Union Catholic threw down a pair of historic performances when the Vikings shredded the course records averages on the way to repeat titles, and the Johnson and Oratory boys, and Rahway and Oak Knoll girls also captured titles at Tuesday’s Union County Conference Championships at Oak Ridge Park in Clark.
UC simply blitzed the competition in both the boys and girls Watchung Division races.
The boys, ranked No. 3 in the state and No. 8 nationally, got things started with a 1-2-4-5-6 finish and a course record average of 15:44!!!! That broke the course record average of 15:49 that UC set at the conference meet in 2021. Senior Jimmy
Wischusen led the charge for the Vikings with a runaway victory in 15:15, the fourth fastest time ever run on the 3.1-mile layout. Only Marco Langon of Bridgewater-Raritan (15:02 in 2021),
Akshay Vadul of Edison (15:12 in 2022), and Avery Keith of Westfield (15:13 in 2022) have run faster than Wischusen at Oak Ridge. Vadul and Keith ran those times when they went 1-2 In the North Jersey, Section 2 Group 4 race last year.
UC’s other four scorers all ran PR’s and all broke 16 minutes. Senior Alex Saldana was second in 15:35, senior Alessandro- Alvarez-Tullo placed fourth in 15:52, junior Evan Weber ran 15:59 to finish fifth, and junior Aidan Cichocki finished sixth in 15:59. The Vikings also had a impressive 1-5 split of 45 seconds in its 18-52 victory over Westfield, No. 2 in the state and No. 22 in the nation. Westfield didn’t run most of their top guns, so the big showdown between national powers will have to wait until the Union County Championships on October 19 at Warinanco Park in Elizabeth. UC is the defending champion.
The UC girls, ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 12 nationally, finished off the sizzling daily double by the Vikings by torching the course to the tune of an 18:20 average!!!! That’s shattered the girls course record of 18:35 that UC set at the conference meet a year ago, and is the second fastest average ever run by a NJ girls team on any course. Colts Neck, who ran 18:16 at the 2021 Shore Conference Championships at Ocean County Park, is the only team to run a faster average than UC.
The Vikings scorers finished 1-2-3-4-6 with freshman phenom Paige Sheppard burning a course record 17:41!!! Senior Courtney Kaiser was second in 17:57, the third fastest time in course history, freshman Cayleigh Kaiser finished third in 18:33, freshman Kayla Devine was fourth in 18:35, and sophomore Emmy O’Hearn placed sixth in 18:57.Next up for the UC girls is the Union County Championships where the Vikings will aim to take down the course record average of 18:54 that they set last year en route to a second straight title. I think it’s safe to say that record is on very shaky ground.
ON TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN
In the Mountain Division, Oak Knoll won the girls title 27-51 over defending champion Elizabeth, and Oratory rode a 1-2 finish by senior Tommy Hunt (16:58) and junior Declan Kelly (17:01) to captured its first boys championship since 2018. Oratory went 1-2-4-6-7 and by outscoring Dayton, 21-47.
On the girls side, Oak Knoll used strong races by the front of its pack as Maggie Minter (19:29), Ally Sparno (19:29) and Sally Marchesi (20:31) finished 2-3-4 to lead the surge. Cassidy Kidd of Union ran 19:25 to win the race.
4-PEAT FOR KIDD
Cassidy Kidd of Union completed a very rare 4-peat, Rahway won its first girls title ever and the Johnson boys finished on top in the Valley Division.
Kidd, who won Valley Division titles as a freshman and sophomore before capturing the Mountain Division championship last year, ran 19:25 to win her fourth conference title.
The Rahway girls made history by defeating Dayton, 29-39, to capture its first divisional title, and Johnson, led by senior Kyle Gunsiorowski’s runner-up finish in 18:40, won the boys championships. Senior Sean Casey of Union was the individual champion with a time of 18:15.
