Shore boys and girls, RBC win state XC titles
Record 12th championship for the Caseys
CHRIS KELLY Marc Altenau leads the Shore Regional boys cross country team during their recent meet with Henry Hudson. The Blue Devil boys also won a Group I title on Saturday at Holmdel Park.
Red Bank Catholic and Shore Regional raced into history at Saturday’s NJSIAA state cross country championships at Holmdel Park.
Mary Banks’ Caseys became the winningest program in state history, collecting their 12th Group title (Parochial A) while Shore Regional joined a very select list of schools who have won both girls and boys championships in the same year.
Mel Ullmeyer kept it very simple for his Shore Regional harriers: "Don’t stray from what you’ve been doing."
Ullmeyer knew that his Blue Devil boys and girls could each win Group I state championships Saturday if they didn’t get caught up in the moment and try to do too much.
CHRIS KELLY Shore Regional’s Lauren Ostrowsky (l), Alison Majors and Julie Ullmeyer lead a pack of runners in a recent dual meet with Henry Hudson. The Blue Devils won the Group I state championship on Saturday at Holmdel park.
"All we had to do was run the way we’ve been running," said Ullmeyer. "Each time out we’ve been getting better. If we continued that pattern, we would win."
The Blue Devils followed their coaches’ instructions to the letter and captured the school’s first-ever state harrier championships.
The girls flexed their tightly knit group muscles, putting their first five runners in the top 11 and easily outdistancing runner-up Glen Rock, 37-98
"The girls have been running in a pack all year," said Ullmeyer. "Ali Major is the mother goose. She pulls them along. We’re still a young team."
It was Julie Ullmeyer, Mel’s daughter, who once again paced the Blue Devils. She ran a 20:57.9 in finishing third behind Glen Rock’s Erin Henry (19:52.3) and Point Pleasant Beach’s Allyson Krayl (20:31.6).
Behind Ullmeyer was a cluster of Blue Devils. Julie’s younger sister Nicole Ullmeyer, a freshman, led the pack in eighth place (21:41.6), followed in order by Laura Hayden (21:49.7), Heather Gates (21:53.5) and Major (21:57.2) in ninth through 11th place. The Blue Devils’ sixth runner, Lauren Ostrowsky, was 12th (21:59.6).
Ullmeyer is building a would-be power here with Major the only senior of this group. Gates and Ostrowsky are freshmen like Nicole, and Hayden and Julie are just sophomores.
Shore Regional’s boys were led by junior Marc Altenau, the individual Group I state champion. His first place helped the Blue Devils outrun Metuchen, 72-120.
Altenau had lost the Central Jersey Group I title at the finish line to Sam Hetzel of Metuchen. There would be no replay of the photo finish this time as Altenau stuck to what he does best, run conservatively for the first half of the race and close with a rush.
"At the sectional, Marc tried to be in charge from the start," Ullmeyer explained. "He didn’t let anyone pass him and spent the race holding them off.
"Marc ran his race Saturday, running comfortably at the beginning and strong at the end," he added. "At two miles Mark looked very confident. When he made his move at two miles, he was able to break Point Pleasant Beach’s Brian Kayser."
Altenau was able to smell the roses this time, winning comfortably by more than 10 seconds over Jon Leslie of Whippany Park, 17:08-17:18.3. Kayser fell back to third (17:20.4).
The Blue Devils put Metuchen away by placing Tom Dunphy (18:15.9), Joseph Ruane (18:22.5) and Paul Murphy (18:25.9), 19th, 21st and 22nd. In the team scoring, they were 13th, 15th and 16th. The Blue Devils fifth scorer was Pablo Marin, who was 36th (18:44.6) and 27th in the team scoring.
Like the girls, the Blue Devil boys are a power in the making with all five scorers underclassmen.
Shore’s double state championship is an affirmation of the confidence that Ullmeyer, a standout runner for Raritan in the mid-1970’s, had in the school’s potential. He arrived as an assistant when the boys were on a losing streak and the girls were winning a couple of dual meets a year. In this, his first year as the head coach of the teams, they have completed the turnaround by winning state championships.
"I knew that Shore Regional had the kids who wanted to reach their potential, who set high goals for themselves," he said. "That goes hand-in-hand with running."
In the girls’ Parochial A race, there was a familiar result, RBC the winner for the second straight year and fourth time in the last five.
Any group state championship is special, but this year’s had a special meaning to Mary Banks and her runners as the Caseys surpassed Bernards as the winningest cross country program in state history with their 12th state championship. RBC turned back their Shore Conference rival, Monsignor Donovan, 52-80, to become the all-time winningest girls’ team.
Kelly Byrnes, sidelined for all but a couple races in 2000 because of an illness that was later diagnosed as anemia, battled her way back so that she could be a part of RBC team, and for moments like Saturday’s. The senior led the Caseys’ winning effort with a fifth place (20:02.4) in the A race. Notre Dame’s Nicole Kurtain was the champion posting a 19:38.4.
Shannon Gillespie (20:22) also had a Top 10 finish for RBC, placing seventh (20:22). Julia Barker (20:48.5) and Mary McCudden (20:52.8) came up with big efforts finishing 12th and 13th. Jacci Sargenti completed the scoring with her 15th place (21:09).
Over in Group II, Rumson-Fair Haven’s Christy Planer and the other contenders were taken by surprise by Moorestown’s Meghan Hughes. The Quaker took off from the gun with a reckless abandon.
"She took a huge chance," said Planer. "I thought that she was a rabbit and that she would come back to us.
"Everyone was pacing off me, and we went out so slow," she added. "I made my move at two-miles and saw that she (Hughes) had a 50-meter lead. It was too much."
Planer, the Central Jersey Group II and Shore Conference champion, would slice into Hughes’ lead in the final mile, but the Quaker had enough left to make her gamble pay off. She ran a 19:27.9 to Planer’s 19:37.98.
The good news for Planer was that her time held up as the sixth fastest of the day among all of the groups. She’ll have every opportunity to earn all-state honors Saturday at the season-ending Meet of Champions.
Planer’s teammate Caitlin Moscatello ran her best race of the year finishing seventh (20:10.5), which will allow her to race in the MOC. The Top 10 individuals and top three teams from the group meets qualify automatically for the MOC with 10 at large berths going to the next 10 fastest individual runners.
Rumson’s girls finished fifth (182) as Moorestown swept the individual and team championship with 39 points.
In Group III, Red Bank Regional boys finished third (130) behind Mainland Regional (54) and Mount Olive (116). The Central Jersey champions were again led by sophomore Robbie Dennis, who turned in a 16:47.4 in placing sixth. The Shore area produced the individual winner in Ed Baynes of Toms River South (16:24.1).
Junior Jovannie Cortez (17:20.6) and sophomore Steve Waite (17:21), who represent the Bucs future along with Dennis, were 20th and 21st overall.
RBC’s Matt Piccarello qualified for the MOC by finishing sixth in the Parochial A race in 16:53.6.