Holmdel Park personal bests have Freehold Township High School’s Ciara Roche and Howell High School’s Niamh Hayes in a position to be all-state cross-country runners in 2015.
Both have qualified individually for the NJSIAA Meet of Champions (MOC) Nov. 21 back at Holmdel Park following strong races at the Group Championships Nov. 14.
Jordan Brannan of Colts Neck High School won’t be going to the MOC alone. He helped his Cougars place second at the Group III championships and qualify as a team for the MOC. Brannan also ran a Holmdel Park personal best of 16:25, finishing second in his race.
Roche has not enjoyed the cross-country career one would expect based on her track success. Illness and injury sabotaged her the last two years.
However, she has put that behind her this year and is having the kind of season one would expect from one of the state’s best 1,600- and 3,200-meter track runners. Her goal this fall was to return to the MOC — something she hadn’t done since her freshman year. Roche achieved her season long goal at the Group IV championships, finishing third with a school-record time of 18:53. It was the latest in a series of fast runs at championships races.
Hayes continued her best cross-country season with a personal best of 18:57, taking fourth behind Roche in the Group IV race. Hayes is just two seconds off the Howell school record of 18:55 set by the legendary Lindsey Gallo. The junior will have another chance to break that record at the MOC.
The week before the Group IV championships, Hayes won her first cross-country state sectional crown in South Jersey Group IV.
Freehold Township’s Rose Barrett was 36th in the Group IV race (20:04).
The times by Roche and Hayes were the seventh and eighth fastest of day from the six group championship races. If they produce similar results at the MOC, they will secure all-state cross-country status for the first time in their careers.
Colts Neck’s boys, who had captured their second straight Central Jersey Group III title at Thompson Park, were runnersup to favored Indian Hills High School, 54- 114, in Group III.
Brannan’s personal best gave the Cougars the important single-digit scorer required to be an MOC contender. In his season-long rivalry with Ocean Township High School’s Elliot Gindi, this was Brannan’s week. Gindi settled for ninth place overall (16:46), but he advanced to the MOC.
The top 10 individuals and top three teams from each group championship automatically qualified for the MOC. Behind Brannan, Anthony Russo was 13th overall but 11th in team scoring for Colts Neck, posting a time of 16:50. Zach Csipkay was 20th overall and 16th in team scoring in his first big race of the season (17:03).
Completing the Cougars’ scoring were Rick Sommer (17:26) in 32nd and Liam Hoagland (17:41) in 53rd in team scoring.
Colts Neck’s girls were also the Central Jersey Group III champions.
They placed 12th at the Group III meet (264 points).
Kayleigh Hoagland (20:50) and Raeann Giannattasio (20:50) finished 37th and 38th for the Cougars.