Earlier sunsets mean it’s almost championship season, but there was still just enough daylight today for one more afterschool regular-season meet: the XC Fall Classic at Thompson Park. What did we learn about each Mercer County team? Who is going to be ready when we come back to Thompson Park in a few weeks, with more at stake? Here are highlights from today’s varsity races, with a few photos down below.

Girls Individuals

In the individual race, Ocean Township’s freshman phenom Leah Starkey – ranked 12th in the state by NJ Advance Media – ran away with this one. She built up a sizable lead by the mile marker and continued to pull away, eventually winning in a very quick 18:49.

The battle for 2nd place was tighter. At the halfway point, there was still a pack of seven girls, including Lawrence’s Izzy Meth, Wilberforce’s Laura Sallade, and Notre Dame’s Alaina Sabo. Sallade took the lead at that point, worked the hills hard, and then used a big kick to seal 2nd place in 19:38. Meth held off charges from a South Brunswick girl and an Old Bridge girl to take 4th place in 19:54. The freshman Sabo’s decision to stick with the chase pack was rewarded with a very solid Thompson Park debut PR, getting 8th in 20:06. Princeton freshman Rosemary Warren made up almost 10 seconds over the hilly second half of the course to finish just behind Sabo, getting 9th in 20:08.

Girls Teams

In the team competition, Princeton rested most of their top girls ahead of Sunday’s Manhattan Invitational, but they still took 2nd place here behind Westfield. The only girls from their usual top seven to run today were the freshmen Warren and Sevanne Knoch (12th in 20:36), possibly so they could get some experience on the Thompson Park course before the big Group 4 Central showdown at sectionals.

With many of their top runners out, other Princeton girls got a chance to run varsity, and they took advantage of it! Junior Lilly Luedwig was their third girl today, running 21:26 in one of her first-ever XC invitationals. Their fourth girl was Isabella Franceschi, whose 21:43 not only crushed her recent times at Bowdoin and Holmdel but also took almost a minute off her time from the speedy Peddie golf course.

The Wilberforce girls were led by top-10 finishes from Sallade and Adeline Edwards (10th in 20:25). Sophomore Stella Blanchard (23rd in 21:35) and senior Gwen Mersereau (44th in 23:06) ran their fastest times of the season today, showing some promising momentum going into the postseason. Wilberforce finished behind Princeton in 3rd, but that was without #3 runner Eve Szeliga.

Sabo’s 20:06 makes her Notre Dame’s 3rd fastest girl all-time at Thompson Park. Notre Dame’s fourth and fifth runners, sophomores Valerie Cordero-Beckert and Audrey Stout, finished together and both set Thompson Park PRs.

The Ruchelman sisters were the only Allentown girls to run, but both went home with medals and new PRs. Senior Madeline was 17th (21:10) and sophomore Emma was 33rd (22:18).

Robbinsville’s Kellianne White set a big Thompson Park PR, finishing in 21:18 for 20th. The senior led a team that otherwise consisted of all freshmen, who got great experience by running the full 5K course instead of the two-mile freshman course.

Behind Meth’s 4th-place finish, several Lawrence girls set Thompson Park PRs. In fact, despite this being a fairly challenging course, junior Baeleigh Thomas ran her fastest invitational 5K ever today.

Princeton Day ran four girls, led by Olivia Lumba in 43rd. Lumba is coming off a big race at the Cairn University Highlander Invitational last Saturday, where she took the win in a tight finish.

Boys Individuals

In the boys individual race, Princeton’s Felix Farrugia kept the race honest, taking the pack through the mile in 5:20. He continued to lead through halfway, followed closely by Notre Dame’s Tarun Kovoor. At about that point, Princeton’s Finn Wedmid made a move to get in contact with Kovoor and Farrugia, and soon the race for 1st place was down to that trio. Kovoor built some separation in the hills and held on through the last 800 meters, breaking the tape in 16:57. A hard-charging Wedmid caught Farrugia in the final stretch, and the two finished together in 17:00.1 and 17:00.5.

