UC Sweeps Shore Coaches Titles
In the girls competition, Sheppard torched the trails in the girls’ E Division race by burning a 17:41, which smashed the sophomore course record and placed Sheppard No. 9 all-time on Holmdel’s all-time list! It’s the second straight Shore Coaches title for Sheppard, who said she was seeking redemption for her runner-up finish at the Meet of Champions last year when she ran 17:54.
The 17:41 by Sheppard broke the sophomore course record of 17:47 set by Camryn Wennersten of Ridgewood at the 2019 Shore Coaches Invitational and sparked N.J. No.1/ U.S. No. 7 Union Catholic to the second-fastest average in course history.
The UC girls once again flexed their superior firepower with another epic performance as the Vikings dropped a 5-runner average of 18:46, and nearly threw a shutout. UC set the record of 18:37 at the Meet of Champions last year.
The scoring combination for UC’s all-underclassmen squad was 1-2-3-5-6 for 17 points!! UC also finished on top in the team merge with just 48 points!! Ocean City was second with 341.
After Sheppard, UC’s scorers were sophomore Cayleigh Kaiser, second in a huge Holmdel PR of 18:26, sophomore Sophia Thompson, third in 18:37, junior Jimmiea King fifth, in 19:26, and junior Ella Solorzano, sixth in 19:41. The times by Thompson and King were also Holmdel PR’s.
There doesn’t seem to be any way to stop the UC Express from getting the 3-Peat at the Meet of Champions next month.
On the boys side, the Vikings, ranked No. 7 in the state, averaged 16:54 and rolled to a 40-115 victory over Pingry.
UC’s top five were Evan Weber, third in 16:38, Finn Riely, fifth in a big Holmdel PR of 16:49, Michael Devine, sixth in 16:49, Elijah McCoy, 15th in a Holmdel PR f 17:09, and Aidan Cichocki, 16th in 17:10.
