Bowden races off with Liberty title

By: Sean Moylan
   Michael Bowden corrected the one or two strategical errors he made while medalling at the Shore Coaches’ Tournament at Holmdel on Saturday and he went out and won the individual Liberty Division title at the BCSL Divisional Tournament at New Egypt on Tuesday.
   Bowden ran an extremely fast time of 16:52 and actually led all the way.
   "I’m super happy for Mike (Bowden). He ran like he had nothing to lose today (Tuesday). Me and Billy Kostenko (NBC’s longtime assistant cross country coach) told him to work on his start and the whole time he was up front," said Steve Alustiza, the head coach of the NBC varsity cross country team. "He went out a lot more aggressive (than at Holmdel). He pulled away from the Moorestown kids that were nipping at his heels. He ran tough against those Moorestown kids."
   On the strength of Bowden’s spectacular performance, NBC placed second as a team behind Moorestown.
   However, Alustiza was also very happy with Zach Traino’s 18:29 time, which placed him ninth overall in the race. Dylan Kurwoski (15th place with a 19:15 time), Dan Lucy (17th place with a 19:28 time), Abhi Chandel (20th place with a 19:41 time), Ian King (21st place with a 19:43 time) and Matt Mayo (22nd place with a 20:04 time) also ran well for the Greyhounds.
   The results were mixed on the girls’ side as NBC finished third in the Liberty. Christin Hutchison ran a very good race and posted a 22:32 time, which placed her in the top ten. And Brandy Price, just back from a wrestling tournament in Puerto Rico, ran a 22:28, 11th place time. Kelly Stiles came in 13th place with a 22:39 mark but then the NBC times dropped off a bit. Laura DeBenedetto (a 23:18, 14th place time), Melinda Meehan (a 23:41, 16th place time), Sue Bumbera (a 23:52, 21st place time) and Brianna D’ Amato (a 26:11, 23rd place time) were NBC’s other runners at New Egypt.
   "Some of the kids have missed too much time," added Alustiza, who knows his girls can run faster if they continue to work.
   At the Shore Coaches Tournament, Bowden placed 12th overall with a 17:01 time, which was 23 seconds faster than the time he posted in last year’s race at Holmdel.
   "He (Bowden) got a nice plaque," said Alustiza, whose star runner ran well but was caught by a Moorestown runner he had previously beaten. But Bowden was able to get revenge at the Divisional race. Kurwoski (19:14), Traino (19:36), Mayo (19:43), Lucy (19:53), Chandel (20:18) and King (20:27) also helped NBC to finish 15th out of the 25 teams in the Varsity C race.
   On the girls’ side Hutchison was the Greyhounds’ best runner with a 22:31 time. Stiles (23:25), Meehan (23:53), DeBenedetto (24:04) and Bumbera (24:20) also ran solid times. NBC finished in 13th place out of 20 teams.
   NBC is scheduled to compete in the South Jersey Relays on Saturday.