Indian Hills girls shock Northern Highlands, two boys advance to MOC by Paul Schwartz of The Record
HOLMDEL – Memo to the Indian Hills boys team – time to step up!
“Since I was a freshman, I’ve been coming down to Holmdel for the state Meet of Champions and cheering for our boys team, painting my face, bringing signs and cheering for them,’’ said senior Macy Kissel of the Indian Hills girls team Saturday. “Now I hope they’ll come cheer for us.’’
While the Indian Hills boys finished 10th in Group 3 in an attempt to make it four straight visits to the state Meet of Champions, the Indian Hills girls had their best race of the season, finishing third and stunning Bergen County champion Northern Highlands after four previous defeats to earn the final automatic berth for the state Meet of Champions Nov. 18.
Northern Highlands finished fourth, earning a wild card berth, the first time in nearly 20 years two North Jersey public schools qualified from the same group.
And although as usual, the Braves’ sophomore trio of Corinne Barney (fifth), Madeline Barney (14th) and Scarlett Jekic (28th) did all the work up front, it was the seniors, Kissel and Emily Zames who made the difference as Indian Hills finished behind Colts Neck and Middletown South.
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Zames was 44th in 21:11 and Kissel finished just two seconds and two spots behind in 46th, running a Holmdel personal best of 21:13, three minutes faster than her effort at Shore Coaches at the same site seven weeks ago.
“I wanted to lay it on the line and see what I could do,’’ said Kissel, who had been running as the Braves’ No. 6 or 7 runner most of the year.
Zames also improved nearly a minute over her Shore Coaches time, and continued a steady season that had helped the Braves battle in the tough Big North Freedom division against Northern Highlands and Ridgewood, two of the top 20 teams in the state all year.
“We were all ready to race today and after a good summer and fall of work, this was the payoff,’’ Zames said.
Hebner comes close, Highlands survive
Monica Hebner lost for the first time all year Saturday, getting outkicked by two-time defending state champion Alyssa Aldridge of Mainland and lost the Group 3 individual race by about seven meters.
But the Northern Highlands senior, who ran the second fastest North Jersey time ever at Holmdel, 18:20, was more concerned about whether her team would advance to try and duplicate their 2016 fifth Meet of Champions showing.
“I ran well but she outkicked me again’’, said Hebner, who was joined on the awards podium by sister Isabel, the sixth place finisher, “I’m more worried about our team because Daisy (Liljegren) was sick all week.’’
Liljegren, expected to be in the top 15, managed only a 48th place finish while battling a fever, but with Paige Wilderotter returning after a seven week absence because of injury, finishing 49th, Northern Highlands grabbed the final wild card spot.
River Dell suffered its second close miss in three years in Group 2, coming up three points short of third place Holmdel, despite the 7-8 finish of junior Kellie O’Donnell and senior Shannon Goria, who’ll both advance as individuals.
“It’s disappointing not to make it as a team, but these girls have given everything they had all year,’’ said Golden Hawk coach Brianna Bayersdorfer.
Close misses went to Glen Rock’s Alex Walter and River Dell’s Gary Wilhelm, who both finished 11th in their respective group 2 races, one spot from moving on.
Baginski, Peralta advance
Ridgewood’s Will Baginski finally showed at Holmdel the promise he’s shown all year at every other course he’s stepped on.
The junior came flying down the final 200 meters, passing four runners and clocking the day’s best North Jersey time of 16:16 to take fourth in Group 4 and setting himself for a potential top 20 finish next week.
“I finally used my knowledge of the course and ran a smart race all way and got the result I wanted,’’ said Baginski, who also avenged a loss to Passaic’s Luis Peralta, 7th on Saturday.
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Peralta got some solace by becoming Passaic’s first top 10 finisher since Luis Caldera was ninth in 1978 and clocked 16:17, a school record by 39 seconds and the ninth fastest time by any Passaic County runner.
Andrew Laguttuta of Glen Rock was 10th in Group 2, the first Panther boy to advance since 2003.