Union Catholic Sweeps Titles, Sheppard Smashes Record at Union County Conference Cross-Country Championships

by | Oct 20, 2024

Union Catholic, ignited by Paige Sheppard’s course record and Evan Weber’s victory, swept the Watchung Division team titles at Wednesday’s Union County Conference Championships at Oak Ridge Park in Clark.

The UC girls, ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 7 nationally, simply blitzed the competition by throwing down a perfect score of 15 and obliterating the course record average on the way to a repeat title.

Sheppard, the sensational sophomore, led the UC charge by crushing her own course record with a jaw-dropping time of 17:12.1, slashing 29 seconds off the course record of 17:41 that she ran at this meet last year. Sheppard’s sizzling victory sparked UC’s 1-2-3-4-5 finish as the Vikings torched the 3.1-mile layout to the tune of an 18:20 average, which destroyed the course record.

UC’s top five were Sheppard, sophomore Cayleigh Kaiser, was second in 17:43.7, junior Jimmiea King, third in 18:49.9, freshman Jasmine Parran, fourth in 18:52.4, and junior Emmy O’Hearn completed the shutout by finishing fifth in 19:03.4.
The 18:20 average by UC, which held out a couple of its regulars,  shattered the girls course record of 18:35 that UC set at the conference meet a year ago, and is the third fastest average ever run by a NJ girls team in a single race on any course. Colts Neck, who ran 18:16 at the 2021 Shore Conference Championships at Ocean County Park, owns the state record and UC is No. 2 with the 18:18 average it ran in the Sophomore Division race at the Battle of Ocean County Park. UC’s 5-runner average at the Battle of Ocean County Park was 17:50 in the Sophomore and Junior races combined.

In the boys Watchung Division race, UC, ranked No. 8 in the state, Weber, a senior, dropped a huge PR of 15:39.2 to win the race and the Vikings jammed its five scorers in the top 10 and averaged 16:09 en route to a 28-47 win over No. 4 Westfield.

UC’s scorers were Weber, senior Aidan Cichocki, fourth in 16:09, junior Elijah McCoy, sixth in 16:15, senior Michael Devine, seventh in 16:16, and sophomore Quintin Clemons was 10th in 16:23.

UC and Westfield, the latter held out its top runner Ryan Daly, will clash again at the Union County Championships on October 24 at Warinanco Park in Elizabeth. UC has won the last four titles.

 

ON TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN

Matthew Ware contiued his torrid rookie season by finishing first to lead the Dayton boys to the title and Cranford and Malissa Morabito of Scotch Plains-Fanwood captured the Mountain Division girls championships.

On the boys side, Dayton dethroned defending champion, Rahway 39-57. Ware, a senior who gave up soccer to run XC this season, ran a PR of 16:16 for the win. Dayton averaged 17:16 and had a scoring combination of 1-4-10-11-13.

In the girls competition, Cranford defeated runner-up Scotch Plains-Fanwood, 32-58, and Morabito, a senior, ran a lifetime PR for any course with her winning time of 19:27.

Cranford put on a pack running clinic, cramming its first five runners in the top nine with just a 39 second spread and a 20:30 average. Cranford also placed second in the team merge to Union Catholic

JOHNSON GIRLS AND UNION BOYS RULE THE VALLEY

The Johnson girls and Union boys and Union’s Markus Hernandez and Dayton’s Talulah Whelan were the champions of the Valley Division.

Hernandez, a senior, ran a PR of 18:35 to finish first and lead Union to the boys title, 21-39 over defending champion Johnson.

In the girls race, Johnson won a close ine with Dayton, 36-41. Dayton’ junior Talulah Whelan picked up the victory by running a PR of 21:48.5.