North Jersey runners grabbed three boys team titles and five individual crowns and will send 18 boys teams and 11 individuals to the state group championships at Holmdel County Park next Saturday at sectional meets at Garret Mountain (North 1) and Oak Ridge Park (North 2). North Jersey girls won five individual and five team titles and will send 17 teams and 10 other individuals to Holmdel. The expansion from 10 to 15 runners added eight North Jersey boys and girls to the field who would not have been in the field last year.
Here’s a look at the top stories of the weekend.
Pascack Valley pack sacrifices summer to make history in North 1, group 2
As soon as the spring track season was over for Pascack Valley last June, the distance runners gathered to plan for cross-country season.
“We got everybody together and we got everybody together to commit to summer training so that we could win sectionals in cross-country,” said Pascack Valley senior Michael Pizzella, a leader on the team since his sophomore year. “We got everyone to commit to show up every day at 8 a.m. all summer to run together. We got everyone to sacrifice their summer for this dream of winning.”
Saturday, Pizzella and the Panthers saw their dream come true with a narrow 84-86 win over Lakeland at Garret Mountain in West Paterson, for PV’s first sectional title since 1992. And they did it, like they have for their entire careers, as a pack, with no star upfront but with a common goal, to run for the others on their team.
Lakeland went 1-2 with Owen Horevay scoring a repeat win in 16:20, more than 175 meters ahead of teammate Nathan Caldwell. But PV put four runners in well ahead of Lakeland’s third, with Pizzella (8th, 17:26); Jay Ramirez (11th, 17:31)) Patrick Kurtz (15th, 17:57) and Aaron Ng (16th, 17:57) all finishing in quick succession. Then the Panthers waited for their fifth runner, senior Chris Martino. He finished 38th in 18:47, just behind Lakeland’s No. 5, but ahead of the Lancer’s No. 6. Then came an anxious 20 minute wait while the scores were tallied and confirmed.
“We had about 20 or 30 other kids from our school there and all our parents and families were sitting and waiting for the results,” said Pizzella. “They read the results from fifth up to second and when they called out Lakeland as second place, we all went a little crazy.”
Kurtz is the only non-senior in the top five and soph Marc Monti and senior Connor Oates have been longtime varsity competitors.
“This is basically a group that has been together for four years and started as freshmen,” said head coach John Murtaugh. “When we do loops and stuff in the woods at practice, we always have the front guys pushing the 5-6-7 guys and the 5-6-7 guys pushing right back. Today when they did the first loop, I thought Indian Hills (which finished third with 98 points) and Lakeland both looked terrific, but our guys were right there, stayed strong and passed a few guys on the final hill.”
“Murt did a great job with us from start to finish,” said Pizzella. “He never let us feel that this was an individual sport,” said Pizzella, who is already looking forward to running with his teammates at Saturday’s state group meet where the Panthers look to improve on last year’s 16th place finish. “As long as we can compete together as a team, everything is going to be great. As long as you have brothers around you, you’ll do fine.”
Horevay’s win was less stressful than last year’s win, but it wasn’t without its challenges.
“I woke up with a sore throat Saturday morning, but it really didn’t affect me in the race,” said Horevay, who went on to finish ninth in group 2 and 41st in the State Meet of Champions last year. “I think it bothered me a lot more after the race and I spent a lot of the rest of the day in bed.”
But he’s looking forward to running at the groups, the first time all year he’ll be tested in a major race.
“I’ve proved myself this year in North Jersey and I know I’m got a lot going for me,” said Horevay, who hopes for a top 10 SMOC finish this year. “I’m not either good at pacing myself and I’m looking forward to running with other top guys at states.”
Dubac fights off COVID to repeat; brand new Ridgewood girls team keeps winning
Things didn’t look good for Remy Dubac’s chances to repeat as group 4 state champ a week before her final race at her favorite course.
In order to even get the chance to repeat on Nov. 5, the Clifton senior first had to qualify by finishing in the top 15 at the North 1 sectional or have her team finish in the top five. Last Sunday things didn’t look good.
