RBC, CBA Win In County Meet; RBR’s Sapone Wins Girls Race

By Jim Hintelmann
Holmdel—Not unexpectedly, the Red Bank Catholic (girls) and Christian Brothers Academy (boys) teams rolled to easy wins in the annual Monmouth County Cross Country Championships Tuesday at Holmdel Park.
RBC used its depth to take the girls title with 78 points while CBA, coming off an upset loss in the Manhattan Invitational 10 days ago, won its 14^th straight country championship with a low score of 29 despite resting its top runners. Colts Neck was a distant second with 89.
Red Bank Regional (112) and Rumson-Fair Haven (126) were second and third respectively in the girls race.
Red Bank Regional senior Lauren Sapone won the girls race impressively with a time of 18:44.

“There was no strategy,” said Sapone, who will be attending Dartmouth next season. “My main goal was just to win the race. There was some excellent competition today.
“I finished second in this race last year behind Marin Warner of Holmdel,” she said. “I went ahead with a mile remaining and pulled away from there.
“I chose Dartmouth for its academics, and I like the coaching staff,” said Sapone, who is Red Bank’s fastest distance runner since Katy and Amanda Trotter ran for the Bucs in 2003.
“I trained hard over the summer,” she said. “My main goals are to improve and take the races one at a time.”
Red Bank Catholic won its fourth straight girls county title and eighth in the past nine years. RBC had its five fastest runners finish in the top 23, led by Caitlin O’Hare’s 11^th place finish (20:30). She was followed by Emily Dunn (13^th), Gabriella Ferrigine (15^th) Louisa Guminski (15^th) and Melanie Cronk (23^rd).
“It feels good to be part of this team,” said O’Hare, a sophomore. “We finished close together. That was our strategy.”
“Everything we do is to finish in a pack,” said RBC coach Rob DeFillipis. “What makes this win special is that our seniors will now go out with four straight Monmouth County team titles. “

CBA, as it usually does in this meet, also ran in a pack with Genaro Anzalone (third), Brian Dengler (4^th), Brian Hill (6^th), Drake Anzano (7^th) and Noah Yuro (8^th).
Middletown North’s Matt Todaro broke up the pack with a fifth place finish.
Ocean Township’s Elliot Gindi was a surprise winner in the boys race with a time of 16:21. He was the first Ocean Township runner ever to win the county meet. Colts Neck’s Jordan Brannan was second in 16:31.