Christian Brothers Academy harriers are running in a pack at the start of the New Balance Shore Coaches Invitational cross-country meet held on Oct. 3 on a soggy Holmdel Park course. The conditions couldn’t slow the Colts, who won the Varsity A1 race. FRANK GALIPO Christian Brothers Academy’s, Red Bank Catholic’s girls and Mater Dei Prep’s boys cross-country teams were winners at the Oct. 3 New Balance Shore Coaches Invitational.
The Shore Coaches Invitational generally signals the real start of the cross-country season as for the first time, the state’s teams are all running on the same course at the same time, Holmdel Park. It is a good early season barometer for individuals and teams to see how they stack up on the course where the Group and Meet of Champions state titles are contested.
For coach Tom Heath’s Christian Brothers Academy harriers, it was another opportunity to show off their abundance of talent. Holding out their top five runners, the Colts still won the Varsity A1 race on a slick, rainsoaked Holmdel course with a low score of 38 points beating runner-up Southern Regional (118) by 80 points.
Noah Yuro was the first Colt across the line in fourth place (16:38). He was followed closely by Joe Boyle (16:48) in fifth and Genaro Anzalone (16:58) and Colin Trigani (17:01) in eighth and ninth. Matt Cavarallo concluded the scoring in 12th (17:07).
Less than 30 seconds separated CBA’s five scorers.
RBC’s girls captured the Varsity D championship with 55 points. Sophomore Caitlin O’Hare finished sixth overall and fifth for team scoring. Louisa Guminski (21:07) and Emily Dunn (21:09) followed in ninth and 10th. Melanie Cronk (21:23) and Michelle O’Malley (21:24) finished 15th and 16th for the Caseys. The Mater Dei boys won Varsity F led by fifth place finisher John Spinello, who was timed in 17:49. Four Seraphs finished among the top 14, including Justin Vidal (18:30), freshman Pat Osborn (18:31) and Nick Roditus (18:47), who went 10-11-14. Steven Alegretta was 30th in 19:33.
For team scoring purposes, the Seraphs were 4-7-8-11-24 for the winning total of 54 points, 13 better than Newark Academy (67).
Aside from CBA’s runners, Greg Manganelli of Middletown South posted the fastest time of area runners, covering the 5K course in 17:01 for 13th place in Varsity A2. Teammate Matt Lepine was 19th in 17:07 as the Eagles placed eighth out of 20 teams in the standings with 181 points. Chris Stephenson was 32nd in 17:24.
Matt Carmichael led 10th place finishing Matawan (268) in Varsity D, placing 34th in 18:23.
Sophomore Rachel Kenny of Matawan’s girls was second in Girls D in 20:04 as the Huskies placed sixth in the team standings with 202 points. Amanda Ferrara was 27th in 21:59, and Rice Ongiako was 48th in 23:29.
Next up for the harriers is the nationally recognized Manhattan Invitational held on the historic 2.5-mile course at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.
No doubt the Colts will bring out their heavy hitters for this one. They are ranked No. 1 in the country in some national polls, and a strong performance at Van Cortlandt Park would back it up and also be an indication of whether this CBA team has the chance to be very special.
Wayne Waitkowski contributed to this article.