O'Dowd impressive at Cougar Invitational
FT boys win; district meet tomorrow
BY TIM MORRIS Staff Writer
Mike O'Dowd made another case for himself as the sleeper to be on the watch for.

The Colts Neck junior won the Boys Championship race at the New Balance Jersey Shore Cougar Invitational held on his home cross country course, Bucks Mill Park, on Saturday.

O'Dowd didn't just win the race, he turned in the seventh fastest time in course history, 15:32, and took home the Green jacket that goes to the runner with the fastest time of the day.

A solid sophomore track season in which he earned an All-American certificate as part of the Cougars' distance medley relay team fired O'Dowd up for this cross country season.

"I had such a great track season with the DMR," he said. "It got me motivated. I want to get back there [national meets].

"To do it, I knew I had to do the work," he added.

The work was increasing the volume of his training mileage up to 70 a week in the summer.

"I'm seeing the benefits," O'Dowd pointed out. "I feel stronger in races."

O'Dowd announced his arrival earlier this month at the Randolph Invitational, where he finished second to returning state champion Tyler Udland of Millburn. O'Dowd, however, wasn't just an up-thetrack runner-up. He pushed the state champion for two and a half miles of the 3.1-mile race.

"That was the biggest shock," he said. "I didn't think I could stay with Udland as long as I did."

Saturday, West Windsor-Plainsboro North High School's Jonathan Squeri provided the competition for O'Dowd, and he stayed with the Cougar but couldn't match his strength and finished four seconds in arrears (15:36).

O'Dowd's teammate, freshman John Ward, had another sparkling race. He was ninth (16:47).

It was a good day for the Howell High School boys, who are quietly blossoming as a team. The Rebels were second in the Championship race to Red Bank Catholic High School, 76-93. Aansh Mehta led the Rebels in 10th place (16:55). Matt Motto was 15th (17:05) and Tyler Gillies was 17th (17:14).

The Cougar boys were sixth (114).

The Girls Championship race featured New York State power Pearl River High School facing three of New Jersey's best, all of whom are from the Shore Conference.

Pearl River stacked its top five runners from fifth to 12th place to win convincingly with 38 points. Toms River North was second (80) beating Red Bank Catholic (82) by just two points. Howell was fourth (106).

Jamie Hand finished first among the Rebels, in 14th place (19:42). Laura Kochenash was 19th (19:56). Anne Werkley (20:13) and Aileen Rivell (20:19) were 24th and 25th for the Rebels.

Montgomery High School's Jillian Prentice won the championship race in 18:17. She won the girls' Green jacket.

Freehold Township High School's boys, who are having a very good dual meet season, won the Boys Large School race with 56 points. Keenan Huggins-Filozof finished first among the Pats in 10th place (16:53). His brother Graham Huggins-Filozof was 12th (16:54). Chris Lombardi was 14th (17:09), and Mike Meltzer was 16th (17:21). Andrew Berkowitz completed the scorers for Freehold Township in 21st (17:31).

Freehold Borough's Cody O'Flaherty was 20th (17:31).

Freehold Township's girls came close to giving the Patriot harriers a sweep of the Large School titles. The girls were second to Lenape, 74-87.

Chelsea Thorsheim paced the Pats in fifth place (20:06). Bridget Joyce was 12th (20:36). Jessica Faith (21:08), Brianne Roche (21:08) and Amanda Rosenberg (21:15) were 22nd, 23rd and 25th for the Pats.

Finishing first among the area runners was Freehold Borough's Mackenzie Roche. The Colonial senior was third (19:43). Her teammate Kimberly Dana was 16th (20:47) as the Colonials finished 10th (223).

Colts Neck was fifth (178), led by Brielle Kohler (20:45) and Arielle Weiner (21:01), who were 15th and 19th.

Runners to compete at Freehold Regional District Championships

Area distance runners will be back at Bucks Mill tomorrow for the 37th annual Albert E. Bennett Memorial Freehold Regional District Championships.

There will be new individual champions on both sides, with Manalapan's Robby Andrews and Colts Neck's Rachel Morris having graduated.

The top returning boys are O'Flaherty, who was the runner-up last year, and Keenan Huggins-Filozof was third. Gillies and Mehta were fifth and sixth.

Roche is the top returning girl. Like O'Flaherty, she was second in 2008. Thorsheim was fifth, and Kochenash was seventh.

Roche could make Freehold Borough school history if she wins. No Colonial girl has ever won the district cross country title.

Howell is the defending girls champion and should repeat. Coach John Hein has a very deep team whose top runners are usually within a minute of each other.

Freehold Township and Colts Neck could make it interesting.

On the boys' side, Manalapan is the defending champion but graduated all of its top runners.

Freehold Township, with its balance, is the team to beat. Howell and Colts Neck could challenge.

The first races will go off at 3:30 p.m.