Talented Bloomfield High Cross country Team Runs Well at the SEC Championship Race

The Bloomfield High cross country team competed in the Super Essex Conference (SEC) championship meet, on Oct. 15, at Branch Brook Park, in Newark.

The Bengals will run at the Essex County Coaches Meet, at Cedar Grove, starting at 9 a.m., on Oct. 19. On Oct. 21, the team will travel to Nutley for a 4 p.m. race. On Oct. 25, it's off to the Essex County championship race, also at Cedar Grove, in a 2:50 p.m. start.

Both the Bloomfield High boys and girls teams compete in the SEC's American Division, where it faces some very good competition.

The BHS girls finished seventh in a field of 10 teams, with a young core of runners. Livingston won the American Division title, with Columbia a close second.

Leading the way for Bloomfield was Oona Nance, a freshman, who finished the 5000 meter course with a very impressive 16th place, in a field of 66 runners. Nance had a time of 21:55.12,

Next across for the Bengals was Sophie Harrison, with a time of 23:16.32. Harrison was followed by Stacy Galarza, who ran 23:48.15. Also running well for Bloomfield was Alexandra Klotz (23:52.67), Isabella Ailman (25:18.08) and Emiia Salud (25:39.50).

Galarza and Klotz are juniors while Aiiman and Salud are freshmen.

For the boys, the Bengals received a strong effort from Bryant Gordon, who took 26th overall in a very strong field. Gordon, a senior, crossed the finish line in the 5000 meter race with a time of 18:05.79.

Columbia High School won the team title, defeating second place Millburn, by 27 points.

Sebastian Smith had a good race, with a time of 19:11.47, as did Patrick Brown (19:12.71), Amare Thompson (19:41.54), Noah Attas (19:58.98), Logan Mosquera (20:08.42) and Kenan Akcay (20:08.48).

Bloomfield finished ninth overall. Smith and Mosquera are sophomores,  Attas is a junior and  Akcay, a freshman.

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