With three runners finishing in the top 10 and six in the top 13, Old Bridge High School’s boys’ cross-country team truly ran away with the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group IV championship at Thompson Park in Jamesburg Nov. 7.
Junior Rey Rivera continued his solid fall campaign, finishing fourth in 16:01.47, with teammate Gerard D’Ambrosio not far behind in sixth place with a time of 16:09.34. Gerard Gill took 10th place in 16:20.34. The Knights’ Scott Belton (16:29.25), Sean Hobson (16:31.95) and Tai Smith (16:35.47) finished 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively.
Old Bridge ended up with 43 points, a whopping 79 points ahead of runner-up South Brunswick High School. Princeton High School was third with 126 points.
Next up are the group championships Nov. 14 at Holmdel Park. The top three teams and top 10 individuals in each group will advance to the Meet of Champions Nov. 21, also at Holmdel Park.
From the beginning of the season, Old Bridge coach Rich Gebaurer has been pointing to the big meets. The veteran coach used the Greater Middlesex Conference’s decision to de-emphasize dual meets to his team’s advantage by getting his runners more rest.
“Our goal has always been to do well in the big meets, and we’ve had our eye on the state sectional right from the start because we wanted to get back to the Meet of Champions,” the veteran coach said. “They came here with one goal in mind: to win.”
Coming out on top of arch-rival South Brunswick was another plus, as the Vikings defeated Old Bridge a year ago.
Winning has been a regular occurrence for the Knights this fall.
Old Bridge won the GMC championships Oct. 24 — again out-pacing South Brunswick as Rivera finished in first place. The Knights also captured the GMC Red Division meet in September, with Rivera crossing the line first there as well.
The Knights also took first place in the Central Jersey Shootout Sept. 26 and won the Cross-Country Fall Classic. Rivera crossed the line first in those events, which were held at Thompson Park.