Briarwood Invitational - Meet Recap
Girls' Challenge Race
Pearl River continued its dominance over the Challenge Race. The NY squad took the top spot (post-meet merge, too) with just 17 points. Mary Borkoski won for the fourth straight year individually. The senior opened up an early gap and never looked back, winning in 19:12, her fastest career time on the course.
Una Boylan (second), Ciara Durcan (fourth), and Niamh Durcan (fifth) also posted top five performances for Pearl River in their strong performance. Collingswood (NJ)'s Sophie Steidle was third, while Episcopal Academy's Caitlin Jorgensen was the top PA finisher, taking sixth.
Girls' Championship Race
Allyson Clarke opened up a lead on Parachute Hill and it was smooth sailing from there for the West Chester East junior, who put over 30 seconds on second place to roll to the win. Clarke finished in 18:59 to take the victory. She entered the weekend at PA#21, but said she surprised herself with Saturday's performance.
The Indian Hills (NJ) girls put together a strong team effort to win the team title. Corinne Barney was second overall and her sister Madeline Barney was fourth to lead Indian Hills. The team scored 61 points for the victory.
The Clarke-led WC East girls looked strong, taking second with 73 points. Sophomore Michaela Schiele was seventh and freshman Sonia Piombino was 11th after Clarke's 1-stick, showing this is a team that can compete late into this XC season.
Other high finishers from PA included Mckenna Brophy (fifth) and Neshaminy's Kaylee McCullough (sixth).
Boys' Challenge Race
Indian Hills (NJ)'s Bobby Oehrlein took the win in the Challenge Race, running 16:49 for the win. The senior pulled away early and gapped the field en route to the victory. Cheltenham's Jason Cornelison took second in a time of 17:09.
The Lawrenceville School (NJ) picked up the team win with 62 points, defeating second place Hasbrouck Heights (NJ). Robert Enck's third place finish led the way for Lawrenceville.
Boys' Championship Race
The reigning PIAA Class AAA champions from LaSalle College (PA#1) opened up their 2018 title defense with a win at Belmont Plateau. The Explorers put five boys in the top 17 for a dominating 44-point effort, topping second place West Springfield (VA) by 50 for the win.
Vincent Twomey's second place finish in 16:50 led the way for LaSalle, closely followed by Ethan Maher, taking fourth in 16:53. Bradden Koors was ninth in 17:09. Only 31 seconds separated LaSalle's top five.
Individually, the race went to Delsea (NJ)'s Colin Kane. The senior closed hard on the final loop and made his way past Twomey and North Penn's Noah Demis to win by 13 seconds. Twomey and Demis battled together throughout the woods and to the top of Flagpole, but it was Kane, the meet's top returner from last year, that pulled out the win. Demis wound up fifth.
Sean Stuck led the second place team, West Springfield, which scored 94 points. Great Valley turned in its second straight strong performance. The Patriots won at Abington last week and followed that performance up with a third place finish with 95 points, ahead of PA#10 West Chester East. Seth Hoffritz led GV with his seventh place finish.