RBC Girls and CBA Champions in NJSIAA Non-Public A

By Jim Hintelmann
HOLMDEL – Red Bank Catholic (girls) and Christian Brothers Academy won expected New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Non Public A cross-country championships Saturday at the annual Group meet at Holmdel Park, but they did it in different ways.
RBC girls repeated as champions in impressive fashion by placing its top five runners from fourth to eighth while winning with a low score of 30, far outpacing runner-up Immaculate Heart Academy, which scored 76.
CBA, in contrast, had a major scare before outlasting runner-up Don Bosco Prep, winning by a sixth man count after the two teams tied at 35 after the top five runners finished from each team.

Eryn Mills led the RBC pack with a time of 19:25 and was followed by Grace Eckstein (19:28), Megan Cronk (19:30) Mary Kate McNamara (19:31) and Caitlin O’Hare (19:34).
“We had a 9-second spread between fourth and eighth,” RBC coach Rob DeFilippis said. “Our four seniors are going to go out with three state titles in four years. They were outstanding.
“We also broke the school record for the fastest Holmdel Park team time (19:29.6),” he said. “It was a great accomplishment.”
Rumson’s girls finished to second to Voorhees (51) Group II with 76 points. Rachel Lehnert led Rumson with a ninth place finish in 19:17.
CBA won by the narrowest of margins, and it wasn’t until a sixth-man count when the Colts Tom Dengler finishing 13th to beat Don Bosco’s Luke Novak by two places that the meet was decided.

CBA’s Blaise Ferro won the race with a time of 15:51 and was followed by Nick Trigani (16:20), Aidan Durney (16:23), Brian Dengler (16:24) and Sean Martinek (16:26). They took the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th places.