O.C. Boys and Girls Cross Country Off to Winning Start

By LESLEY GRAHAM The Ocean City boys and girls cross country teams started off the 2020 fall season in dominating fashion, defeating visiting Wildwood Catholic in both races. The boys cross country team, the defending South Jersey Group III champions, finished with a perfect score of 15-50 against the Wildwood Catholic Crusaders. Finishing in the first three spots for Ocean City were Tyler Greene, Owen Ritti and Nick Ferzetti. Greene and Ferzetti are both seniors for the Red Raiders, while Ritti is a junior. Greene’s winning time was 17:03. The team is young this year, according to head coach Matt Purdue, who is in his 13th year at the helm of the boys program. “I was very happy with how the team competed today. We are very grateful to be out here and see familiar faces,” Purdue said after the race. “We have about three or four guys back from our varsity roster last year, so it’s a relatively new team this year with a lot of opportunities to step up.” Erin Hanlon, the girls winner, leads the pack at the finish line. In the sport of cross country, much like golf, the lowest score wins. Points are awarded based on finish placement in a 5K race, which is approximately 3.1 miles. For example, first place receives one point, second receives two, and so on. The first five runners for each team are scored and points are accumulated for a total team score. Meanwhile, all COVID-19 safety protocols and guidelines were strictly adhered to during the races. Following the start of the boys race, the girls began their 5K course with Ocean City taking first, third and fourth places, respectively. Julia Sorensen, of Wildwood Catholic, was the first runner for the Crusaders and finished in second place. Red Raiders senior Erin Hanlon won in a time of 21:45. Sophomore Avery Jackson and freshman Marissa Vallese finished third and fourth respectively for the Red Raiders. Ocean City ran away with the victory, 19-44. Avery Jackson finishes third in her first cross country race behind Wildwood Catholic’s Julia Sorensen. Jackson, a sophomore, was competing in her first-ever cross country race after deciding to come out for the team this season. Jackson, who also plays basketball and lacrosse, decided to add cross country to her sports resume to get into the best shape possible and improve her endurance. “I was very nervous, but I absolutely love this team. I am so grateful to be surrounded by such amazing coaches and teammates,” Jackson said post-race. “It’s been difficult learning how to consistently run the amount of miles required for training, but I’ve been working hard at it.” The head coach of the girls program, Trish Henry, who is in her 18th year of coaching cross country, echoed the sentiments of her male counterpart, expressing her excitement to be back out on the course with her team. “It feels good to finally get a race in, especially for the seniors,” Henry said. “We have a lot of youth on the team this year, too, so some of them have never run at the varsity level or even run a cross country meet in general, so that was exciting to see.” The start of the boys cross country race has new COVID-19 safety protocols in place, including officials wearing protective masks and the runners being lined up instead of grouped together.