New Providence High School's girls cross country team punched its ticket to the NJSIAA Group I State Championships on Saturday, Oct. 31.
The Pioneers finished fourth at the Central, Group 1 sectional meet at Thompson Park in Jamesburg, scoring 100 points, according to results published by NJ.com. The top five teams in each sectional automatically advance to the Group Championships, which the NJSIAA has scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 7, at Holmdel Park.
Shore Regional won the sectional title with 26 points. Bernards (43) and McNair Academic (83) also qualified ahead of New Providence.
Junior Sophia Kamyshentseva led the Pioneers, finishing 13th overall in 21:20.49. Senior Athena Corbishley placed 18th in 22:10.81, and junior Constanza Mercado was 21st in 22:31.60. Senior Mia Conti (23rd, 22:51.99) and junior Caroline Mundy (31st, 23:40.30) rounded out the scoring five.
Freshman Maura Steed-Bordner (36th, 24:14.94) and senior Alexandra Hutson (40th, 24:44.98) also ran for New Providence.
On the boys side, the Pioneers finished eighth as a team with 198 points, outside the top-five qualifying cutoff. But junior Lucas Askins earned an individual berth by placing 11th in 16:52.37. Under NJSIAA rules, the top 15 individual finishers qualify for the Group Championships regardless of team standing.
Askins had run 17:38.10 at the Union County Conference Championships on Oct. 13, where he finished fourth in the Mountain/Valley Division individual race, according to UCC results from NJ.com.
Senior Andrew Szachara (46th, 18:33.31), sophomore Hugo Alves Infante (49th, 18:40.37), junior Aaron Brodeur (50th, 18:54.15) and sophomore Wyatt Szachara (56th, 19:21.83) completed the boys varsity group at sectionals.
The Group I State Championships take place Nov. 7 at Holmdel Park, where New Providence's girls will race as a team and Askins will compete individually.
