Championships and Freehold Borough girls cross country are words that are seldom seen in the same sentence.
But that could be changing. The Colonials put up a solid team effort at Friday’s Cougar Invitational held in Bucks Mill Park, Colts Neck, to win the Large School Division championship.
Jessica Papirnik (20:37), Mackenzie Roche (20:53) and Linnea Lord (21:01) finished seventh, eighth and ninth to start the Colonials toward their victory. With a team score of 55, the Colonials beat Curtis High School (Staten Island, N.Y.) (63) and Brick Memorial (73), which was led by overall winner Melany Weissinger, who toured the 5K layout at Bucks Mills in 19:46.
Laura Coyne (212:16) and Tina Furlong ((22:26) sealed the Freehold Borough triumph by placing 13th and 21st overall.
The Unionville, Pa., girls upended host Colts Neck, currently ranked No. 4 in the Northeast, 51-76. Christine Smith led the Unionville charge by winning her duel with Colts Neck’s Allison Linnell for the individual title. Both runners were under 19:00 with Smith clocking 18:45 to Linnell’s 18:50. Howell’s Lindsey Lambert was third (19:04).
Freehold Township’s Janel Parker had a top-10 finish in eighth (19:48) followed closely by Howell’s Lauren Rome (19:50).
Howell gave the Cougars a run for their money for second place, falling just two points short, 76-78.
Jessica Fasano (20:00), Rachel Morris (20:06) and Allison Donaghy (20:15) finished 13th, 16th and 18th overall for Colts Neck, respectively.
The boys’ championship race was highlighted by Brandon Jarrett’s assault on Craig Forys’ course record 14:58, set last year when Jarrett finished third behind the Cougar All-American.
Jarrett, of St. Benedict’s Prep (Newark), who along with Gill St. Bernard’s Doug Smith is one of the two best high school runners in the state, turned in a 15:03, the second fastest time ever at Bucks Mill.
Behind Jarrett, Brick Memorial’s Andrew Brodeur and Manalapan’s Robby Andrews, the top two runners in the Shore, got their first look at each other, with Brodeur getting the edge, 15:29-15:33 in the race for second. These two runners probably won’t meet again until the Shore Conference Championships on Oct. 27. They are in the same state section, so they could see each other at least three more times. Neither runner was dissatisfied with his race Friday, and both posted course personal bests.
Jackson’s Justin Santillo led the Jaguars to a repeat victory with his fourth-place finish (15:49). The Jags edged Toms River North by just three points, 65-68. Ben Forrest (16:28) and Monroe Kearns (16:28) made the difference in eighth and ninth place. The Jags had three runners across the finish line before the Mariners’ No. 2.
Dan Collura (17:03) and Ed McQuade (17:09) rounded out the Jackson effort finishing 19th and 25th.
Manalapan, paced by Andrews’ third place, was third (92). Matt Gabor (16:49) and Gary Sparapani (17:01) had top-20 finishes in 12th and 18th, respectively, for the Braves.
Holmdel’s George Galasso was fifth (15:58) leading the Hornets to a fourth place (106).
Mark Leininger led host Colts Neck in sixth place (16:12). Freshman Mike O’Dowd was 15th (16:54) for the Cougars, who were fifth (122).
In the Boys Large School division, Freehold Township freshman Eric Dynarski was impressive turning in a 16:49 and finishing fifth. He was just ahead of Freehold Borough’s Cody O’Flaherty (16:51) and Howell’s Mike Roberto (17:01), who were sixth and seventh.
The Pats were fourth (99) with Randy Spadola (17:22) and Andrew Posen (17:26) taking 16th and 17th.
Curtis High School won the Large School team crown by a point over Middletown South, 72-73. The difference was the win by Paul LaRocca (16:30) and the fact that Curtis placed three runners home before South’s first runner. That offset the Eagles placing their five runners between 11th and 21st.
Point Pleasant Boro (73) won the Small School championship, with Manchester’s Chris Poss first in 16:28.
Bishop Ahr won the Girls Small School Division (40), sparked by Alyssa Bannon’s first place (20:06).

