East Boys Win 1st South Jersey XC Crown Since the '80s

Cherry Hill East put three runners in the top 10 and five in the top 25 at Delsea Saturday on their way to the school’s first South Jersey, Group 4 boys team title in almost three decades.

The Cougars’ Ben Dillion, the Camden County champion, and Aaron Groff placed 2nd and 3rd, respectively, crossing the line within a second of each other, and only 12 seconds behind individual champion Noah Culbreath, of Kingsway.

Teammate Dan Helfand was just 10 seconds behind them, finishing 7th, and Christian Mele (14th) and Jeff Braun (21st) rounded out the victory for East, which last won a South Jersey title in 1985.

It was the fulfillment of another goal for the Cougars, who won the Olympic Conference title earlier this season, and Dillon said after winning the county title that this Cougars team wanted to collect as much hardware as they could.

“We’re looking at a states title—we’re trying to win that,” he said. “We have a strong team all around.”

Cherry Hill West, which was led by Giancarlo Martines (13th in 16:25), put three others in the top 50—Scott Sherry (25th), Nickolas Boensch (43rd) and Tyler Brake (50th)—to finish eighth overall in the section.

Girls

East’s Maddy Berman, also a Camden County champ this year, put up her best time in a big meet this season, slashing eight seconds off her county title performance to lead the Cougars to a state qualifying spot with a 19:09, good for sixth place overall.

The Cougars edged out Cherokee by six points for the final spot in the Group 4 race next week at Holmdel, with Monica Lee (19:44), Taegan Field (20:36), Rebecca McCormack (20:50) and Greer Field (20:51) helping lift East to the fifth-place team finish.

The West girls were 12th as a team, bunching three runners in the 60s—Julia Marzocca (21:55), Gabrielle Rash (21:57) and Emily Johnston (22:03).