Hopatcong's Capwell Excels at Sectionals

Hopatcong's Dylan Capwell is quietly having a season for the record books.

Capwell, a junior, finished third at the North 1, Group 2 sectionals at Thompson Park in Monroe on Saturday. The Chief clocked in at 16:18.07—just behind Ramsey senior Chris Eltreingham (16:16.76) and Wallkill Valley sophomore James Corti (16:04.64).

With the top-10 finish, Capwell advanced to next Saturday's Group 1 championships.

The big-time sectionals performance wasn't anything new to Capwell, however. He took fourth at last year's event in 17:15.23 while Joey Prestifilippo, now running at Lehigh University, landed sixth in 17:19.

Capwell hopes, though, to improve on his 2010 groups finish. The junior's 17:44.55 was solid, good enough for 24th. But it wasn't enough to send him to the Meet of Champions.

Recently, Capwell at the North Jersey Athletic Conference championships and said he was hitting his peak at the right time.

"Definitely," he said. "We're coming up on the most important part of the season and I've been running how I need to run. I guess you could say that I'm right where I need to be."

Capwell's teammate, Chris Dugan, also nailed a top-50 finish. Dugan, a sophomore, finished in 17:38.24.