SHAPIRO, BRADDOCK CAPTURE SHORE CONFERENCE CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
By Eric Braun
LAKEWOOD – On a beautiful day for racing at the Jersey Shore, 165 female and 164 male runners took the grounds at Ocean County Park for the 2019 Shore Conference championship 5K race.
Colts Neck sophomore Lilly Shapiro, a newcomer to the Shore Conference cross country scene, has taken the conference by storm this season. Last season as a freshman she ran on the soccer field for Colts Neck, but this year, she took her talents to running cross country.
Running in tough pack for most of the race, Shapiro made her move in the final 800 meters to capture the second biggest race of the season. She won the Monmouth County Championships last week and now the Shore Conference Tournament championship this week.
“I realized after the first race what the sport was all about and I knew what I could accomplish,” said Shapiro about her move from soccer to cross country. “This feels really good; this is a great group of girls and great competition.”
Middletown South would top Colts Neck in the team overall championship with a final score of 65. Leading the way for the Eagles were sophomore Lucy Afanasewicz and freshman Reese Fahys, who finished second and third, respectively. The Eagles as a team finished with average time of 18:48:00, which is the second best score at Ocean County Park all-time.
Helping Middletown South to the team title as well were senior Michelle Coyoti, sophomore Lexi Dean, and freshmen Lauren Hutson, Gwen Afanasewicz, and Emma Buthorn. This is the second title in three years for the Eagles, and as a predominantly young squad, they will be looking to continue their winning ways for the next several years.
Henry Hudson’s Karina Vidal finished second originally, but was disqualified for making contact with Lucy Afanasewicz as they were crossing the finish line, a tough break for a runner that ran extremely hard.
Girls Top 10
PLACE ATHLETE SCHOOL TIME
1 Lilly Shapiro Colts Neck 18:03:00
2 Lucy Afanasewicz Middletown South 18:07:00
3 Reese Fahys Middletown South 18:07:00
4 Hayley Amisano Mater Dei Prep 18:09:00
5 Claudia Zhang Holmdel 18:11:00
6 Sydney Todd Monmouth Regional 18:15:00
7 Molly Kate Sabia Pt. Pleasant Boro 18:18:00
8 Tilly O'Connor St. Rose 18:20:00
9 Natalie Shapiro Colts Neck 18:25:00
10 Emily Levonas Holmdel 18:28:00
Girls Team Top 10
PLACE SCHOOL POINTS
1 Middletown South 65
2 Colts Neck 92
3 Red Bank Catholic 102
4 Holmdel 129
5 Southern Regional 190
6 Red Bank Regional 202
7 Trinity Hall 216
8 Rumson-Fair Haven 279
9 Matawan 290
10 Pt. Pleasant Boro 312
Southern Regional’s Jackson Braddock ran another great race, after capturing the Ocean County championships last week and out ran Shore Conference favorite Shaw Powell of Christian Brothers Academy for the SCT title. What makes this season special for Braddock is that he has something to prove to himself and others after an injury sidelined him for six weeks this past spring.Braddock suffered a nerve injury in his back that traveled down his legs, preventing him from running spring track due to the pain and discomfort. After not being able to do much for six weeks, he started biking and cycling this summer and worked with a trainer to get back into form and then in September was finally able to start running 4-5 days a week. With two prestigious wins in the past two weeks, Braddock has proved that he is one of the best in the Shore Conference and state.
“Shaw is a great runner and I knew he was going to be hard to catch and I knew it was going to hurt to finish second, but thought it would feel better finishing first,” said Braddock.
Of recovering from his injury to run again, Braddock said, “Going into it I was super motivated cause I knew I had a lot of potential and wanted to show everyone what I could do. Each day I get to run I am thankful and don’t take it for granted after not being able to run for a while.”
Christian Brothers captured the team title for the 13th straight season and their 39th overall Shore Conference Tournament championship. The Colts literally ran away with the team title with all their runners finishing in the top 15, including seniors Powell, Troy Hill, Tim Cahill, and Michael Dora, juniors Ben Santo sand Chris DeSousa, and freshman Nicholas Sullivan.
Boys Top 10
PLACE ATHLETE SCHOOL TIME
1 Jackson Braddock Southern Regional 15:07:00
2 Shaw Powell Christian Brothers 15:13:00
3 Troy Hill Christian Brothers 15:16:00
4 Matthew Bogdan Colts Neck 15:21:00
5 Robert Hannon Pt Pleasant Beach 15:41:00
6 Tim Cahill Christian Brothers 15:41:00
7 Ben Santos Christian Brothers 15:44:00
8 Zachary Zawatski Freehold Township 15:45:00
9 Jeremie Garcia Manalapan 15:51:00
10 Joseph LoCurcio Freehold Boro 16:03:00
Boys Team Top 10
PLACE SCHOOL POINTS
1 Christian Brothers 26
2 Manalapan 118
3 Colts Neck 136
4 Freehold Township 141
5 Southern Regional 170
6 Middletown North 191
7 Middletown South 234
8 Toms River North 274
9 Jackson Memorial 282
10 Holmdel 319
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