Ridge Boys Reach the Podium at MOCs

On Saturday the Ridge boys cross country team traveled to Holmdel Park to compete in the NJSIAA Meet of Champions, bringing together the top 15 teams and 65 individuals from last week’s six group championship races. Following a 4 th place finish at the Group 4 meet that dropped them to 8th in the NJ sate rankings, the boys rebounded to finish 5 th and reach the podium for the 4 th consecutive season.

Team scorers were senior Patrick Doran (32 nd in 16:39), sophomore Brenden McMahon (40 th in 16:43), junior Matthew Fukushima (63 rd in 16:59), senior Connor McMahon (70 th in 17:04) and junior Dmitry Cole (108 in 17:36). Junior Dev Patel and senior Jon Wey rounded out the squad.

After the race Coach Nicole Gilhuley reflected, “Our goal from the start of the season was to make it to MOCs and finish in the top six. We knew we were capable of doing that even without everyone having a perfect day. The boys showed up and did what they had to do to secure 5 th place. This achievement means a lot to us, given everyone was counting us out coming into the season. We weren’t expected to even be in the conversation. The boys turned that into winning their race at Shore Coaches, the Skyland Conference and Somerset County championships. Going into MOCs there was no one that predicted us to finish in the top 6. We surprised them again by earning the 5 th place finish.

This is the sixth time in school history and 4 th consecutive year that the boys have finished in the top 6 within NJ. The boys’ dedication and work ethic has been tremendous. They were determined to accomplish a lot this season and they should be very proud!”

by Mike Doran