RESULTS, RESULTS, RESULTS
The USATF-NJ New Balance Grand Prix update was posted on Thursday, October 17th. John Hogan of the Township of Washington, leads in the men’s division. Hogan has all nine race slots filled and is hanging on with 5,359.
I say hanging on because if Fabian Daza of Fairview gets another race, a Category Three worth 500 points, he will move up from second place to knock Hogan out.
But not so fast! Justin Scheid of Succasunna is missing three races but he has the ability to capture all three and if not move ahead of Daza, get very close. Scheid has to run in the Horace Ashenfelter on Thanksgiving morning or at the Giralda Farms 10K on Sunday, November 10.
He also has to run in the East Brunswick 12K and choose the Wildcard 700 points. And last, he must run in the Westfield 5 miler on Saturday, November 30th as it is the only Category Two race left on the schedule.
Rufino Mendez of Roselle Park is in a tough spot. He sits in third place with 4,812 points and the speedy runner will have to really hustle to make up for his disaster at the 8 kilometer cross country race at Dream Park in Logan Township last month. Disaster? How about giving the entire field a two or more-minute head start?
Yep. Mendez somehow was at the far end of the field when the starter fired his pistol. Mendez became “wrong-way-Mendez” as he ran the length of the field to get to the starting line and then chase after the disappearing runners. He managed to run many down but finished in 60th place, a good 30 or more places back from where he would have finished if he had started with the field.
Mendez can get a higher championship score to replace the 520 points that he got at the 8km by either running in the Horace Ashenfelter 8K or the Giralda Farms 10K. Two to choose from. But like Scheid, he must run the Westfield 5 miler.
Eight masters women are in the top ten on the women’s side with forty-eight-year-old Hortencia Aliaga of Garfield in first place and fifty-six-year-old Suzanne LaBurt of Greenwood Lake, NY in second. In third place is Kim Anicito, 40, of Parlin. It doesn’t look like there will be any surprises on the women’s side, with the top thirteen women having filled all nine spots on their grand prix card. Gabrielle Panepinto of Tenafly could move up if she runs in the East Brunswick race and choses the Wildcard 500 points and then joins Mendez and Scheid at the Westfield race.
USATF- NJ CLUB GRAND PRIX – Sponsored by Garmin
The club and division grand prix have also been updated and the clear leader is the Garden State Track Club New Balance with nearly 60 points over second place Shore Athletic Club, followed by the Clifton Road Runners. The Garden State club dominates in the open divisions by having an overflowing stable of fast young athletes. When you can put six men’s teams on the line there is no doubt what the outcome will be. Their A team leads off the 18 men’s teams ahead of the Shore Athletic Club. Their B team is one point behind Shore with the Freedom Running Club in fourth place.
Their open women’s team is in first place with Shore following with the Raritan Valley Road Runners in third.
Once we move into the masters divisions the Garden State dominance is not so great. While they lead in the M40 and M50 divisions – ahead of the Garmin Runners in the M40 and the Shore club in the M50, it is the Shore’s M60 that has the lead. The Clifton Running Club is leading the M70 division.
The Garden State W40 team is in the lead in that division but the Clifton club leads the W50 with the Raritan Valley team in second place. The North Jersey Masters have the lead in the W60 division and the Raritan Valley women lead the W70 division.
Masters men have the Giralda Farms 10K on November 10th to try to better their scores. All divisions have the Ashenfelter on November 28th.
FALL CHAMPIONSHIPS BEGAN IN AUGUST
It is somewhat of a misnomer to refer to a race in August as the start of the fall racing season, but so be it; the 5 kilometer cross country championship at Natirar in Peapack Gladstone on August 25th kicked off the season. Brian Quilty of Pitman finished in 15:45 for the win, with Kyle Price of Milltown second in 15:51 and Justin Scheid of Succasunna third in 15:53.
Meaghan Driscoll of Glen Gardner was the women’s winner in 18:49. Laura Cummings of Bay Shore NY was second in 18:56 and Emma Cary of Morristown was third in 19:15. Mark Zamek of Morris Plains topped the masters men age grading list with Reno Stirrat of Rockaway second and Gary Leaman third. Nora Cary of Morristown was the top masters woman, with Suzanne LaBurt second and Hortencia Aliaga third.
On September 8th, Justin Scheid won the By Hook or by Crook 12K at Sandy Hook, with Fabian Daza second and Bradley Kilheeney third. Alexandra Niles of Montclair was the first women to finish, with Karen Auteri of Belvidere second and Aliaga third.
Eric Holt of Monroe won the USATF-NJ 8 kilometer championship cross country on September 22nd, finishing in 25:20, with Kyle Price of Milltown second and Collin Frost of Randolph third. Kristin Andrews of Manalapan won the women’s race with Hortencia Aliaga second and Samantha Young of Metuchen third.
Justin Scheid won the Shades of Death half marathon, USATF-NJ championship this past Sunday in 1:12:08. Johnpatrick Montgomery of Hackettstown came in second in 1:12:13 with Aditya Singh of Westfield third in 1:12:55.
On the women’s side it was Alexandra Niles who finished first in 1:19:40. Kerry Dyke of Perth Amboy was second in 1:22:48 and Meaghan Driscoll was third in 1:23:17.
Three-hundred-and seventeen runners finished the half-marathon, with 178 runners in the 6.6 mile Devils Run.
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