Individually and as a team, Shore Athletic Club harriers were golden at USA Track and Field Masters National Five-Kilometer Cross Country Championships. Of the 14 medals won by the Shore AC runners at Saratoga Springs, N.Y., host of the event, seven of them were gold.
It was in the 70-79 and 60-69 age division events where the Shore AC dominated, as John Leonard of Howell and Dick Hill of Middletown went one-two in the 70-79 division. Leonard posted a 22:11 for the 5K race, and Hill posted a 22:31. Their teammate, Mike McDonnell of Middletown, was fifth (22:58), giving the trio a runaway team victory. Their combined 1:08:40 was almost 10 minutes better than runner-up Adirondack AC.
In the 60-69 race, Shore AC also finished first. The trio of J.L. Seymore of Somerset (18:39), Harold Nolan of Middletown (18:42) and Walter MacGowan of Spring Lake, the Shore AC club president (21:51) had a total time of 59:12 to beat Raritan Valley Road Runners (1:00:30) by more than a minute. Seymore was second and Nolan, who last month won his age group race at the Fifth Avenue Mile in NYC, was third. MacGowan was 14th.
The Shore AC’s support runners were John Kuhi of Ocean Township (22:53) and Hector Roche of Parlin (24:37).
The Shore AC’s women left their mark as well. The team of Christine Murphy of Point Pleasant (21:10), Theresa Marciani of Brick (21:35) and Wendie Glassman of Elizabeth (22:49) were second in the 50- 59 division. The net time of 1:05:33 was not far behind the winner time of Finger Lakes Runners Club (1:02:52). Murphy was fourth overall, Marciani was sixth and Glassman was 10th in the 50-54 division.
Audrey Ging of Long Branch (23:45) and Bunny McDonnell of Middletown (26:23) supported the team. Ging was 12th in the 50-54 individual competition, and McDonnnell was third in the 60-64 category.
A fifth place in the men’s 50-59 division completed the Shore AC’s action. Point Pleasant’s Tom Zarra (18:58), Neptune’s Tony Plaster (19:01) and Holmdel’s James Segal (19:25) were the scorers with Middletown’s Bob Haithcock (19:27) and Philadelphia’s Rich Henderson (20:26) in support. The team’s time was 1:37:17.
Zarra was 26th and Haithcock was 30th in the 50-54 division, while Plaster was 10th, Segal was 12th and Henderson was 15th in the 55-59 age group.
Individually, Brian Hill of Middletown was second in the 40-44 age division clocking 18:26, while Chris Harkins of Marlton was 26th in the 45-49 division (17:58).

