Sports

Exciting Monmouth County Championship Comes to Holmdel Park Today

Hundreds of high school athletes will attack the 5k course today with all they've got. Come watch real grit and cheer them on.

Pat Montferrat of Lawrenceville, NJ is the managing editor of NJRunners.com, an online news magazine that follows the fast-moving high-school sport of cross country. He and his enthusiastic freelance staff attend all the major meets, and post times, rankings, stories and thousands of photographs directly after the races, free for participants to download. We asked him on Monday about the big meet at Holmdel Park on Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 18.

Why does the Monmouth County Cross Country Meet matter?

The county championships -- and the Monmouth County meet in particular -- in most cases, are the first exposure the teams have to the championship part of the season. It's important to do well in the Monmouth County meet in order to advance. The winners advance to the Shore Conference Cross Country Championships, featuring the fastest Monmouth and Ocean County teams, held in Lakewood on the 29th of October. Also, college recruiters are known to come look at potential recruits to see how they perform in competitive races. 

Find out what's happening in Holmdel-Hazletwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

What if it rains?

The weather forecast could play havoc for the entire day. The Holmdel course actually holds up very well in bad weather -- depending on the severity of the weather. The only way the meet will be cancelled or postponed is for threat of lightning. The rain might make things more interesting on the girls' side, like make it a closer race.

Find out what's happening in Holmdel-Hazletwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Is the Holmdel course special?

Holmdel Park has been the site of the state championship races since late 1970s . There's a lot of history out on that course. Not just the state meets, but the Monmouth County meet, and the Shore Coaches Invitational. Something special usually happens. Not knowing when or where it will happen makes it special.

How are teams scored?

Seven runners go to the line for each race, but only the top five are scored. Its an aggregate score. The lowest team score wins. For example, the first runner gets one point, the second runner gets two points, the 5th runner gets 5 points, and so on.

Who are the ones to watch?

On the boys' side, Christian Brothers Academy [Lincroft]. They will be the overwhelming favorites to win the boys' side. They are ranked number one in the country right now. George Kelly is their top guy.

Holmdel has a very solid team this year. Travis Fodor is running very well. They all run closely together. There is only 35 seconds between the number two and five guy.

Another team to watch on both boys and girls side is Middletown South. They've not made a lot of noise. But both are very solid and they can surprise a few people. The battle for second and third place could be pretty intense with Holmdel.

Another team that is intriguing is Freehold Township. They haven’t raced a lot this year, so they are a little bit of a mystery. On paper they have some guys that have run some very good times.

Colts Neck -- Jim Schlentz is the coach. They have Reily Leidder. He's a tough kid, and he's backed up by a pretty solid group.

On the girls' side, Rumson-Fair Haven would be my pick to win the championship. Rachel Christ, who is their top runner, won the race at the Manhattan Invitational.

A girl from Holmdel, Lennon Cooper, is having a break-out year with Rachel Christ for individual honors. She will certainly be in the top three or five tomorrow.

Red Bank Catholic, they could make a very interesting race with Rumson. RBC is a team that could surprise if all five of their girls put together a good race.

St. John Vianney could be a top-three school on the girls' side. They usually field a very good team and this year is no different.

There will be six races. More than 200 runners line up single file on the lawn by the shelter building and run up the ridge to tackle the infamous "Bowl." They finish on the lawn near the entrance to the park. The meet begins with a freshman race at 3:30 p.m. and continues with JV and Varsity races until 5 p.m. It is a free event for spectators. Check NJRunners.com for full race coverage.


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