3 Central Runners Have Strong Showing at Meet of Champions

Three West Morris Central seniors, made the best of the final meet of their high school cross country careers on Saturday.

Sierra Casteneda, Brennan Sharkey, and Kylene Cochrane all qualified for the state’s Meet of Champions in Holmdel after helping their team to win a division championship, and all showed up big time in the final race.

Casteneda led her teammates by placing 10th overall, notching a time of 18:39 with per mile splits of 6:01. Sharkey came in just behind her teammate in 14th place and a time of 18:50 overall in the 5K with a per mile split of 6:04. Cochrane finished in 42nd place with a time of 19:28 and 6:16 average per mile.

There were 177 runners in the competition.

Haddonfield freshman Briana Gess won the race with a time of 17:45 with per mile splits of 5:43. Gess is just the third freshman to ever win the Meet of Champions 5K event.

Second place went to Josette Norris, a senior from Tenafly who was regarded as the competition’s athlete to beat. She ran a time of 18:12.

Cochrane took home third in this same event in 2012.

The West Morris Central girls cross country team went 6-0 in the regular season’s meets en route to locking up the division title.