UC girls win 4th straight State XC Title, boys place third!
The Union Catholic girls overcame some adversity to win their fourth straight Non-Public A Cross-Country Championship and the boys placed third at the NJSIAA Group Championships on Saturday at Holmdel Park.
In the girls race, Union Catholic, ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 7 in the country, didn’t race at full strength and had two runners unable to finish, but several runners leveled up to lead the Vikings to a 45-70 victory over Pingry, ranked No. 11 in the state.
While sophomores Paige Sheppard, who won her second straight title in 17:56, and Cayleigh Kaiser (18:44), finished 1-2 to ignite the attack for the Vikings, it took some gutsy and clutch races from their 3-4-5 runners to seal the deal.
UC, who held out sophomore Sophia Thompson (she’s expected back for the Meet of Champions) needed huge runs from Emmy O’Hearn, Ella Solorzano, and Joelle Ruccio. And the juniors delivered in a big way.
O’Hearn ran a strong race, getting out well, holding her spot and finishing with a big kick to finish sixth with a Holmdel PR of 19:45. Solorzano showed lots of heart on her way to a 17th place finish in 20:26, and Ruccio put an exclamation point on the 4-peat with a 19th place finish in 20:35. Big shoutout to Ruccio, who was inserted into the lineup in place of Thompson and up with the race of her life in her first time running on such a big stage.
UC coach Mike McCabe had a feeling Ruccio might be a huge factor for his squad
”Right before we went to the line, I told Joelle to be ready and that if I tell her she is 5, she had to make it happen,” said McCabe. ‘”At 1K, I told her she was 5 and she came through for us.”
The girls will race next at the Meet of Champions this Saturday at Holmdel Park where they are favored to win their third straight title.
In the boys race, UC also advanced to the Meet of Champions with a strong third-place finish in the Non-Public A race. The Vikings, ranked No. 8 in the state, finished with 103 points. Christian Brothers Academy ranked No. 1 in NJ and No. 2 in the nation, finished first with 15 points and No. 7 ranked St. Peter’s Prep was second with 74.
The Vikings, who averaged 16:56, earned a spot at the M of C as one of the eight wild cards, finishing as the sixth best team in the overall merge that didn’t include the six automatic qualifiers.
The top five runners for UC were junior Elijah McCoy, 10th in 16:39, sophomore Danny Kuran, 14th in 16:46, senior Aidan Cichocki, 24th in 17:03, senior Evan Weber, 26th in 17:06, and senior Mike Devine, 29th in 17:09.
