NJ MOC
Yesterday, I went with my son to watch the NJ High School Cross-Country Championships. Technically, it's the all-group meet, but it it commonly referred to as the Meet of Champions. It's the meet that is considered the state meet in other states, but in NJ, for whatever reason, it's MOC.
On the girls, side, the meet was expected to be a foregone conclusion, with Southern Regional's Danielle Tauro winning another big meet. She may be the most dominant runner to come out of NJ in fifteen years or so. The boys side was a bit more of a wild card, with a sophomore, Doug Smith, from Gill Saint Bernard's expected to challenge last year's winner, Craig Forys of Colts Neck.
The course at Holmdel is tough to see at multiple points, you can watch the runners at the start and the finish, or you can go up the hill and see them twice (at least the leaders), then scramble down the hill and catch the finish. It doesn't make for easy spectating, and thus far, nobody has done the work to bring video to the course. The result is that until the runners come out of the woods, most spectators have no idea what they'll see.
Past times predicted that we'd see a 15:30ish finish, and that Jason DiJoseph's 1988 record, 15:16, would be safe for another year or several. We were watching the finish, and checking the clock, and around 14:40, the judge's flag started waving. One head crested the final hill, rising briskly. Many heads cranked around, wondering if their understanding of timing was right. We all knew that yesterday was special, the singlet rising over the hill was green, Colts Neck's color, Forys was going after the record. Down the final straight he came, absolutely flying. Very quickly, the talk was of the record. Forys got the record, but due to regulations, it goes into the book as a 15:16. (If scuttlebutt was right, Forys ran a 15:15.5, and DiJoseph's mark was 15:16.2, and Forys is credited with the record, even if it shows the same time.)
As expected, Tauro won the girls race, though not crushing the field. She ran slightly ahead of Colts Neck's Ashley Higginson. Tauro was just running her third race of the season. She'd raced through the summer, finishing with the World Juniors in Beijing, China.
Interestingly enough, both of yesterday's winners are heading to the University of Michigan. The other big news of yesterday's meet was that Jackson won the team boys title, unseating Christian Brothers Academy, who'd won it for several years, the school with the longest dual-meet winning streak in history. (This result doesn't affect that streak.)
On the girls, side, the meet was expected to be a foregone conclusion, with Southern Regional's Danielle Tauro winning another big meet. She may be the most dominant runner to come out of NJ in fifteen years or so. The boys side was a bit more of a wild card, with a sophomore, Doug Smith, from Gill Saint Bernard's expected to challenge last year's winner, Craig Forys of Colts Neck.
The course at Holmdel is tough to see at multiple points, you can watch the runners at the start and the finish, or you can go up the hill and see them twice (at least the leaders), then scramble down the hill and catch the finish. It doesn't make for easy spectating, and thus far, nobody has done the work to bring video to the course. The result is that until the runners come out of the woods, most spectators have no idea what they'll see.
Past times predicted that we'd see a 15:30ish finish, and that Jason DiJoseph's 1988 record, 15:16, would be safe for another year or several. We were watching the finish, and checking the clock, and around 14:40, the judge's flag started waving. One head crested the final hill, rising briskly. Many heads cranked around, wondering if their understanding of timing was right. We all knew that yesterday was special, the singlet rising over the hill was green, Colts Neck's color, Forys was going after the record. Down the final straight he came, absolutely flying. Very quickly, the talk was of the record. Forys got the record, but due to regulations, it goes into the book as a 15:16. (If scuttlebutt was right, Forys ran a 15:15.5, and DiJoseph's mark was 15:16.2, and Forys is credited with the record, even if it shows the same time.)
As expected, Tauro won the girls race, though not crushing the field. She ran slightly ahead of Colts Neck's Ashley Higginson. Tauro was just running her third race of the season. She'd raced through the summer, finishing with the World Juniors in Beijing, China.
Interestingly enough, both of yesterday's winners are heading to the University of Michigan. The other big news of yesterday's meet was that Jackson won the team boys title, unseating Christian Brothers Academy, who'd won it for several years, the school with the longest dual-meet winning streak in history. (This result doesn't affect that streak.)
posted by Scooter at 8:24 AM
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