CBA Cross Country Team Takes 1st Place At State Meet at Holmdel

The celebrated Christian Brothers Academy Boys Cross Country team zipped through the backwoods and fields of Holmdel Park Saturday to win the NJSIAA Non Public A Championship. 

Sportswriter Jim Lambert said in the Star-Ledger that CBA "cranked out the greatest performance in meet and course history to take down two monumental records." 

The Colts set a new team average, with 16:03.2 for the Holmdel course. The Lincroft team dominated the finish line. While Red Bank Catholic's Rob Napolitano took first place in the the race with 15:59, beating CBA's Mike McClemens by one second, the next five runners were all from CBA.

In a video interview with NJRunners.com, McClemens said due to Hurricane Sandy, some members of the team missed a day or two of running which may have taken a slight edge off their performance -- though not enough to impact the race. 

The team finished with 20 points. Coming in second was Don Bosco Prep, with 60 points. 

The Asbury Park Press's Josh Newman described the CBA running team as having "superior depth, plenty of moxie and a season of progress that is being talked about as potentially the greatest by any team anywhere ever in the United States." 

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Tom O'Neill, a junior at Middletown North distinguished himself as the fastest runner of the day, completing the race in a staggering 15:36. 

Middletown North's boys running team finished 7th in the Group III race with 205 points. 

Middletown South girls finished 7th with 180 points in their Group III competition. Individually, Christina Rutkows finished 8th with a time of 19:14. 

Mater Dei took 12th place in the Non-Public B division, with 366 points. 

Complete boys race results and girls results are posted on the NJ.com website. 

The highly anticipated NJSIAA Cross Country Meet of Champions will be held Wednesday beginning at 2 p.m. at Holmdel Park -- the third high level championship race in 8 days, thanks to schedule disruptions by Hurricane Sandy. A list of participants is on NJRunners.com.