UPDATED
Rich wins super close boys race, VanHorn repeats in girls; GCIT, Morris Tech win team titles
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN — If you blinked at the finish of the boys race in Monday’s NJTAC cross country meet you missed it.
Camden Vo-Tech’s Julian Rich won by a mere 32-hundreths of a second, holding off Luke Damato of Medford Tech at the wire to win the state tech schools championship in the cross country equivalent of a NASCAR photo finish.
Rich covered the 5K at Salem Tech in 17:28.20. He turned on the jets in the final 100 meters or so to take the lead and then held off Damato’s sprint to catch up at the line. It was the closest boys finish since 2015 when the margin was 3.5 seconds.
It wasn’t a close enough finish for Rich to feel Damato’s breath on his back but he could feel the footsteps.
“It was tight the whole time,” Rich said. “We were close enough that we could’ve stepped on each other’s foot. It was a close race, but when we were coming down the home stretch I knew I had it. I’ve always had a good kick at the end, but once I saw him I just went.”
In his post-race analysis moments after the finish, Damato figured he exploded at the start and got ahead of Rich too early and created the tight finish. He wasn’t too disappointed, though. He was seconds off his personal best set two races ago.
“It was tight. He won. He beat me at the end,” he said matter-of-factly. “That last kick, if you’ve got that last kick you mostly won. You got it if you’ve got that. If that guy can pass me, he wins.
“I wasn’t that bummed. I think I did the best that I could. If that guy can pass me, he wins. He got me at the end, that’s all that really matters. He did it. That’s all I can say. I’m happy with my result. I’m happy with his result because he got first place. At the end of the day there’s nothing to be mad about. I ran a great race by my standards.”
VanHorn repeats, Seiden eighth
Girls winner Maya Van Horn had an easier time of it. She won the race for the second year in a row in a breezy 18:57.45, a comfortable two minutes ahead of runner up Micah Dilello of Sussex Tech. She’s coming off an 18:49.9 in her NJAC conference meet a week ago.
“It was a pretty awesome race,” she said. “Near me there’s a lot of hills and this was a pretty flat course today and that definitely made it a lot easier. It was a fun race.”
Salem Tech’s Sarah Seiden, the Salem County girls runner up, was eighth (22:22.42). She went out with the idea of keeping a steady pace over the first two-thirds of the race because there’s another race Tuesday, but felt good at that point and started picking off runners over the last 1000 meters.
The Chargers cap off a busy week Tuesday in the Tri-County Showcase at Cumberland. It will be their third race in seven days.
“A lot of stretching, a lot of sleep will probably do me good,” Seiden said. “We’ll see how tomorrow goes. I think I’ve got it.”
GCIT, Morris team champs
Gloucester Tech and Morris Tech won the boys and girls team titles, respectively.
GCIT won the boys team title the way you’re supposed to, bunching its runners in a tight group. Their counters finished 4, 6, 9, 10 and 11 in a spread separated by just 37 seconds. Gavin Hoover was their first across the line with a fourth-place 17:49:11.
“We train together and run together so it would make sense,” GCIT coach Rob Kijewski said. “Any time we compete and do well at these races, it has everything to do with, not so much winning the race, but always being able to bunch up and win out that way. We’re a team. We’re the definition of a what a cross country team really has to do to be at its best.”
With VanHorn setting the pace, Morris Tech’s girls put four runners in the top seven and all five counters in the top 16.
NJTAC Cross Country Championship
(at Salem Tech)
BOYS TEAM SCORES: GCIT 40, Passaic Tech 67, Medford Tech, 93, Morris Tech 123, Camden Vo-Tech 144, Sussex Tech 147, Salem Tech 160, Warren Tech 203, BCIT-Westhampton 233, Cape May Tech 263, Newark Tech 346, East Brunswick Vo-Tech 366.
GIRLS TEAM SCORES: Morris Tech 33, Atlantic Tech 82, Passaic Tech 107, GCIT 118, Sussex Tech 133, Salem Tech 176, Warren Tech 181, Camden Vo-Tech 192, Cape May Tech 196, BCIT-Westhampton 201.
| BOYS TOP 10 | GIRLS TOP 10 | ||
| Julian Rich, Camden | 17:28.20 | Maya VanHorn, Morris | 18:57.45 |
| Luke Damato, Medford | 17:28.52 | Micah Dalelio, Sussex | 21:03.90 |
| David Cunha, Sussex | 17:47.32 | Grace Napoli, Passaic | 21:14.28 |
| Gavin Hoover, GCIT | 17:49.11 | Aditi Mukundhan, Morris | 21:27.03 |
| John Swaney, Passaic | 17:49.91 | Harper Felch, Morris | 21:50.52 |
| Luke Clodfelter, GCIT | 17:53.23 | Ave Dixon, GCIT | 22:04.46 |
| Vansh Patel, Morris | 17:55.34 | Sophia Felix, Morris | 22:06.21 |
| Shawn Tamanini, Atlantic | 18:13.19 | Sarah Seiden, Salem | 22:22.42 |
| Raynier Galvez, Passaic | 18:14.28 | Elena Urriola, Passaic | 22:35.24 |
| Gavin Kravchuck, GCIT | 18:15.84 | Ava Macchione, Atlantic | 22:36.19 |
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