Ridge Girls Cross Country Wins Skyland Conference Meet

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — While the Phillipsburg cross country course isn’t anyone’s favorite, the Ridge cross country team still performs well at the Skyland Conference meet.

The girls overtook the varsity race by a huge margin and won the freshman race with a perfect score.

Antonina Kane won the freshman 3k race in 13:27, with Alex Winderfeldt and Mihaela Mendieta following in 14:03 and 14:08 respectively. Elise Asay, Catherine Donnelley, and Anika Mahesh secured fourth, fifth and sixth to sweep the race.

In the girls’ varsity race, Isabella Beaudry, Maia Zalmover and Rachel Ellis earned medals in third, fifth and tenth.

To secure the win, Lily-Josephine Stephen, Maya Glover, and Keiko Hou all placed within the top 30, out of 100 girls. Altogether, the Ridge varsity girls won the race by a margin of 53 points, earning first place in both the division and the meet.

Though the boys’ top seven did not race, the varsity alternates were granted the opportunity to compete in a varsity race. Dillon Feehan ran 18:01, placing 24th as a freshman.

Jake Baek, who won the JV race, would have been second within the team for the varsity race. Additionally, Ranvijay Pratap Singh Manoha placed sixth in the freshman race.

As the championship season starts, the Ridge cross country team starts the long journey on the road to Holmdel (Meet of Champions is at Holmdel!). Next week, the team will race the Somerset County Championship on their home course, which is sure to be exciting!

— Article submitted by Keiko Hou