Behind those top three, the last half of the course resulted in a big shakeup. The biggest gainer was Notre Dame’s Max Whittle, who moved up from 13th to get 4th in 17:13. Princeton Day’s Grayson McLaughlin and Edward Letko also had a strong last half, moving up from 10th and 11th to 5th (17:16) and 7th (17:20).

Mercer County boys dominated the front of this race, taking 10 of the top 13 places. Other top finishers include Princeton’s Felix Yu (8th in 17:22) and Braedyn Capone (13th in 17:34) as well as Allentown’s Landon Kent (10th in 17:24) and John O’Leary (12th in 17:30).

Boys Teams

In the team competition, the Princeton boys dominated with 40 points, placing their whole team in the top 30 with a superb 1-5 split of 46 seconds. The most impressive thing is that all of the Princeton boys set Thompson Park PRs: Wedmid, Farrugia, Yu, Capone, Evan Raphael (17th in 17:6), Emilio Gonzalez Toro (27th in 18:10), and Harrison Knoch (29th in 18:14). Farrugia, Yu, Gonzalez Toro, and Knoch all PR’d by over a minute, and this was Wedmid’s first go at Thompson Park. Their overall average was 17:20, well below the 17:41 that sent them to the group championships last year. Whatever they’re doing in Princeton this year, it’s working!

Allentown was narrowly edged out for 2nd place by South Plainfield, 98-102, but they also ran very, very well. After missing the Shore Coaches Invitational due to injury, Kent came back this week to lead the team with a Thompson Park PR. In fact, just like Princeton, all of Allentown’s top 7 impressively set or even crushed their Thompson Park PRs. The Allentown boys averaged 90 seconds faster than they did at sectionals last year. If they run this well on November 2, they’ll book themselves a trip to the group championships.

Led by Kovoor and Whittle up front, Notre Dame finished 4th with an 18:17 average. Kovoor became just the 10th Notre Dame boy to break 17:00 at Thompson Park. Whittle ran a course PR and will look to join that club later this year. Sophomore Timothy Ellingson and senior Diego Nunez both broke 19:00 on their first try at Thompson Park.

At last week’s Cairn University Highlander Invitational in Langhorne, PA, Princeton Day took home the trophy, led by Letko and McLaughlin going 2-3 together in 17:12. The competition was tougher at Thompson Park this week, but Princeton Day proved that they are for real, finishing just 13 points behind Notre Dame in 5th. The big races by McLaughlin and Letko made them #2 and #3 on Princeton Day’s all-time Thompson Park leaderboard. In fact, their third runner Alexander Chia (34th in 18:19) is now #5 on that list. This is shaping up to be a historical season for the Panthers!

Robbinsville’s big news was the return of senior Tanay Samnani, one of last year’s top runners in the county. In his first invitational since the Cherokee Challenge in early September, he ran 18:32 for 38th. Behind Samnani, sophomore Ryan Decker ran a Thompson Park PR of 19:06 and helped the team average down to 19:15.

Like Robbinsville, Hightstown enjoyed the return of star senior Burke Thompson, one of the county’s top track runners who is doing XC for the first time. He missed most of this season with an injury but just ran 17:53 in his XC invitational ever. His senior classmates Adisa Stewart and Demetrius Davis also set Thompson Park PRs.

Wilberforce ran a very young team – three sophomores and two freshmen – that finished just a few points behind Hightstown. They were led by Elias Edwards, who ran his fastest invitational time of the season, despite the challenging course, to get 28th place finish in 18:11.

Trenton’s top finisher was senior Patrick McCray, who ran 18:47 for 43rd. Behind him, Briyon Ellerbe (20:23) and Roniel Cruz (20:29) both set big 5K PRs, breaking 21:00 for the first time. And on a difficult course, too!