“I started feeling sick last Saturday and Sunday I tested positive for COVID,” said Dubac after gutting out a 40 meter win over Grace DelGiorno of Morristown in 19:45, well off of her personal best. “I had to quarantine for 5 days and when I was supposed to go back to school Friday, we were closed by a gas leak.”
“On Monday I told coach (John) Pontes I was sick. I stayed in bed most of the day except for a walk outside on Thursday,” said Dubac. “But I was really exhausted and couldn’t focus the way I want. I just started crying.”
By Friday she was well enough to get in about 2 miles of practice but at Garret Mountain, and told her teammates she wasn’t sure she could run the following day.
“But each one of them gave me a pep talk and Viktoria (Green) got upset and said I had to give it a try,” said Dubac who became Clifton’s first state champ last year. “So I took a shot.”
Dubac took it out fairly easily over the first mile and found herself near the front of the race when Montclair’s Avery McAdams started to try and make some manuevers that Dubac wasn’t happy with.
“It made me want to get away from her so I picked up the pace about halfway and broke away a little.”
DelGiorno stayed relatively close but Dubac maintained about a 15 meter lead as they started up the long final hill, a hill Dubac estimates she’s run at least 400 times during her brilliant career.
“One more time, I figured I’d just give it my all,” said Dubac. And up the hill she went.
“I got to the top and as I turned for the finish I heard my teammates screaming so I just kept going,” said Dubac, who credits a regime of Tylenol, Motrin, B-12 and Iron for her ability to race Saturday. “My chest was a little tight but I was so proud that I was able to do it.”
The greatest cross-country class in the history of Bergen County graduated after four straight sectional titles, but Ridgewood coach Steve Opremcak seemed just as excited before the 2022 season started even though just two varsity runners returned.
‘The 2022 Maroons vindicated Opremcak’s excitement level, winning a fifth straight sectional crown, despite the heavy graduation loss and even with sitting two of this year’s top four runners for load management, 37-48 over a very good Morristown team that put five runners in the top 15.
“I knew we had two returning girls but I also knew we had a core of girls new to the varsity that came in knowing what they needed to do and reaping the rewards for having done it,” said Opremcak. “I’ve also learned over the years that you really need a core of 10-14 girls to compete at the highest levels and this team gets that.”
Ridgewood responded to Morristown’s depth with even better depth on their own. Cellina Rabolli was third in 20:05, just behind Morristown’s top runner. Avery Sheridan, the only returnee, was fifth in 20:22, just ahead of Morristown’s No. 2.
Newcomers Eilat Kissil (8th,, 20:39), Lola Jacqueline (9th, 21:03) and Ciara Taylor (12th, 21:24) completed the scoring and finished ahead of Morristown’s No. 4 and 5. And Ridgewood’s sixth and final runner Saturday, Olivia Faviera was 17th in a personal best 21:53.
“This team has already established it’s own identity,” said Opremcak. “We worked through this week and sat those two girls (and the only senior in the top 10, Eva Jacqueline) to give us the best possible chance to win next week.”
Northern Highlands pulls off first sweep in 31 years
No one has won more North 1, group 3 girls titles than the Highlanders, who’ve won 15, including their 11th since 2005 Saturday, with a dominating 35-76 win over Ramapo, one of the state’s top ranked teams.
But last year’s girls team had a rare runner-up finish last fall to Old Tappan (more on them below) and missed out on an opportunity to join the boys, winners for the first time since 1991 in an Allendale/Upper Saddle River sweep.
The girls as noted, had little trouble holding up their end of the deal this time, and the boys, despite a pre-season setback, followed suit, winning a highly balanced group 3, 93-121, over Teaneck, which will make its first appearance at the state group championships in the sectional era (Since 1965).
“These guys lost their top returning runner (junior Jeff Sohn, 15th at states last fall) and stayed the course,” said Highlands coach Joel DeStaso, the head coach of both teams. “They seem always to be in the shadow of our girls but they were excited to have a chance to do something the boys had never done (go back-to-back) and they did the job.”
