BY: Sean Moylan Sports Writer
No Michael Bowden. No problem.
The Northern Burlington County Regional High boys’ varsity cross country team flexed its collective muscles and showed off its added depth when it rested Bowden, the best distance runner in the program, and still had no trouble beating Holy Cross (17-44), Medford Tech (18-45) and Riverside (15-50) in this past Tuesday’s home batch race.
“We didn’t run Mike today (Tuesday) because we’re resting him for Saturday (the always tough Cherokee Challenge),” said NBC head varsity cross country coach Steve Alustiza, who decided not to push Bowden because he is dealing with some nagging injuries.
It helped that Northern Burlington had another outstanding cross country runner in Ryan Ramirez, who won the overall race with a 17:27 time. Ramirez’ stiffest competition came from teammate Dylan Kurowsky, whose 17:31 time was the second best mark of the day.
Alustiza liked what he saw out of sophomore Andre Dupuis in the summer camp and Dupuis didn’t disappoint in Tuesday’s batch race either as he took fourth overall with an 18:36 time and NBC’s Huntley Nolan grabbed fifth place with a 18:44 time. NBC actually had five runners in the Top 10 as Jordan Andrade placed ninth overall with a 19:34 time. Matt Grossman (20:08), Kyle Abramowitz (20:15), Todd Hoisington (20:22), Jerry Pham (20:44) and Matt Molnar (21:21) also ran well for the Greyhounds.
According to Alustiza, after weeks of running against only each other, the Greyhound boys were itching to compete against another team, especially some of the younger runners who had never competed in a varsity race before.
“It was a good start for the boys, but I think we have room for improvement. Of the guys I mentioned half of them were veterans and half of them were not,” said Alustiza.
If there is one area where NBC would like to improve it’s that Alustiza would love to see more of his runners running in a pack. However that takes time to develop.
“We’re hoping to tighten it up but this was just our first race,” noted Alustiza, who was very happy with Tuesday’s results.
On the girls’ side, NBC went 2-1 with just six runners. The Greyhounds defeated Willingboro (20-38) and Riverside (15-50) but Holy Cross beat them by one point (27-28).
“We went 2-1 on the girls’ side and I only had one veteran (Emma Rossenwinkel),” said Alustiza.
Tanya Doshyk had the Greyhounds’ best time with a 22:23 mark and Sara Morris, who has some varsity track experience, ran a 23:14 time. Rossenwinkel’s 23:16 time was better than where she was last year at this time of the season. Selena Senachai (25:02), Lydia Nolan (25:09) and Brittany Michaels (26:20) all ran well for the first race of the season.
“The kids have a better idea of what it’s all about,” said Alustiza. “Overall it was a good start on both sides.”
Both NBC cross country squads will compete in the Cherokee Challenge. Then next Tuesday Northern Burlington is scheduled to host another batch race.

