The time for waiting was over. Two miles into the Oct. 20 Monmouth County Championships’ 5,000-meter cross country race at Holmdel Park, Colts Neck High School’s Mike O’Dowd decided to shake things up.
Colts Neck High School’s Mike O’Dowd (above) heads for a second-place finish at the Monmouth County Cross Country Championships on Oct. 20 at Holmdel Park. At right, Manalapan’s Kingsley Prophete strides toward the finish line. Prophete finished 10th. Quickly, a lead pack of six harriers who had been running cautiously from the start was whittled down to two competitors, O’Dowd and Christian Brothers Academy’s Mike Mazzaccaro.
They were the cream of the crop and were now showing their heels to the rest of the field.
“I tried to change gears,” said O’Dowd. “I wanted to see who would come with me. I broke a few, but Mazz came with me.”
O’Dowd’s bold move with 1.1 miles remaining in the race was designed to free himself of the faster track runners like Red Bank Catholic’s Kevin Byrne and Mazzaccaro.
“I kind of had to,” he said of his surge at 2 miles. “I had to try and break all the kickers.”
PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff Initially, O’Dowd was able to create some separation between himself and Mazzaccaro. The question for the rest of the race was whether O’Dowd had built a large enough lead.
“At first I thought I had enough space,” he said.
But Mazzaccaro steadily made up ground.
“He [Mazzaccaro] was getting closer and closer,” said O’Dowd. “Just before we came out of the woods, he got ahead of me. I thought I still had a shot.”
Mazzaccaro, last year’s NJSIAA Meet of Champions runner-up at 3,200 meters, used the track speed that O’Dowd had feared to hold off O’Dowd and win the Monmouth County cross country crown by three seconds, 16:10 to 16:13.
Mazzaccaro was second to Manalapan’s Robby Andrews at the 2008 county championships.
“I lost to a great runner (Mazzaccaro) who runs for a great team (CBA),” said O’Dowd. “I can’t complain.”
That it was O’Dowd pushing Mazzacarro to the finish line was another sign that the Colts Neck junior has established himself as one of the best harriers in the state this year. At this meet last fall, O’Dowd was ninth, posting a time of 16:48.
O’Dowd and Mazzaccaro will likely meet up on Oct. 31 at the Shore Conference Championships, which will be held this year on O’Dowd’s home course, Bucks Mill Park in Colts Neck.
Newly crowned Freehold Regional High School District champion Eric Dynarski of Freehold Township joined the sub-17:00 club in finishing seventh at the county championships in a personal best time of 16:51. The junior knocked more than 40 seconds off his previous personal best.
“I worked so much harder this year,” he said.
Freehold Township’s Keenan Huggins- Filozof just missed dipping under 17:00, finishing 13th in 17:01. He improved his Holmdel Park personal best by 20 seconds.
Manalapan’s Kingsley Prophete did join the sub-17:00 club, finishing 10th in a personal best time of 16:56.
Freehold Township High School, which earlier this month won its first division title (A North) since 1978, finished third at the county championships with 150 points, behind nationally ranked Christian Brothers Academy (62) and Holmdel High School (143).
Graham Huggins-Filozof (17:40), Andrew Berkowitz (17:43) and Randy Spadola (17:50) finished 39th, 42nd and 49th for the Patriots.
Manalapan was eighth (201), led by its trio of Prophete, Adam Nilsen (17:07) and Anthony Silvestri (17:18), who were 10th, 14th and 18th.
Howell’s harriers came up with a solid race and were ninth (222). Aansh Mehta (17:20), Tyler Gillies (17:21) and Matt Motto (17:23) finished right behind each other in 22nd, 24th and 25th place to pace the Rebels.
Colts Neck, which received a 29th-place finish from freshman John Ward (17:28) to go with O’Dowd’s second-place showing, was 10th among the boys teams with 223 points.
The top 15 teams at the county meet qualified for the Oct. 31 Shore Conference Championships and Marlboro punched its ticket as a team by finishing 13th with 364 points. Rohit Chaki (17:39, 37th place) and Mitchell Biler (17:49, 48th place) led the Mustangs.
In the girls Monmouth County race, Howell solidified its standing as one of the best teams in the state. The Rebels stacked their five scorers from 14th to 31st place to finish second behind Red Bank Catholic, 45 to 113.
The Caseys put on one of the great performances in the history of the county championships, starting with the one-two punch of Molly McNamara (18:43) and Michelle Capozzi (18:55) in first and second place, respectively. RBC placed four runners in the top 10.
Howell was led by Jamie Hand (20:31) and Anne Werkley (20:33), who were 14th and 15th, respectively. Laura Kochenash (20:57), Alyssa Pinney (20:58) were 26th and 27th, and Aileen Rivell was 31st (21:08).
The Rebels’ team average time of 20:49.40 was a new school record at Holmdel Park.
Freehold Regional High School District 2009 champion Mackenzie Roche of Freehold High School was the area’s top runner at the meet, finishing 10th in 20:18.
“I’m pleased with the place, but not with the time,” Roche said.
With Freehold’s Kimberly Dana finishing in 18th place (20:44), the Colonials qualified for the Shore Conference Championships as a team by finishing 13th.
“It was pretty important,” Roche said of Freehold advancing to the Shore Conference Championships as a team. “We went last year and we did it again.”
Freehold Township is also headed to the Shore Conference Championships. The Patriots were seventh at the county meet, (234 points), led by Chelsea Thorsheim, who was 21st (20:44).