Just like in the earlier group 2 boys race, a Big North Independence team went 1-2 with Wayne Valley’s Matt Califf using the 400 meter speed that earned him a medal at Penn Relays to outsprint teammate Sean Matthews for the win in 16:33 to Matthews’ 16:36.
But Highlands put its five scorers ahead of the Indian’s next finisher and beat Teaneck at every position to earn a second straight boys’ trophy.
Jackson Vogel led the Highlanders in 5th in 16:55, followed by Freddy Liljegren (17th, 17:43), Gabe Johnson (18th, 17:45), Carter Monaco (22nd, 17:53) and Sebastian Anderson (31st, 18:18).
“At the lake I thought we were behind a few teams,” said DeStaso. “But they ran a great second half and I knew we were going to be okay.”
The girls gave DeStaso no concerns.
Autumn Ritter battled race winner Amanda Keogh right to the end, losing by about dozen meters but running a Garret best of 19:43. Rebecca Maclaren was sixth in 20:08, Allison Courtney 8th, in 20:21, freshman Sadie Meloro 9th in 20:25 and soph Farrah Dello Russo 10th in 20:28, a stunningly tight 45 second pack that recorded one of the top 50 five girl team times in the long history of the Garret Mountain course.
“It was the first time all year we got our healthiest and best girls to the line and the best race we have run so far this year,” said DeStaso. “The girls are very aware of what we can accomplish (a state title and perhaps a top five finish at the State Meet of Champions) and we’ll talk about it this week in practice.”
Keogh’s win was the fourth straight for a Ramapo girl in group 3 as Lauren Judd won in 2019 and Brianna Braver (15th this time) won in 2020 and 2021.
Keogh snapped back from a 15th place finish the Lou Molino Bergen Meet of Champions a week earlier and ran with the confidence that had delivered her three major titles earlier in the sason.
“I was pretty devastated last week,” said the junior. “It was the first time I had really been challenged by some great runners and I tried to find my limits and learned a lot about how to push them out further. I was upset for about a day and then I had to get over it.”
“I took the negative energy from the loss and used it to empower me to have a good attitude this time around.”
Califf, also a junior, had similar motivation to beat his senior teammate for the sixth time in nine races this fall.
“Winning this race was a goal the last couple of weeks and I did want to beat Sean (Matthews) because he beat me at (Passaic) Counties last week,” said Califf. “We were in a pack and then Sean and I and the Montville kid (soph Alex Pelov) got away from the pack and he (Pelov) took the lead.”
“I waited until we were at the bottom of the hill and I made a pretty hard move to get away. Sean tried to catch up, but I was determined to win the race.”
Wayne Valley last had a boys sectional champion in 2006.
Old Tappan girls and Kinnelon boys keep rolling; Glen Rock girls break a drought
It took nearly 40 years between sectional crowns for Old Tappan before the Golden Knights captured the group 3 title a year ago. But the next one just took a year as OT defeated defending group 2 champ Lakeland, 68-77 for a second straight title.
“We just had to chase gray shirts (Lakeland’s uniform top) and beat as many of them as we could,” said Old Tappan head coach Jeff Clark. “This year’s group has run as a team all season and Saturday was no excpetion.”
The Golden Knights upfront duo of Katie Meeks (3rd, 19:35) and Kristen Johnson (6th, 20:04) did their job and Rowan Leddy (11th,, 21:04) had her best race of the year.
But Old Tappan trailed Lakeland, by two points after three runners because the Lancers got a win over Morgan Uhlhorn, who upset River Dell’s Christina Allen by 50 meters in a personal best 19:04, while Reaghan Lomascola and Brianna Fahy also finished in the top 10.
“But our back girls were doing what they needed to do and they came through as they always do,” said Clark.
Senior Ariana DeNicola finished just ahead of Lakeland’s fourth and then senior Odelia Drellich and freshman Claire Bailey both beat the Lancers’ fifth runner to cement the win.
Morgan Uhlhorn of Lakeland pulled off the biggest individual upset of the day, running a Garret best 19:04, 15th best in Passaic history and defeating River Dell junior Christina Allen by 50 meters in 19:04.
