Forys leads strong local showing at CJ meet
Boro’s O’Flaherty,
Colts Neck, Howell Manalapan teams advance to States
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

Howell’s Erik Hendrikson races to the finish at the Central Jersey Group IV meet Saturday.

Craig Forys will get his first taste of state championship running Saturday when he runs in the Group III cross country meet at Holmdel Park.

"That’s cool," said Forys, a freshman at Colts Neck. "It’s something I’m hoping to do well in so that I can get to the Meet of Champions."

Forys finished fifth at the Central Jersey Group III state sectional in Holmdel Park last Saturday, clocking 16:46 for the 5K.

It’s a measure of just how much he has accomplished this year that he was disappointed in his effort.

Marlboro’s Jessica Whang races to a 30th-place finish at Saturday’s meet.

"I’m not happy with the race I ran," said Forys. "I wasn’t going to take it out slow. I thought I went out at a fast pace.

"Going up the bowl, I wasn’t feeling good and lost ground to the front of the pack," he said.

Forys still gutted it out over the last 1.1 miles of the race to finish fifth and get another shot at Red Bank Regional’s Rob Dennis (16:26) and Joe Kingsbery (16:26), who ran one-two one week after doing so at the Shore Conference meet, where Kingsbery was the victor.

Running in his first state sectional meet, Forys could sense that it was different from all other meets. Seasons and careers were on the line as only the top 10 individuals and first five teams advance to the NJSIAA group state championships.

"I was a little hyped up," he said.

Forys said that he learned at the Central Jersey meet just how important the second half of the race is.

"I have to run the second half of the race stronger and harder," he said.

With so many quality runners no one is going to break the field in the first half of the race, making closing speed more important. It is something the young Forys has been working on and will look to use Saturday.

Forys’ fifth place helped the Cougar boys nail down the fifth and final qualify­ing position for a team.

The Cougars scored 112 points. Red Bank Regional dominated the sectional going first, second, third and scoring 42 points.

Colts Neck got good races from Zach Tedoff in 14th (17:40) and Jose Melendez in 23rd (18:04), which helped the Cougars qualify.

Colts Neck beat out Freehold Borough (154) for the final spot.

The Colonials received another steady performance from Mike O’Flaherty. The junior has been the most consistent run­ner in Freehold District this fall (outside of Forys) and he deservedly will be going to the Group III meet. He qualified indi­vidually for the group state champi­onships with his 10th place (17:24). The junior finished just ahead of his team­mate Mirza Salhatic, who was 12th (17:31).

Howell’s and Manalapan’s girls will continue their season-long rivalry for at least another week as both qualified for the Group IV championships. Howell was fourth (107) and Manalapan fifth (126) in the section won by Old Bridge (66).

It was a freshman, the ever-improving Lauren Wiemken, who led the Rebels on Saturday. She was 13th (20:45), one place ahead of Kellee Hand (20:47).

A 20th place by Heather Garleb (21:15) helped the Rebels punch their ticket to the Group IV title race.

Laura Saffer was the top local finisher again, leading the Braves with her sev­enth place (20:18). Jackson’ Jen Clausen, who owns the fastest time at Holmdel Park this year, was a runaway winner of the section in 18:41.

Behind Saffer, teammates Jenn Barr (21:01) and Sophia Machado (21:04) were 17th and 18th.

The Rebels and Braves battled all year and it is only fitting that they have a go at it one more time. Manalapan grabbed the A North Division title this year, but Howell came back to repeat as the Freehold Regional District champion and, more importantly, added the Monmouth County championship to its résumé.

Manalapan beat Howell at last week­end’s Shore Conference Championships (fifth to seventh) but Howell struck back at the state sectional.

An 11th place by Danielle Plenzo (21:06) helped the Colts Neck girls finish second in Group III and advance to the state finals. The Cougar girls lost to Princeton, 47-85.

Kim Lang was second among the Cougar harriers, running 14th (21:23). Melanie Mahoney was 17th (21:36).