Rafferty runs Holmdel Park personal best during MOC

By WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Correspondent

Jackson Memorial High School senior Ryan Rafferty ran 16:14 on the challenging Holmdel Park course for 18th place in the NJSIAA Meet of Champions (MOC). His time was 10 seconds faster than a year ago when he finished 29th. It was a personal best for him on that course.

“I like when I got up the hills, I worked hard to go faster,” said Rafferty, who got some good pointers ahead of the race from Kris Carle, who finished sixth in the 2006 MOC for Jackson Memorial’s boys. “The one thing I’d change if I could was that I should have gone a little faster around the tennis courts on the last mile.”

Gerrat Kennedy, a junior from Jackson Memorial’s girls team, ran 19:16 for 20th place, and senior teammate Kaitlin O’Brien ran 19:52 for 51st at the MOC.

Rafferty will run in the Foot Locker regionals on Nov. 28 at Van Cortlandt Park in his bid to be among the 10 top finishers heading to the nationals in San Diego in December.