“I’m still in shock,” said Uhlhorn, who finished sixth in last year’s race, behind the course-record setting win by now graduated teammate Angelina Perez and Allen. “My goal was just to try and run well and maybe break 19 minutes.”
But Uhlhorn felt really strong and confident despite being boxed in for the first mile and having to work harder than she wanted to get to the front of the group 2 pack.
She and Allen separated from the field and as they crossed the road leading to the final hill, Uhlhorn made her move and was able to hold it against the great finishing sprint of Allen.
“It’s the last time I’m racing here and I always wanted to say I’ve won a race at Garret Mountain,” said Uhlhorn, who completed an official visit to Rutgers last weekend. “It’s definitely a really special place and I have a lot of memories here — it’s the first course where I ever won as a medal as a freshman three years ago.”
Kinnelon’s boys had a memorable run in 2021, winning the North 1, group 1 sectionals for the second straight time and finishing second in state Group 1 competition to qualify for its first State Meet of Champions berth since 2006. The Colts lost three seniors to graduation including a potent upfront duo of Eli Gately and Braeden Carroll and in a program that sometimes struggles to get numbers, a third straight win for the third time in school history (2004-2006 and 1966-1970) looked unlikely.
“Our guys were motivated to keep this going,” said Kinnelon coach Laura Chegwidden Jacobs after the Colts, led by sectional champion Andrew Garcia, recorded its lowest point total since the 1969 North 2 group 1 win, defeating a very good Glen Rock team, 43-75.
“We thought we might be in for a rebuilding year, but the kids did a lot of work over the summer and two of our returnees, junior Kyle Bjornson and soph Jayden Hur put in a ton of miles, all self motivated,” she said. “And Andrew was the guy who’s been there before, knows how to run up front and really took himself to a higher level.”
Garcia took command early and went on to win by 75 meters over Mountain Lakes sophomore Max Kahn in a Garret best of 17:05 with Glen Rock’s Ben Raser and Waldwick’s Joe Capuzzo third and fourth.
Bjornson took more than a minute off his 2021 Garret time, taking fifth in 17:30, while Hur ran nearly a minute faster than his now graduated brother Ryan to finish 10th in 18:11. Senior Matt Mazurkiewicz took 20 seconds off of his 2021 time to take 15th in 18:28 and senior Lucas LaRusso, who hadn’t run a race in a month, completed the scoring with a 19th place finish in 18:48 on the first time he’d ever competed at the Garret Mountain course.
“Jayden wasn’t even in our top seven last year and the last month we tried to get Lucas and some of the other guys healthier for states,” said Chegwidden Jacobs. “We want to get another crack at states.”
Glen Rock girls coach Stacie Gallo had preached “stay together as long as you can” to her team at every practice, every meeting and every race all season and the Panthers had responded, winning an NJIC divisional title and making the Bergen Meet of Champs for the first time in three years.
But it had been 19 years since Glen Rock’s last sectional title victory and Gallo’s group shows signs of nerves at the Group 1 girls starting line Saturday.
“But Lily took the team out as she always done and the girls came through,” said Gallo after the Panthers put six runners in the top 20 to comfortably defeat Kittatinny, 49-66 to win the sectional title.
Junior Lily McNair continued to establish herself as one of the top small school runners in North Jersey taking third in 22:08 behind Cresskill’s Danielle Tilp, who dominated the field, winning by 125 meters in 21:27, and became the Cougars’ first champion since 1988. Park Ridge/Emerson soph Sophie Walder was second.
But then the pack checked in. Junior Abigail Manley was ninth in 22:49 and within 52 seconds of her, seniors Cailin Horton (12th), Emma Leishear (13th), Mikalia Terry (18th) and freshman Amber Wang (19th) all finished while no other team finished more than three girls. Glen Rock’s seventh, junior Abigail Mazin, was 27th, still ahead of any other team’s fourth.
“We had the unofficial score, but when they announced the official results, the girls were over the moon super excited,” said an elated Gallo, who took so many pictures of the victory that her phone died. “Even if you have a great number one, a weak back end of the pack will kill you. But our girls have been consistent all year and deserved this.”
