VIDEO, PHOTOS: Cape May County Cross Country Championships, sponsored by Hall’s Carpet Care

Posted: October 11th 2023

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE – The cross country teams from Ocean City High School did what they usually do at the Cape May County Cross Country Championships – they dominated.

Ocean City earned first through seventh places to pitch cross country’s version of a shutout in the boys race and posted five of the first six places to control the girls race as both raider teams won titles at Wednesday’s meet at Cape May County Park.

Matt Hoffman, after placing second at last year’s county meet, led an impressive Ocean City effort with a winning time of 15:45.46, which was almost 28 seconds faster than second-place teammate Ethan Buck (16:15.33). Raiders runners were also in the third through seventh places – Zach Hutchinson (16:25.65), Erik Preisner (16:28.63), Kal Heyman (16:44.87), Robert Cesari (17:07.86) and Nathan Aschmann (17:37.26).

Wildwood’s Jorge Cruz Valle placed eighth in 17:53.21, Middle Township’s Jamar Mack finished ninth in 18:26.88 and Cape May Tech’s Evan Feliciano was 10th in 18:50.74.

Ocean City scored the minimum of 15 points to easily win the boys team title, followed by Middle Township (71), Wildwood (86), Cape May Tech (94) and Lower Cape May (114). Wildwood Catholic did not have enough runners to score.

Ocean City’s Maeve Smith blazed to victory in the girls race, posting a time of 17:58.87 to beat the field by approximately 54 seconds. She improved her time from last year’s race, in which she placed second, by almost 1 ½ minutes.

Wildwood’s Macie McCracken broke up the Raider pack with a second-place effort in 18:52.85. The Raiders took the next four places behind Chloe Care (19:03.86), Gabrielle Henry (20:36.58), Frankie Ritzel (20:47.54) and Emily Russo (21:01.54). Wildwood’s Leiah Pawlus was seventh in 21:02.94, followed by Ocean City’s Zoe Zammit (21:03.15) and Lillian Flora (21:13.92). Lower Cape May’s Jenna Hill rounded out the top 10 in 21:45.99.

Ocean City also scored the minimum of 15 points in the girls race, due to the fact that Wildwood did not have enough runners to score as a team. Wildwood Catholic was second at 67 points, followed by Lower Cape May (95), Cape May Tech (96) and Middle Township (102).