CVC XC Championships: Girls Recap
Allison Lee, Zui Chinchalkar, Grace Hegedus, and Kajol Karra are already well ahead of the pack by the one-mile marker. | TSP Images for MileSplit
The inaugural CVC XC Championships were a success! When this meet replaced the MCTA’s Mercer County Championships, one might’ve thought that it wouldn’t be much more than a merge of last week’s CVC Divisional XC Championships. But the more challenging course, the larger pack sizes, and the introduction of full-strength teams like Princeton, and the higher stakes created exciting new dynamics — for both individuals and teams — that made this feel like a very different meet.
Below are some highlights from the girls race. The boys recap is here. Full results (as well as one-mile splits and some video) are available from 2L Race Services here.
Girls Individuals
It took less than 200 meters for the top four girls to break away from everyone else. Allison Lee (WW-P North), Zui Chinchalkar (WW-P), Grace Hegedus (Princeton), and Kajol Karra (Princeton) went through the mile in a very quick 5:52 – that’s 18:14 pace. Claire Dumont (Hopewell Valley) was the next closest, another six seconds back at the mile. They stayed that way for the whole second mile, with the top four running as a pack and Dumont stalking from six seconds behind.
Once they descended into the woods, however, Lee dropped the hammer. In an incredible display of talent (and ability to run hills), she put 20+ seconds on the pack over the third mile. She crossed the line in 18:27, likely the fastest time ever by a Knight at Thompson Park, at least since the course was modified in 2007.
Karra had the next-most energy left in the tank coming off the big hill, and she finished second in 18:54. Hegedus stayed close and held on just long enough to stop the clock at 18:59.9, joining her teammate in the Thompson Park sub-19 club. According to MileSplit, she and Karra are just the 2nd and 3rd Princeton girls in that club, with Karra becoming the new school record holder.
The battle for 4th place featured two of the grittiest performances of the day. Dumont, who had effectively been running solo for over two miles, managed to catch and even overtake Chinchalkar in the last half mile. But then Chinchalkar, despite the fatigue from the early hot pace, dug deep, retook the lead going around the softball fields, and fought off Dumont all the way down the homestretch. Chinchalkar held onto 4th in 19:05, and Dumont ended up 5th in 19:06.
Eowyn Deess (Princeton) had a big last 2K to move from 9th to 6th and finish in 19:32. Izzy Meth (Lawrence) led the main chase pack for much of the race and took 7th in 19:43. Four of the next five finishers were freshmen: Rosemary Warren (Princeton) was 8th in 19:52, Siena Rivera (Hightstown) was 9th in 20:01, Sevanne Knoch (Princeton) was 10th in 20:07, and Alaina Sabo (Notre Dame) was 12th in 20:10. In their mix was senior Florica Eleches-Lipsitz (Princeton), who moved up from 15th at 3K to finish 11th in 20:09. Teagan Walker (Ewing) finished just behind Sabo in 20:11 for 13th.
Girls Teams
Princeton didn’t run their varsity squad at the divisional meet last week, but this week they showed up and showed out in full force. Against two other state-ranked teams, Princeton scored a super-low 29 points. They made up half of the top 14 finishers in this race. In addition to Karra’s and Hegedus’s outstanding races up front, Deess’s 19:32 for 6th place was a huge breakout race for her. Overall, Princeton’s team average of 19:29 was one of the fastest that any team has averaged at Thompson Park in recent years. This all bodes well for when they return here next week to face other top-10 teams like Manalapan and Freehold Township at sectionals.
Anchored by Lee and Chinchalkar up front, West Windsor-Plainsboro North took 2nd with a strong showing themselves. They’ve gotten a huge boost from the arrival on the scene of sophomore Sara Secora and freshman Juliette Halpin, who only last week both ran their first 5Ks at a major meet. They took 16th and 17th this week, both breaking 21:00 in their first go at the full Thompson Park course. Halpin in particular is showing major improvement. She was 16th in the merged results from last week, but that was without the Princeton girls; this week, even after adding the Princeton girls, she was 17th.
Hopewell Valley took 3rd, led by Dumont’s big 55-second Thompson Park PR that made her the 4th-fastest runner in school history. Their #2 runner, Maddie LaChance, also had a great race, finishing 15th in a 53-second course PR of 20:38. Hopewell Valley is actually deeper than WW-P North by some measures – their #5 runner Bryce Hanley beat out the Knights’ #5 by two seconds – and they could make things interesting at sectionals if things go their way in the 2-4 positions.
West Windsor-Plainsboro South was led by Yana Chheda, who ran 21:06 for 19th in her first race on the full Thompson Park course. Fellow sophomore Risha Rao also exceeded expectations and finished just 12 seconds behind Chheda in 22nd place. The Pirates’ fifth runner Nikita Menon also had a great race, moving up a lot in the last half of the race and getting 28th overall – the same place she got in just the Colonial division last week!
Allentown was without frontrunner Emilia Wroblewski but still secured 5th place. Madeline Ruchelman led the team with a new Thompson Park PR of 21:05 for 18th, after passing several girls in the last mile. Freshman Isabella Maltese stepped up big time as the Redbirds’ new #5 girl, running almost the same time that she did last week on the much-faster Robbinsville HS course.
Hightstown was led by Rivera’s 9th place finish. Her 20:01 is, according to MileSplit, a new Thompson Park school record! Her teammates also ran well, as the Rams’ 2-3-4 runners – Madalyne Ng, Victoria Mora, and Amara Stewart – were some of the only girls to move up at least 6 places over the last two miles.
Lawrence moved up from 11th in last week’s merge to 8th at this week’s championship, just 5 points ahead of Robbinsville and 10 points ahead of Steinert. It certainly helped having their star Meth back in the lineup this week, but #2 runner Kianna Verga also ran over a minute faster at Thompson Park than she ever had before. Lawrence has been getting some surprisingly solid contributions this postseason from sophomore Gabby Pociute, who is one of the best triple jumpers in Mercer County.
Robbinsville was missing one of their top runners this week but got good results from a trio of freshmen – Snigda Gonugunta, Sahaili Patel, and Abigail Andrus – who all matched or bettered their performances on this course from the XC Fall Classic just two weeks ago.
Steinert was led by junior Lisette Zamichieli, who is rapidly improving in just her second race back from an injury. Her time of 22:03 was an improvement of almost 30 seconds from her time at the much-faster Robbinsville HS course last week. Julianna Manto also had an impressive race, running a 5K PR even on this tough course.
Notre Dame was led by freshman Sabo’s 12-place finish. Her time was just a few seconds off of what she ran at the XC Fall Classic two weeks ago, where she became the Irish’s third-fastest girl all-time at Thompson Park.
After going over ten years without a complete girls team at a championship meet, Trenton has done it twice in two weeks! Their numbers are up this year thanks to efforts to recruit friends and to convince an 800-meter specialist to do XC. Their top runner, junior Rachael Ogungbangbe, just became #9 on Trenton’s all-time Thompson Park list.
Princeton Day raced only four girls but they ran well. They were led this week by sophomore Syona Gautam, whose 22:13 was over ninety seconds faster than her time at Thompson Park two weeks ago. Senior Meera Shah likewise ran over a minute faster than at the XC Fall Classic.
Ewing’s only racer today was the senior Walker. With her 20:11 today, Walker now owns the four fastest performances ever by a Ewing girl at Thompson Park. She’ll get one more shot at sectionals next week to take the school record under 20:00.
Video
Here are a few video highlights from the girls race! In addition to the start and finish, the video shows clips from roughly the 1600m, 3000m, and 4600m marks.