East Boys XC Third in Group 4, Into MOC

Behind a sixth-place finish from Aaron Groff and an 11th-place finish from Ben Dillon, the Cherry Hill East boys cross-country team medaled in Group 4 and qualified for the Meet of Champions at Holmdel Park Saturday.

Groff ran a 16:11 at the brutal championship course, and Dillon was only 14 seconds behind, with Dan Helfand running a 16:55 to finish 26th.

The Cougars clinched the Meet of Champions berth on the back end, though—Isaiah Jean-Baptiste and Christian Mele crossed the line in 17:09, finishing 45-47, to give East the edge over fourth-place Millburn by a mere six points.

East will get its shot at the overall state team title next weekend, also at Holmdel Park.

Boys Non-Public Group A

Camden Catholic's Kyle Kirk finished top-10 in the group, running a 16:19 to lead the Irish to an 11th-place finish overall in the division.

The Irish's Tim Slack was the second Camden Catholic to finish, clocking a 17:12.

John Slack and Colin Pierlott finished one second apart to go 81-82, and freshman Greg DelColombo ran a 19:07 to round out the Irish runners.

Girls Group 4

Cherry Hill East's Maddy Berman finished in the top 50 in the group, running a 20:19 to pace the Cougars, who finished 20th as a team.

Monica Lee ran a 20:55, and the freshman trio of Taegan and Greer Field and Carrie Baeckstrom finished in 21:25, 22:28 and 23:18, respectively, to complete the scoring for the Cougars.

Girls Non-Public Group A

Camden Catholic's Kelly McHugh ran a 20:49 and teammate Kelsey Crouse clocked a 22:06, but with only four runners, the Irish didn't qualify for team scoring.

Meghan Giordano (25:50) and Julia Portland (27:02) finished out the Irish roster for the day.