Sports
Ridge X-Country Teams Snag First and Second Place at Sectional Championsips
Girls place first, boys team comes in second in Section 2, Group 4 championship.
The Ridge High School boys and girls cross country teams both logged a spectacular showing at Saturday's Section 2, Group 4 state championships held Saturday at Warinanco Park in Elizabeth. Both teams will now advance to the upcoming round of Group championships next Saturday in Homdel.
The Ridge girls team finished in first place, recording a impressive team time of 1:40:54.06. The Ridge boys team also placed well, finishing second with an overall time of 1:25:51.69.
Leading the Red Devils girls team was junior Caelainn Carney, whose 19:48.10 finishing time was good enough to earn her third place overall.
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Also finishing for first-place Ridge were juniors Sabina Bains (fifth place, 19:53.54) and Rachel Schaub (seventh place, 19:59.79), senior Simran Bains (12th place, 20:24.27) and junior Meredith Bozzi (18th place, 20:48.36).
"We had some really good performances from some of the girls," head coach Tim Mooney said afterward. "We were kind of up and down, a few of them struggled and a few of them ran very well."
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Evan Roelke recorded the best time on the boys team Saturday, finishing in 11th place with a time of 16:50.70.
Also recording notable times was senior Jim Stamateris (13th place, 16:55.93), junior Tyler Gibbons (14th place, 17:06.18), senior John Bayeux (20th place, 17:23.99), and junior Alex Huynh (27th place, 17:34.89).
"On the boy's side, that was definitely not what we wanted to do," Mooney said. "Westfield (the first place team in the sectionals championship) ran very well, to their credit, but that's not the same team that I've been watching all year with our guys. Hopefully they'll be able to bounce back next week."
For the boys, Westfield High School finished first with a team time of 1:24:16.80.
Senior Matthew McDonald of North Hunterdon won the individual race, finishing with a time of 15:55.83.
Hunterdon Central High School took second in the girl's race with a team time of 1:40:35.60, behind senior Allison Payenski who came in first overall with a time of 19:14.90.
Over in the section 2, group 2 meet, Dana Giordano from Bernards High School in Bernardsville set a group 2 sectional record with a finishing time of 18:37, according to NJ.com.
