Cross-Country: Highlights from the NJIC Championships

Hasbrouck Heights keeps rolling

When Mike Ryan took over the Hasbrouck Heights cross-country program in 2008, the Aviators hadn't won a boys league title in nearly two decades -- and that was part of a co-op with Wood-Ridge) and had never won a girls title.

He didn't have to change the culture, he had to establish one -- in a town that revered it's football program and had adopted its soccer programs.

On Oct. 3, the Aviators won their fifth NJIC Meadowlands division boys title in six years and their eighth girls title in nine, continuing their dominance with a 32-54 win over Park Ridge/Emerson for the boys titles and a 46-54 win over Secaucus to win the girls meet.

"We had a great start to our girls program in 2008, behind Rebecca Fortoul (a three time divisional champ) and the girls won right away,'' said Ryan, who had been a successful runner and coach at Becton before taking the job at Heights. "The boys took a little longer but bought into the program and began to win a few years later.''

The graduation of team leaders and all-time standouts like Evan Morrow and Isabella Drezek, who led the team for the previous four seasons, along with other senior leaders on both teams didn't slow the Aviators down.

"This team is like a family,''' said Ryan. "The boys and girls do everything together and the new kids buy in right away. We had a lot of young kids on last year's team and they just stepped up to replace those who graduated.''

On the boys end that meant soph Aidan Morrow stepped up to replace his brother, now at Rutgers, at the front of the Meadowlands race. Morrow easily defeated Park Ridge/Emerson junior Patrick Tallman by 125 meters, running a personal best 17:12 at the Garret Mountain course in Woodland Park. Junior Ayaan Modak was third in 17:45, also a huge Garret best and sophomore Ryan Ober was fifth in his first season running cross.

"I saw last summer what Aidan could do and he just went out and did it on his own,'' said Ryan. "And Ryan Ober was a sprinter last spring and I didn't even talk to him about coming out -- he just came out and improved every day.''

Senior Bobir Asatov (11th, 1936) and soph Kyle von Seidelmann (12th, 19:41) completed the boys scorers.

The girls are an even younger group, with six sophs among the seven varsity runners. Secaucus senior Haley Nowak claimed her first league title after three runner-up finishes, winning by nearly 150 meters in a Garret best of 20:51, with Heights' Lexi Powers next in a strong 21:23.

But the Aviator sophomore pack of Shantal Urgiles, Silvia Andrade and Mackenzie Bua went 8-9-10 by finishing within 13 seconds of each other and the team's only senior, Charmy Chauhan, ran close to her personal best to complete the scoring and clinch the victory in 23rd place.

"These kids fall in love with cross-country quickly,'' said Ryan. "And they want to be part of a winning team. It's a good combination.''

Glen Rock sweeps Colonial Division

Glen Rock dethroned Leonia as the boys Colonial champion, winning narrowly, 41-43, ending the Lions' three-year reign while the girls returned to the top for the fourth time in five years after a one year absence with a 35-49 win over Rutherford.

The Panthers won the boys meet with an excellent 3-4-6 finish from their top trio of juniors Ben Raser and Ben Habler and senior Jacob Bae, opening a five point lead over the Lions after three runners had finished.

Leonia put their fourth runner ahead of Glen Rock's Devin Smith by just one spot and although the Lions also put their fifth runner of Glen Rock's fifth, it was only by two spots allowing the Panthers to earn their first title since 2018.

Rutherford's Tadael Mehret stamped himself as a Bergen County and state sectional contender with a 350 meter win over Josh Gelayder of Leonia, in 16:38, the fastest Garret time in North Jersey this year.

The girls got a win from Lily McNair, who won by 150 meters over Kierstyn Klingner of Leonia in 21:51. But it was the pack performance of the next five Glen Rock finishers, seniors Cailin Horton, Mikaila Terry and Emma Leishear, junior Abbie Manley and freshman Amber Wang that impressed head coach Stacey Gallo even more. The fivesome finished between 16 seconds of one another in taking 9-10-11-12-13 to overcome a 2-3-6 finish by Leonia, which was third with 52 points.

"Lily's the competitive workhorse and we knew she had a a great chance to win the race,'' said Gallo. "We told the girls early in the year that we had to run as a pack and have to follow and support her if we had a chance to win. This was lovely to watch.''

Bogota girls take third straight Patriot title, Cresskill wins first in nine years

Ana Michel has some very good friends and as a result, Bogota has its third straight Patriot title and a chance to extend its streak for a long time. Michel, the freshman sister of junior Isabel Michel, one of the Bucs' three veteran leaders, convinced friends and classmates Taitum Sandoval-Diaz, Fergie Onate and Cristina Ter-Meliksetian to join her on the cross-country team. The quartet helped the Bucs hold off a very talented and young Weehawken team, 37-50 to win the title. Weehawken went 3-4-6 with three underclassmen, but the Bucs overall team performance made the difference.

Bucs coach Pat Rochford was pleased with the performance of his team, led by senior Amandine Fernandez, who set a Garret Mountain personal best of 20:48, just 25 meters behind race winner Danielle Tilp of Cresskill. Isabel Michel also PR'd at Garret, running 22:01 for fifth place, but Rochford has special words for his third veteran, senior Denisse Sotomayor.

"She's a four year runner who really came along this year and ran without a lot more confidence,'' said Rochford of Sotomayor, ninth in 24:12. "She barely broke 27 minutes here last year and she's become a good leader and certainly helped our younger kids. This is a very special group.''

Cresskill lost its best returning runner, sophomore Omer Chai, for the entire season, due to leg issues, but still managed its first boys title since 2013 and just the second since 1980, holding off Weehawken, 53-67.

"We had two other underclassmen who came along really nicely last year in (current junior) Ryan Chung and (current sophomore John Jamieson, who were overshadowed by Omer last year,'' said second year head coach Chris Messina. "When Omer went down we knew they'd have to step up even more and they did.''

But an early season dual loss to Weehawken highlighted the third big piece in the Cougar championship puzzle -- first year junior George Stogioglou.

"He wasn't ready to run in our first dual meet, but once we got him, we knew we had a chance,'' said Messina.

Waldwick's Joe Capuzzo repeated as the divisional champion, holding off Keanu Ray of Weehawken by 20 meters in a school record 17:06 at Garret, breaking a mark set in 1995.

Cresskill seniors Aidan Riccardo (13th) and Kentaro Lee (29th) enabled the Cougars to score the win.

"When we get Omer back next year, we'll be even better,'' said Messina.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJIC cross-country championships highlights