VIDEO: Mack makes history in boys race, Emmer tops girls field as Middle sweeps individual and team titles at Big Five cross country meet

Posted: September 14th 2026

Middle Township's Teagan Emmer and Jamar Mack were the winners of the Big Five cross country meet Friday. Mack became the second male in meet history to win the race four times.

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com 

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE – Jamar Mack has etched his name into the local sports’ history books.

The Middle Township High School senior became just the second male runner and third athlete overall to win the Big Five Cross Country Championships four times when he finished first at the 2026 meet Friday afternoon at Cape May County Park.

Mack won the race comfortably in 17 minutes, 42.34 seconds, beating the field by well more than a minute. He joins Middle graduate Ryan Herlihy as the only male runners to win the Big Five meet four times. Herlihy accomplished the feat from 2011 through 2014.

The only other runner to win four times was Wildwood Catholic’s Tara Wuko, who finished atop the girls race from 2006 through 2009.

Middle Township’s Teagan Emmer, a sophomore, was the champion of the girls race. She finished with a time of 23:05.80 to edge Wildwood Catholic junior Shea McIlhinney by a tick over four seconds. McIlhinney’s time was 23:09.85,

Mack and Emmer led Middle Township’s teams to a sweep of the meet, which no doubt was one of the smallest in the history of the event in terms of participation. Middle scored a 15-50 win over Cape May Tech in the boys meet, with Lower Cape May, Wildwood and Wildwood Catholic each not fielding enough runners to score as a team. Thirteen of the 28 runners in the boys race hailed from Middle.

Middle also scored 15 points in the girls meet, as no other team had enough runners to score. The girls race featured just 17 total runners, nine of whom represented Middle.

Middle had each of the top seven finishers in the boys race. Junior Josh Heck was second in 19:01.35, senior Champion McNeal finished third in 19:18.64, senior Darp Patel placed fourth in 19:38.73 and freshman Lyric Brown rounded out the top five in 19:59.20. The rest of the top 10 consisted of, in order, Middle junior Rey Cruz Bruno (20:34.79), Middle sophomore Sean Himstedt (20:42.27), Wildwood Catholic junior Jonny Livingston (21:02.96), Cape May Tech senior Axel McCoy (21:20.07) and Lower Cape May junior Mike DiVito (21:29.39).

Following Emmer and McIlhinney in the girls race were Middle junior Autumn Cannon in third place in 23:40.75, Middle senior Eden Geisel in 23:56.36 in fourth place and Wildwood sophomore Sabrin Fathi in fifth place in 24:44.44. The rest of the top 10 in the girls race included, in order, Wildwood Catholic senior Sloane Manni (25:20.10), Middle freshman Vera Bono (26:53.96), Wildwood sophomore Charlotte Booth (26:54.33), Lower sophomore Abigail Simpkins (27:01.83) and Middle senior Isabella Frame (27:39.23).

Full results from the meet are available here: Big 5 Championships Meet Manager.

(Video by Luke Basile for CapeAtlanticLive.com.)