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Charlotte Bednar Sets New Jersey Record, Joins Angelina Perez and Christina Allen With Sub-18 Performances at Holmdel Invitational

Published by
DyeStat.com   Nov 25th 2020, 10:44pm
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Lawrenceville School junior eclipses 2010 state mark set by Venables, trails only all-time Holmdel Park effort by Tuohy; South Brunswick’s Polam also wins, with Brothers Track Club boys, Haddonfield Running Club girls taking team titles

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Charlotte Bednar, a junior at The Lawrenceville School, ran the fastest time by a New Jersey prep female athlete and improved to No. 2 all-time on the 5-kilometer course at Holmdel Park by clocking 17 minutes, 21 seconds Wednesday at the Holmdel Invitational.

Only the 16:21 performance by Katelyn Tuohy, a North Carolina State freshman and recent graduate of North Rockland High in New York, at the 2018 Shore Coaches Invitational is faster than Bednar’s effort at Holmdel Park, which eclipsed the 2010 state standard of 17:27.9 achieved by Megan Venables of Highland Regional.

Bednar, along with junior Angelina Perez of Lakeland Regional (17:36) and freshman Christina Allen of River Dell Regional (17:50), became the first girls’ trio to all run sub-18 in the same race in any competition at Holmdel Park.

RESULTS

Bednar, who ran a state 5,000-meter record 16:21.67 on the track Oct. 24 at Icahn Stadium in New York, just missed that opportunity at the Shore Coaches Invitational last year, running 18:00 to finish behind Chloe Gonzalez of North Hunterdon (17:45) and Camryn Wennersten of Ridgewood (17:47).

Perez, who captured the Nike Cross Virtual girls individual championship Tuesday after running 16:39 – the fatest 5-kilometer cross country time ever achieved by a New Jersey high school female athlete – on her home course Friday, improved by more than a minute from last season to elevate to the No. 5 all-time performer at Holmdel Park.

“Today was overall an amazing race for me. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the season,” said Perez, who ran 18:46 at the Group 2 Championships at Holmdel Park last year.

“As much as I was definitely stressed about competing against Charlotte today, a part of me was also very excited to have someone to push me. I don’t think I would have been able to run the time I did without her. My goal was to make sure I stayed with her for as long as I could and even if the gap grew, I wasn’t going to let her out of my sight.

“This course was especially hard for me because I ran my worst time ever here last year. The competition really helped me fight hard to prove to myself how much I’ve improved this last year.”

Only Tuohy, Bednar, Venables and 1983 Kinney national champion Janet Leet (formerly Janet Smith) of J.P. Stevens High – who ran 17:35.3 that same year at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions – are ahead of Perez on the Holmdel Park all-time list. The performance by Perez was even more impressive, not only because of the quick turnaround from her lifetime-best effort Friday to win NXV, but also considering she ran 20:15 at the Meet of Champions at Holmdel Park last season.

“I feel so incredibly honored to be included amongst these amazing runners. I’ve only been running for two years and I never would have imagined when I first started that I would be able to accomplish any of the things I have so far. I’m so grateful that this race was able to take place today and that I was able to redeem myself from last year,” Perez said. “I’m so excited to have been able to run with these two amazing runners today and that all three of us were able to become the first trio ever to all break 18 in the same race. I think it’s so encouraging for other runners and the three of us, too. None of us are seniors and I’m very excited to be able to continue to compete with them again next season.”

Allen equaled Ashley Higginson of Colts Neck High for the No. 13 all-time performer, and became the No. 2 freshman in history, trailing only Haddonfield graduate Briana Gess, who ran 17:45 as a ninth-grader at the 2013 Meet of Champions.

Haddonfield Running Club captured the team title Wednesday with a 52-65 victory over Ridgewood XC Club.
Senior Sarah Naticchia placed seventh for Haddonfield in 18:50, leading five scorers in the top 35 overall.

Ridgewood had senior Sarah Policano (18:46) finish sixth and the group led Haddonfield through four athletes all placing in the top 25. But the No. 5 scorer for Ridgewood was 53rd overall, resulting in the late shift in favor of Haddonfield.

Senior Emma McGill of Voorhees ran 18:27 and junior Lilly Shapiro of Colts Neck clocked 18:39 to round out the top five female competitors, with Perez contributing to Lancer Strong finishing seventh with 149 points.

Senior Vidhur Polam of SBXC Club, representing South Brunswick, equaled the No. 20 all-time boys performer by winning the boys race in 15:32, ahead of Colts Neck senior Matt Bogdan (15:40).

Brothers Track Club, representing Christian Brothers Academy, prevailed in the boys team battle by a 48-64 margin over Ridge Runners Track Club.

Junior Jackson Barna was third for Ridge in 15:48 and senior Will Pinto secured seventh in 16:11, but Brothers Track Club had four athletes in the top 16 to secure the victory. Senior Chris DeSousa (15:55) led Brothers Track Club as the fourth athlete to produce a sub-16 performance and senior Ben Santos earned eighth in 16:16.

Junior Adam Angelone of Madison-Boro was fifth in 16:07, followed by Gateway Regional senior Brady Shute (16:09) in sixth. Polam led SBXC to a sixth-place team performance with 143 points.



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