Week 3 Recap: Jerry Hart Invitational & More
Jerry Hart Invitational
The Jerry Hart Invitational is one of the most exciting and eye-opening meets of the year. After months of summer training followed by a few weeks of dual meets and two-mile races, teams and individual runners finally get to prove what they can do over a full 5K against major competition on a fast course. The meet also provides a rare opportunity for schools inside and outside the CVC to go head-to-head and see how they stack up.
Over half of the schools in Mercer County faced off at the Jerry Hart Invitational this year: Hamilton West, Hightstown, Hun, Lawrenceville, Notre Dame, Peddie, Pennington, Princeton, Princeton Day, Stuart Country Day, Trenton, and Wilberforce. They were joined by two other prep schools, Mercersburg Academy and Blair Academy.
The fast golf course and beautiful weather on Saturday afternoon were a recipe for 5K PRs! Read on to see what the Jerry Hart Invitational taught us about many of the top runners and teams in Mercer County so far this fall. Full results here and video by 2L Race Services here.
Swipe to see photos from the awards ceremony.
Girls Results
Lawrenceville’s Blair Bartlett wasted no time in showing why MileSplit ranked her #9 in the United States before she ever touched foot on a cross course. She blasted the slightly downhill first mile in 5:03, split 10:35 at the two-mile mark, and then crossed the line in 16:48, winning by over 80 seconds against some strong competition. 16:48 is an absolutely incredible time. To put it in perspective, according to MileSplit, that’s the 3rd-fastest time ever recorded by a New Jersey girl! Yes, Peddie’s golf course runs fast, and yes, times don’t mean as much in cross country, but there’s no denying that this was a historic result to start her XC career.
Princeton’s Kajol Karra also ran exceptionally well in her own right, outkicking Mercersburg’s Gabriella Cechini for 2nd place in 18:10. That’s another very fast time and a new 5K PR for Karra. It’s also 15 seconds faster than she ran at this same meet last year, which suggests that the senior is ready for an even bigger season this year. Not far behind Karra was her junior Grace Hegedus, who also lowered her 5K PR from this meet last year by another 10 seconds to take 4th place in 18:18.
To give a sense of how fast these top girls all ran, Bartlett, Karra, Cechini, and Hegedus all went under the 14-year-old course record of 18:24 set by Peddie’s Kelly Bailey.
Tying that old course record of 18:24 was Wilberforce’s Stella Blanchard, who finished in 5th with the most surprising result of the day. The junior Blanchard had never broken 20:00 in the 5K, had focused on the 400m/800m in track, and had a 1600m PR of 5:27 – a mark that she beat in the first mile of her 5K today. She got some help from her star senior teammate Laura Sallade, who ran the first two miles alongside her and finished just a few seconds behind, getting 6th in 18:33. After the Wilberforce duo, Mercersburg’s Ella Blanco joined her teammate Cechini in the sub-19:00 club by finishing 7th in 18:51.
Princeton junior Phoenix Roth followed in 8th place with a time of 19:08, almost 40 seconds faster than her time here last year. Notre Dame sophomore Alaina Sabo followed in 9th place with a time of 19:13, almost 60 seconds faster than last year. Just behind Sabo was another super sophomore, Princeton’s Rosemary Warren, who rounded out the medals with a time of 19:26 for 10th place.
Finishing just outside the medals but with a big 5K PR of 19:32 was Caitlin Williams, a senior transfer student at Peddie. Next came the top freshman of the day, Princeton Day’s Kayla Peckens, who ran 19:45 for 12th place in her first 5K.
