Group I championship

Girls runner-up Hadfield, Marino score top 10 finishes to qualify for Meet of Champions; Woodstown boys’ position impacted when Chew’s tag didn’t register at the finish

By Riverview Sports News

HOLMDEL – Schalick’s Jordan Hadfield and Woodstown’s Jacob Marino both finished in the top 10 of their respective Group I cross country championship races Saturday to qualify for next week’s Meet of Champions back here at Holmdel Park.

Hadfield, the runner-up in last week’s sectional race at DREAM Park, finished second in the girls Group I championship race in a time of 19:25. Walkill Valley’s Delana Einreinhofer won the race in 19:08.

Marino was ninth in the boys race, running a 17:17. The top 10 runners in each race qualify for the MOC.

Woodstown’s girls finished ninth in their team standings, while Schalick was 18th. Abby Marino and Lilian Norman virtually finished side-by-side in 21:18 to lead the Wolverines.

“We were elated with our top 10 team finish and look forward to earning our spot again next year,” Woodstown coach Michelle Williams said. “The team was thrilled to see they had outscored the other Group 1 South teams they had fallen to just last Saturday at the sectionals.”

Woodstown (16th) and Schalick (19th) both finished out of the top 15 in the boys standings. The Wolverines’ position and that of county champion Karson Chew were greatly impacted when Chew’s runner’s tag wasn’t read coming through the finishing chute after running what coach Steve New described as “a decent race.”

UPDATE: Chew ran an 18:18, which would have been T-43 (36th among team counters). It would have elevated Woodstown to 11th place with 291 points.