mid-season injury setback. Johnson finished just six seconds back in 26th with a time of 17:25. Dhruva Sribuddharju (31st in 17:46) and Javin Spearman (35th in 17:53 both went out more conservatively and then moved up with very strong second halves.
Princeton Day (7th with 228 pts). Senior Grayson McLaughlin had his best race of the season with a 17:28 for 27th place, just off his course PR from last year. Senior Alexander Chia, who has stepped up nicely into the role of the Panthers’ #2 runner this year, stuck with McLaughlin for two miles and was pulled to a nice course PR of 17:38 for 29th place.
Notre Dame (8th with 265 pts). The junior Ellingson has been on a roll heading into the postseason, and his time of 17:00 for 14th place at this meet was just 12 seconds off his 5K PR from a much faster course. His classmate Markus McParland took 33rd place in 17:49, taking 6-7 seconds off his Thompson Park PR.
Lawrence (9th in 266 pts). Sophomore Harrison Petrick (34th in 17:49) and senior Alden Smith (36th in 17:53) once again led the way for the Cardinals. They pushed each other the whole way to both go sub-18:00 for the first time on this course. Sophomore James Robsion passed 25 boys over the last two miles en route to 55th place in 18:44.
Ewing (10th in 284 pts). The Blue Devils were led by junior Shazad Singh, who crushed his Thompson Park PR with an 18:09 for 41st place. Senior Ibrahim Songu also broke into the top 50 with a course PR of 18:27.
Steinert (11th in 288 pts). In addition to Hurst’s 10th-place finish, the Spartans got strong efforts from sophomore Billy Conway (40th in 18:08) and senior Adam Szpakowski (51st in 18:33).
Robbinsville (12th in 311 pts). The Ravens were led by senior Nish Seshadri (42nd in 18:10) and junior Ryan Decker (59th in 18:55), who both finished just off their PRs on this course.
Nottingham (13th in 365 pts). The Northstars duo of Michael Juliano (61st in 18:59) and Matthew Alvarez (64th in 19:10) used some nice teamwork over the first two miles to pace each other to Thompson Park PRs. Freshman Gabriel Toure tracked his teammates closely the whole way, finishing 68th in 19:20.
Hamilton West (14th in 404 pts). Sophomore Michael Dentini ran an excellent race to take 57th in 18:47, which was the 6th-fastest Thompson Park time in school history. He’s the first Hornet to go sub-19:00 since 2017.
Trenton (15th in 428 pts). Senior Briyon Ellerbe (70th in 19:23) and junior Malik Kiawu (73rd in 19:27) led the Tornados with their best 5Ks ever, just a few seconds off their 5K PRs from much flatter courses.