Bowden places second in Burlington County Open

By: Sean Moylan Sports Writer
    Two weeks ago at the South Jersey Open Cross Country Invitational at Delsea, Northern Burlington County Regional High standout Mike Bowden made a strong finish to outlast Shawnee’s David Forward and win the Group III title and post the best time (15:44) in the entire event that day.
    This past Friday afternoon at the Burlington County Open at Mill Creek Park in Willingboro, it was Forward’s turn to shine as he made a late push to beat out Bowden for the gold medal.
    “Forward, with 400 meters left to go, was able to find another gear and pull away from Mike,” said NBC head varsity cross country coach Steve Alustiza, who was, nevertheless, very happy with Bowden’s second place finish and his 16:22 time on a very tough course. Forward posted a 16:04 time.
    Bowden has been on an unbelievable run the past month and it has been very exciting to see what he’s going to do from week to week.
    NBC’s Ryan Ramirez has also been running extremely well and he had a stellar 17:11 time for 13th place at Friday’s County Open. His teammate Dylan Kurowsky posted a 17:26 mark to grab 21st place while Andre Dupuis (18:20 for 44th place), Jordan Andrade (18:29 for 48th place), Jon Grossman (18:58 for 60th place) and Huntley Nolan (19:35 for 65th place) were the Greyhounds’ other top finishers at the BC Open.
    While Nolan’s time was a little off his normal marks, the Greyhounds did very well as a group averaging a 17:35.60 time and placing fifth overall out of the 17 teams competing.
    “Right now the boys are doing very well. They are ranked as high as 12th in South Jersey,” added Alustiza, whose boys’ routines in practices have gotten so good that practices practically run themselves.
    On the girls’ side, Emma Rosenwinkel ran a 23:17 time to take 35th place for the Greyhounds. Lydia Nolan took 43rd place with a 23:39 mark and then the Greyhounds got some strong pack running out of Sara Morris (24:53 for 54th place), Selena Senachai (25:09 for 55th place) and Brittany Michaels (25:13 for 56th place). Northern’s Christina Laboris placed 59th overall with a time of 25:26. The Greyhounds placed ninth out of 12 teams but they were hardly at full strength.
    “It is what it is, but we didn’t have our number one girl Tanya Doschyk,” added Alustiza.
    BRHS
Bordentown’s Zach Smith posted a 21:18 time on the boys’ side while the Scotties’ Kelli Brandt took 51st place in the girls race with a 24:32 time. Since those were the only two Scotties to enter the BC Open, Bordentown did not score as a team on either side.
    Both NBC and Bordentown were scheduled to have competed in the BCSL Divisional race at New Egypt yesterday (Wednesday). Then both teams will have some time off to prepare for the state tournament.