Holmdel Distance Runners Look to Make Impact at Group Championships

A pair of Holmdel distance runners on the boys and girls side will each be looking to earn their shot at a place in next week’s NJSIAA Meet of Champions when the Group II Championships unfold this weekend at South Plainfield High School.

Sophomore Lennon Cooper and senior Shannon Nelson should be a factor in a pair of Group II races that will take place on Friday and Saturday. Nelson enters with the third-fastest time among Group II competitors in the 3,200-meter race this season with an 11:02.58 that she ran at the Holmdel Twilight Series earlier this season.

Nelson is coming off a third-place finish in last weekend’s Central Jersey Group II meet in which she ran 11:50.48. She also won the 3,200 at the Monmouth County Championships earlier this spring with an 11:16.93. She will be part of the pack chasing Bernards standout Dana Giordano, who is the only Group II runner this season who has run a sub-11 minute 3,200 (10:56.64), which she accomplished at her respective sectional meet last weekend.

Cooper also will be participating in the 3,200 and enters with the eighth-fastest time of any competitor in the field at 11:11.05. The sophomore’s best even this season has been the 1,600, where she ran a personal-best 5:08.58 to take third in the Monmouth County Championships. This past weekend, she took fourth in Central Jersey Group II with a 5:19.80.

Just like in the 3,200, everyone will be chasing Bernards’ Dana Giordano, who is the only Group II competitor who has gone under five minutes this season with a 4:58.10 that she put up in her sectional meet. Nelson, who took third in the Central Jersey Group II 1,600 in 5:16.02, also will be alongside Cooper in that race this weekend. So will junior Katie Little, who ran a 5:24.11 to take sixth in the section and give Holmdel three top-six finishers in the 1,600 last weekend. She also took fifth in the 3,200 and will participate in that event as well.

Other Holmdel girls who will be competing this weekend are freshman long jumper Katerina Distler, who took sixth in Central Jersey Group II with a 15-10 ½, and junior Keri Lee, who was fifth in the 100 hurdles at the sectional meet. The Hornets’ 4x400 relay team also will try to snag a top-six finish after taking fourth in the section with a 4:19.59 from the team of Lee, seniors Emily Hennessy and Kathleen Byrket, and freshman Erin Skamarak.

The Hornets boys team also will have several distance runners who will try to make a Cinderella run to a top-six finish this weekend in junior Jason McMullen, who ran a 4:31.76 to win the Central Jersey Group II 1,600, and senior Arthur Eng, who was third in the 1,600 at the sectional meet. Sophomore Jack Baisley is coming off a Central Jersey Group II title in the 3,200 after running a 10:02.42, and McMullen took sixth in the 3,200.

The 4 x 400 team of seniors Kevin Li and Kevin Mahon, junior Neil Thakker and sophomore Nicholas King took fifth in the sectional meet and looks to make a darkhorse run at a top-six finish. Freshman Alex Yip and senior Kevin Gallogly will be Holmdel’s two competitors in the field events after taking fifth in the long jump and sixth in the shot put, respectively, at the sectional meet.

For a complete list of the seventeen Holmdel Track and Field members who qualified please see the 'seed' list for the NJSIAA Group 2 Championships. 

All of those athletes will be looking for a top-six finish, which advances them automatically to the Meet of Champions, the last and most prestigious NJSIAA meet of the outdoor season. The MOC is a one-day meet scheduled for June 9 at Old Bridge High School.