Girls Team Highlights
NJ #2 Princeton won this meet with just 38 points, 37 points ahead of runner-up Lawrenceville. In addition to Karra, Hegedus, Roth, and Warren in the top 10, the Tigers put sophomore Sevanne Knoch (15th in 20:06), junior Mila Trkov (16th in 20:13), and senior Lilly Ludewig (24th in 21:13) in the top 25. That’s fantastic depth, and it’s not even including three girls in the JV race – junior Eowyn Deess (19:46), freshman Carolina Kime (20:19), and senior Avery Bahr (20:55) – who also would’ve finished top 25 in the varsity race. Counting Deess, Princeton’s top-5 average was an incredible 18:57.
Lawrenceville beat out MAPL rival Mercersburg for 2nd place, 75 to 88. Besides Bartlett way up front, Lawrenceville also showed impressive depth by putting six girls in the top 30. Junior Rory Laubach went from 16th to 12th in the last mile and finished in 19:53, going sub-20 for the first time. Senior Essie Chafin also finished in 20th place with a time of 20:43.
Wilberforce edged Peddie for 4th place by just a single point. Led by Sallade and Blanchard, the Wolverines also got a boost from having senior Emily Prothero run XC for the first time. She finished 23rd in 21:08 today.
Peddie senior Shanel Tan finished spring track with a big 2-mile PR of 11:32 at nationals, and she’s carried that momentum into the fall. Today, running in her very first XC race, she finished 14th in 19:58. Her junior teammate Charis Chien also ran great and finished 18th in 20:18.
Notre Dame’s team average this year was over 30 seconds faster than last year, helped out by Sabo’s big run up front and another top-30 finish from fellow sophomore Leah Rouse (29th in 21:59).
Hightstown finished 8th out of the thirteen teams, just 8 points ahead of Pennington. The Rams were led by senior Madalyne Ng (35th in 22:35), followed closely by the duo of Oluwabukunmi Ogunsola (37th in 23:04) and Hayley Watkins (38th in 23:06).
Princeton Day, Pennington, Hun, and Stuart Country Day all had girls run some of their school’s fastest times in the past 5-10 years. Princeton Day’s Peckens became just the second girl from her school to go sub-20:00. Pennington senior Emma Normand – who before this fall was a pure 100m/200m sprinter – finished 19th in 20:39. Hun had two top-30 girls with Lulu Cattaneo (21st in 20:48) and Sabine Leblanc (28th in 21:43). Stuart Country Day junior Claire McLaughlin also cracked the top 30 with a time of 22:12.
Hamilton West’s top finisher was junior Lyla Solayman, who moved up nicely throughout the race and finished 55th in 24:43.
Boys Results
The boys race, just like the girls race, featured a runaway winner who wound up breaking the course record. That honor went to Mercersburg’s Liam Beighley, whose 15:25 beat the old mark of 15:30 set in 2008 by Pennington’s Phil Wood.
Behind Beighley, Princeton senior Saboor Qureshi – running in his first-ever official XC race – broke away from the chase pack during the second mile and stretched his lead all the way through the line, crossing in a very quick debut of 16:06. Lawrenceville junior Arunav Sarkar outkicked the rest of the chase pack to grab 3rd place in 16:26, just ahead of Princeton junior Finn Wedmid, who took 4th in 16:28. Lawrenceville’s Bastian Bocklage won a tight three-way battle for 5th place in 16:32. He just barely held off a charge from Princeton sophomore Lachlan Arnold (6th in 16:32), who made up several seconds over the last mile, and Peddie transfer senior Elie Meyer (7th in 16:33).
Lawrenceville’s Hejyule Bae-Robinson ran a big PR of 16:39 for 8th place, and Notre Dame’s Timothy Ellingson also broke 17:00 for the first time with a 16:54 for 9th place. Lawrenceville’s Julius Jordan rounded out the top 10 with a time of 17:00. His teammate Nico Montenecourt finished just two seconds back in 11th place after passing fourteen boys over the last two miles.
Boys Team Highlights
Lawrenceville impressed by beating out Princeton, one of the top teams in the state. It was a tight competition – Princeton’s team average was barely faster, 16:43 to 16:44, but Lawrenceville’s superior depth and tight spread gave them the point advantage, 32 to 37. Lawrenceville’s five scorers all finished in the top 11 and within 36 seconds of each other.
