Daisy Liljegren continues hot start to season by Paul Schwartz of The Record
Daisy Liljegren continued her tremendous comeback season Sept. 22 when she recorded her second major victory of the season in winning the junior girls race in 18:13.8 at the Bernie Magee Invitational at Greystone Park in Morris Plains.
The Northern Highlands junior had the fastest time of the day in the class meet and only three runners have run faster since the course was revamped last fall. She had won the Season Opener title two weeks earlier and is an early favorite to contend for the top 10 at the State Meet of Champions in eight weeks.
She led the Highlanders to a fifth place finish in the team section of the meet. Ramapo’s Lauren Judd was seventh in the same class race in 20:16.7. Courtney Dalton of Northern Highlands was 11th in the senior race in 20:04.5.
IHA finished fifth in both the freshman and sophomore races with Madelyn Novelli taking 13th in the soph race in 20:53.3. Northern Highlands freshman Jessica Reilly was seventh in the shorter ninth grade race in 13:47.1 and Lucia Kutner of Leonia was 10th in 14:09.1
Passaic’s Luis Peralta raced all-stater Jack Stanley to the line in the senior boys race, taking second in 15:41.2, setting the North Jersey record at Graystone by nearly 25 seconds.
Bergen Catholic’s Braedon Fiume ran 16:13.2 for fifth in the same race and led the Crusaders to a 120-129 win over Westfield in the senior team race.
Stephen Ritter of Northern Highlands was 15th in the junior race in 16:59.2, while Pompton Lakes soph Nathan Armstrong was second in the soph race in 16:45.0, Robert Hymans of Ramapo, 10th in 17:13.9 and Richard Weissenborn of Park Ridge/Emerson, was 14th in 17:28.4 in the sophomore race.
Alex Shaia of Bergen Catholic was fourth in the freshman race in 12:05.4.
Campbell and Kline race well at Thompson Park
Chelsei Campbell of Hackensack took seventh in the junior class race at the Thompson Park Class meet, also on Sept. 22. Emma Kline of Kinnelon was sixth in the senior race in 20:24.01.
Jin Woo Song of NV/Old Tappan was 15th in the junior boys race in 18:06.64.
Holy Angels, Mandella and Perry excel at Xavier meet
Holy Angels battled one of New York state’s top teams at the Xavier Invitational held at the historic 2 1/2 mile Van Cortlandt Park course on Sept. 22, taking second to perennial Long Island champ Kellenberg in the Girls Varsity A race.
Olivia Mandella led the Angels with a second place finish in 15:58.26, Christina Bagin was sixth in 16:31.39 and Deirdre James was 10th in 16:48.73.
David Perry of Ramsey ran a solid 13:28.45 for sixth place in the Varsity B race, leading the Rams to a strong sixth place finish.
Wilson Reynoso of North Bergen was fourth in 14:08.39, George Losche of Hackensack fifth in 14:09.67, Ryan Morales of Hackensack 11th at 14:21.11 and Liam McDermott 14th in 14:31.07. Hackensack finished third and North Bergen fifth in the Varsity A boys race.