Bogota girls, Amandine Fernandez and Tadael Mihret score wins at Oak Ridge Park
Pat Rochford knew he had the foundation for a championship season before the season started in senior Amandine Fernandez, junior Isabel Michel and senior Denisse Sotomayor. But the framework for Bogota’s first sectional championship and first Triple Crown season since 1998 also began two years earlier in Rochford’s seventh grad Social Studies class.
The Bucs defeated Hasbrouck Heights, 62-75 to earn the North 2, group 1 win behind the three seniors and four freshmen from Rochford’s class to complete the Triple Crown, after winning an NJIC divisional title and the Bergen D crown earlier in the season.
“I taught them during COVID and I was recruiting them to come run even then,” said Rochford. “I saw some talent there and told Amandine, Isabel and Denise that if they took stick it out and we could bring them along, we could have something.”
Indeed.
Fernandez outran the Weehawken dynamic duo of soph Astrid Taffarello and freshman Tari Dunn, clocking a personal best of 19:48 to win by 20 meters at what
After the second or third race this fall, Rochford knew the Bucs had a chance.
Fernandez outran a great field of potential state medalists, winning the sectional race in 19:48, about 20 meters ahead of the Weehawken dymanic duo of soph Astrid Taffarello and freshman Tari Dunn and Secaucus standout Haley Nowak at what she calls her “good luck” course.
Isabel Michel was seventh at 20:26, a personal best at any course and then came the freshmen brigade. Fergie Onate was 17th in 23:04, Isabel’s younger sister Ana 18th in 23:16 and Taitum Sandoval-Diaz 24th in 23:52, all personal or course bests. Sotomayor had an Oak Ridge course best as the 36th place finisher and the fourth freshman, Cristina Ter-Meliksetian also scored a personal best in 40th place.
“I wanted to be on the line and come through for all the hard-working girls I run with every day,” said Fernandez, who broke away in the last 200 meters to take her individual title. “Today’s race was different because there were three girls next to me the entire race and the finish was a blur but what happened to me and the team made all four years worth it.”
Tadael Mihret of Rutherford continues to rise up the ranks among North Jersey distance runners in just his second year of cross-country. The senior added a North 2, group 2 state sectional title to his sterling second place finish at last week’s Bergen Meet of Champions, holding off Voorhees senior William Keiser en route to a 35 meter victory in 16:09.
Mihret moved to Rutherford from his native Ethiopia in 2017 as a soccer player, and hoped to play striker in high school. But a meeting with Ethiopian Olympic legend Haile Gebrselassie stuck in his mind as he went out for indoor and outdoor track his first two years at Rutherford and he made the switch a year ago.
“I met (Gebrselassie) through my mom before we moved here and after I realized running was for me, he became an inspiration for my running,” said Mihret, who is starting to draw attention from colleges as his own record grows. He points to two-time Olympic gold medalist Gebrselassie and two-time Olympic marathon gold medalist Abebe Bikila, Ethiopia (and Africa’s) first gold medalist as his continuing motivation.
Decambre’s sectional win another step for Bergen Tech star
Bergen Tech’s Dylan Decambre continued unbeaten against New Jersey competition by dominating Hisham Ettayebi of Clifton and the North 1 group 4 field with a huge personal best of 16:25 at Garret Mountain to become his school’s first gold medalist since 1977. But he seemed most happy that his teammates were joining him after a school best fourth place team finish in the race.
“My number one goal was to get to states and be there with my team,” said Decambre, who was 21st in state group 4 last year and qualified for last year’s State Meet of Champions. “To be there this time together will be great.”
Decambre and Ettayebi, the race rumer-up were side by side for the first two miles of the race before Decambre pulled away right at the bottom of the hill.
“We didn’t go through the mile or two mile too fast (4:55 and 10 flat by estimates) but I just wanted to keep on pushing and make it to the finish line,” said Decambre who won by about 75 meters. “I got a nice PR at Garret and now I want to do the same at Holmdel.”
