VIDEO, PHOTOS: Jamar Mack, Macie McCracken take top honors at grueling Big Five meet course

Posted: September 14th 2024

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

AVALON – The first Big Five Cross Country Championships not held at Cape May County Park in at least 15 years resulted in a pair of familiar first-place finishers.

Middle Township’s Jamar Mack and Wildwood’s Macie McCracken each went virtually unchallenged in winning the respective boys and girls races. The event was held in Avalon on an extremely challenging course, with approximately 70 percent of it on the beach but with stunning views of the ocean, dunes and dozens of multi-million dollar homes.

Mack, a sophomore, picked up his second Big Five title by posting a time of 20 minutes, 27 seconds, which was more than a minute ahead of the field. Wildwood Catholic’s L.J. Belasco was second in 21:33, Cape May Tech’s Evan Feliciano placed third in 22:12, Middle Township’s Darp Patel finished fourth 22:46 and Wildwood Catholic’s Johnny Livingston rounded out the top five in 23:29.

Mack and Patel led Middle to the boys team title, the Panthers scoring 25 points to Cape May Tech’s 46 and Wildwood Catholic’s 62. Wildwood and Lower Cape May each did not have the requisite five runners in order to score as a team.

McCracken won the girls race by more than 1 ½ minutes. The Wildwood senior posted a time of 22:54, with Lower Cape May’s Jenna Hill taking silver honors in 24:25. Wildwood Catholic’s Angelina Richards was third in 24:54, Middle Township’s Oliva Orton claimed fourth place in 25:36 and 2023 Big 5 champion Leiah Pawlus of Wildwood finished fifth in 26:21.

McCracken’s victory was her third at the Big Five meet. She also won as a freshman and sophomore, but was disqualified at last year’s race despite leading by a large margin when she failed to run part of the course after missing a turn. She was one of numerous runners in the boys and girls races to miss turns on the course at the 2023 race, leading many to speculate that the course was not properly marked. That disqualification prevented McCracken from joining Wildwood Catholic’s Tara Wuko (2006-2009) as the only four-time winners of the Big Five girls meet.

Wildwood Catholic was the team winner of the girls race with 32 points to beat Middle Township (45), Lower Cape May (62) and Cape May Tech (91). Wildwood did not have enough runners to score as a team.