Bowden places fifth among senior cross country runners in prestigious race
BY: Sean Moylan Sports Writer
With over 90 high school teams — including one from Delaware — and nearly 2,000 cross country runners competing in this past Saturday’s Cherokee Challenge, it would have been easy for some teams to have been overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the event.
But not the Northern Burlington County Regional High boys’ varsity cross country team, which accepted the Cherokee Challenge as an opportunity to be the best it could be on the grand stage.
“As a team we finished 10th out of the 54 team which were qualified to score as a team,” said NBC head varsity cross country coach Steve Alustiza.
NBC’s Mike Bowden set a personal record 10:02 time on the 3,200 meter course, which earned him the fifth place medal in the senior race, which had 240 runners competing in it.
“Mike was our top guy which was good,” said Alustiza, who was happy to see Bowden run so well in his first competitive race of the season.
Although Bowden won the Cherokee Challenge freshmen race as a 9th grader, his overall times have gone down considerably since then.
Like Bowden, Ryan Ramirez just keeps on getting better and better. The Northern Burlington 11th grader captured 11th place overall in the junior race with a 10:08 time while NBC classmate Dylan Kurowsky earned the 19th place medal with a stellar 10:21 time.
Ramirez, who decided to run cross country after having a phenomenal spring track and field season, has had no trouble getting the hang of his newest sport of choice. Northern Burlington junior Jerry Pham also ran a very solid 12:13 time.
“We knew he (Ramirez) could handle it and we knew he could run well (at the Cherokee Challenge),” remarked Alustiza.
A total of 299 runners competed in the sophomore race, but NBC’s Andre Dupuis still earned a 30th place medal in that race with an 11:03 time. NBC sophomore Matt Grossman posted a 12:33 time.
And Northern’s Todd Hoisington placed 54th out of 245 runners in the freshmen race with a 12:06 time while fellow classmate Kyle Abramowitz’ 12:19 time placed him 72nd.
“We had 16 guys run. We did well down there,” said Alustiza, whose team set a lot of personal record times on Saturday.
While NBC didn’t have any medalists on the girls’ side, Tanya Doschyk (a 13:20, 48th place time), Emma Rosenwinkel (a 13:33, 57th place time) and Sara Morris (a 14:11, 89th place time) all put up respectable numbers in the junior race, which had 193 runners competing in it.
Selana Senachai (14:59), Lydia Nolan (15:12) and Brittany Michaels (16:370 all performed well for Northern Burlington in the freshmen race.
Senior Megan Lynch just joined the Greyhounds about a week ago but she still posted a solid 17:24 time at the Cherokee Challenge.
The NBC boys’ team defeated Burlington Township (21-35) and Bordentown (15-50), but lost to a strong Cinnaminson team in Tuesday’ batch race at Northern Burlington.
“Our top three guys (Bowden, Ramirez and Kurowsky) did really well. But while our four, five and six guys all (posted a personal record), their (the Pirates of Cinnaminson) four through six guys ran a little better,” noted Alustiza.
Cinnaminson won it by a 23-35 score.
Nonetheless, it was a historic day for Bowden, who not only won the overall race but also ran his best time ever (16:13) at his home course.
Ramirez ran a personal best 16:37 time, which was good enough for third place overall. Kurowsky took seventh place overall with a 17:14 time while Dupuis’ personal record 17:49 time placed him ninth. With an 18:29 mark, Huntley Nolan trimmed roughly 15 seconds off of his previous best time to place 13th. Hoisington completed the course in 19 minutes flat and Jordan Andrade had a personal record by over 25 seconds with his 19:09 time.
On the girls’ side, NBC beat Burlington Township 15-47 and topped Bordentown 15-50. Cinnamison slipped by the NBC girls 25-32.
Doschyk placed second overall in the race with a time of 22:02. Rosenwinkel took fifth place (22:55) while Morris placed sixth (23:16). Nolan ran a personal best 24:24 time while Senachai (24:47) and Michaels (25:46) also had their best days on the course.
“These are all (personal records). They’re doing a great job,” said Alustiza, who is pleased with the work of both of his teams.
The NBC boys’ cross country team is now 5-1 while the girls’ squad is 4-2. Both squads are scheduled to have productive practices this week but neither will not compete in an actual meet until the first day of October.