UC XC Teams Dominate At The Battle at OCP

The girls, ranked No. 14 in the country, burned up the course and dropped a historic bomb by throwing down the fastest 5-runner average in NJ history.

In the Sophomore Division race, Paige Sheppard ignited a 1-2-3-4 finish with her winning time of 17:14, tied for No. 3 in course history. Cayleigh Kaiser was second in 17:32, No. 13 in course history, Sophia Thompson was third in 17:46, and Kayla Devine finished fourth in 18:03.

When you take those times and add it with the 18:31 that UC’s Ella Solorzano ran to win the Junior Division race, the 5-runner average for the Vikings in the two races combined comes to a jaw-dropping 17:50!!!! While this combines multiple races at the same meet, no team in NJ history has ever come close to running that fast!!! UC, which produced six of the 10 fastest times of the meet, outscored No. 8 Middletown South, 18-130.

The next fastest 5-runner average by a NJ team all-time on any course is 18:16, run by Colts Neck at the 2021 Shore Conference Championships, also at Ocean County Park, the fastest course in the state. Colts Neck’s time remains the fastest 5-runner average in NJ history for a single race. It should be a matter of time before UC breaks that record.

Sheppard, coming off one of the most stunning freshman years in NJ history, likely would have broken the course record of 17:07 by Lilly Shapiro of Colts Neck in 2021 if it weren’t for some confusion late in the race.

Sheppard, second at the Meet of Champions and first at the Nike Northeast Regional last fall, said that with about 200 meters to go an official started blowing their whistle and waving their hands in her direction. Sheppard wasn’t sure if it was a signal for her to stop, so she hit the brakes and slowed down, unsure what was happening. By the time Sheppard realized the officials signals weren’t intended for her, she picked up the pace again and headed down the final straightaway. Sheppard estimated that the incident cost her about 10 seconds. While disappointed that cost her a chance at the course record, Sheppard handled the situation with class.

 In the boys competition, UC ranked No. 6 in the state, edged No. 5 Cherry Hill East in the merged scoring 54-62. UC averaged a meet best 15:52 and Cherry Hill East averaged 15:56.