Despite the runner-up finish, Princeton still has many positive takeaways from this result. Qureshi showed that he’ll be a major individual contender, Wedmid and Lachlan are also right up there, and seniors Evan Raphael (14th in 17:13) and Ziyang Ling (16th in 17:17) have made big strides since last fall and are providing valuable depth. Also, Princeton competed today without a full-strength Braedyn Capone, one of their top returners from last season.
Hightstown finished 3rd with 94 points. Mason Johnson led the way with a big PR of 17:09 for 13th place, and then the Rams had a tight 18-second spread between the rest of their scorers, who all placed in the top 25: Mateo Abad-Delgado (19th in 17:45), Dhruva Sribuddharju (20th in 17:46), Javin Spearman (22nd in 17:55), and Matthew DeAngelo (25th in 18:03).
Peddie finished 4th as a team, led by Meyer in 7th place and another transfer senior, Jerry Wang, who had a great Peddie debut with a 17:08 for 12th place. Junior Theo Salapatas (23rd in 17:55) also broke into the top 25 with a big PR.
Notre Dame’s Kevin Ellingson (21st in 17:53) moved up consistently throughout the whole race and finished as the top freshman. He was the Irish’s #2 finisher behind his brother Timothy.
Wilberforce junior Elias Edwards crushed his PR and ran a 17:17 to finish in 15th place. Sophomore Caed Wilson (26th in 18:03) showed an even bigger improvement, helped out by running the whole way with his junior teammate Henry Jepson (27th in 18:04).
Pennington got strong races from the senior duo of Monte Huffman (18th in 17:44) and Andrew Hofacker (24th in 18:02), who led their team to a 6th place finish.
Hun’s William Carey opened up his senior season with a big PR of 18:35 for 33rd place.
Princeton Day’s top runner today was senior Alexander Chia, who ran 17:37 to upgrade last year’s 43rd-place finish to 17th place this year.
Trenton was led by senior Briyon Ellerbe, who ran a PR of 19:14 for 45th place. His junior teammate Malik Kiawu unleashed a nice kick to finish just two seconds later in 46th place in his first invitational 5K.
Hamilton West’s Jonathan Gadie led the Hornets with a 54th-place finish in 19:50, beating his time from this meet last year.
Osprey XC High School Invitational
Allentown’s Ryan Heissler (center left) and Sarth Shah (center) run together early at the Osprey XC High School Invitational. | RunningWorksPics for MileSplit
Allentown was the lone Mercer County school to travel outside the county this weekend. They headed to Stockton University on Friday for the Osprey XC High School Invite. Full results here.
The Allentown boys were very impressive, taking 2nd place out of 35 teams with 109 points. They finished just 11 points behind Egg Harbor Township. Leading the way for the Redbirds was John O’Leary, who placed 4th overall with a time of 16:09. That was a big 5K PR for the senior.
What really carried Allentown to their runner-up finish was their impressive depth. Besides O’Leary, they put three more boys under 17:00. Freshman Reed Huggins finished 16th in 16:46, followed closely by junior Sarth Shah (20th in 16:55) and sophomore Ryan Heissler (21st in 16:56). Those results show impressive 5K debuts for Huggins and Heissler and a big step up from last year for Shah. This was the first invitational where Allentown’s top four runners, who are all in different grades, got to race with one another, and it’s clear that their teamwork is going to carry them far.
Junior Matthew Brueggemeier rounded out Allentown’s top five with a 5K PR of his own, running 18:03 for 50th place.
The Allentown girls also ran well, finishing 7th out of 33 teams. They were led by freshman Addison Frascella, who finished an impressive 19th place in her first invitational 5K with a time of 20:03. Daria Wroblewski was their #2 girl in 21:41 for 54th place.