South’s season ends at sectionals

By: Rich Fisher
   The cross country season came to an end for both the boys and girls teams at South Brunswick High School on Saturday, as neither side advanced a team or individual to the NJSIAA Group IV meet.
   The Viking boys finished in seventh place with 186 points in the Central Jersey Group IV Meet at Holmdel on Saturday. South finished one point behind Edison, but 76 behind fifth-place Old Bridge. Only the top five teams advance to the Group IV meet.
   The girls team, running with just one senior in the lineup, finished in ninth place with 282 points.
   Despite not qualifying, it was a respectable finish for both squads. Each has just one senior among its top six runners. For the boys, four juniors and a sophomore led the way and for the girls, two sophomores and a freshman were the first three Vikings across.
   Individually, junior Steve Sample was the Vikings top finisher for the boys, clocking a 25th-place time of 17:49. The top 10 finishers in each group advanced to the Group IV meet, along with 10 wild cards from teams that did not qualify.
   Junior Rishi Mathur was 28th in 17:53, junior David Christofalo was 30th in 17:56, junior Cole Crosby was 54th in 18:30, sophomore Sean Lease was 55th in 18:31 and senior Joseph Wong was 63rd in 18:39.
   For the girls, the top individual finisher was sophomore Megan Behrend, who clocked 21:51 and came in 51st place. She was followed by freshman Ashley Edwards (55th, 22:00h), sophomore Jessica Engel (56th, 22:03), senior Jackie Helfgott (78th, 23:04), junior Jessica Bellizio (83rd, 23:21) and junior Kristina Bonfiglio (98th, 24:12).