Dennis, Trotters, Ullmeyer, Altenau win CJ state titles
Shore Regional girls
first in Group I
cross country
By tim morris
Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY Shore Regional’s Nicole Ullmeyer and Martine McGrath race to fourth- and fifth-place finishes at the CJ Group I Cross Country Championships at Holmdel Park on Saturday.

Rob Dennis kept the Central Jersey Group III cross country championship in Red Bank on Saturday, winning his second straight state sectional title at Holmdel Park.

However, the Bucs couldn’t keep the team title in Red Bank, as Middletown South surprised the defending champions, pulling off the upset, 69-76.

Despite Dennis’ win and three Top 10 finishers (Shane Kimmins’ fifth and Steve Waite’s seventh), the Bucs couldn’t hold off an Eagle team that packed its runners together better than RBR.

Shore Regional’s girls, led by Julie Ullmeyer’s victory, dominated the Group I field, winning their second straight sectional title. However, the boys were edged by Bernards, 20-68. Still, Marc Altenau joined the parade of state sectional champions.

CHRIS KELLY Long Branch’s Kyra Sanders passes Delaware Valley’s Lauren Wiehl to take 59th place at the CJ Group II championship Saturday.

Katy and Amanda Trotter continue to be in their own league, romping to victory once again in the girls’ Group III race. Katy won at the line in 18:16.7, while Amanda was clocked in 18:16.9.

Those times are the fifth and sixth fastest ever run at Holmdel Park.

For Dennis, Saturday’s triumph was about maintaining the tradition. Starting with Walton Kingsbery in 1999, Red Bank Regional has had the individual champion the last four years. Israel Rodriguez followed Kingsbery’s win in 2000, and Dennis has won the last two.

"I wanted to keep it going," Dennis noted.

CHRIS KELLY Red Bank Regional’s Rob Dennis took first in the CJ Gorup III race for the second year in a row.

The race wasn’t anything like Dennis, who is still battling a cold, had mapped it out.

"I planned to run with the team and go easy," he noted. "My competitiveness took over."

Dennis didn’t take control of the race until the harriers headed into the notorious bowl section, where he opened it up on the downhill. Exiting the bowl on the steep uphill climb, Dennis said, he could sense that Middletown South’s Dan Ciambrone had closed some of the gap he had opened up downhill. Dennis, however, just put the pedal to the metal for the last mile, and the outcome was never in doubt. He posted a 16:27.5 to Ciambrone’s 16:37.4.

Dennis now looks ahead to Saturday’s Group III state championship race, where he will face a talented field that includes John Richardson of Ocean City (who beat Dennis at the Shore Coaches), Greg Hughes of Mainland Regional and Toms River South’s Ed Baynes in his quest for a state championship.

"There’s always a chance," he said of the Group III race.

Kimmins ran a 16:55.0, and Waite, 17:17.5.

Katy and Amanda Trotter are now running for their place in the all-time record book at Holmdel Park. Each insists that they haven’t yet pushed themselves to the max. Could Saturday be the day when they become just the fifth and sixth runners to break 18:00? The Shore Conference record of 17:59 by Middletown South’s Cate Guiney is well within their reach. The state record is 17:35 by Janet Smith of JP Stevens.

Much to the delight of the Trotters, they will be going to the Group III State Championships with the rest of their teammates. Red Bank’s girls qualified as a team by finishing third (110) behind Middletown South (68) and Princeton (97).

Beth Mayer (21:44.8), Kristin Brush (21:47.3) and Michelle Walsh (22:00.7) finished 32nd, 36th and 39th for the Bucs.

The Top 10 individuals and top five teams at the sectionals advanced to the Groups.

Ocean Township’s Erin Enderly, who made such a smashing seasonal debut at the Shore Conference Championships, ran seventh (19:59.6) this week in the Group III meet, but most importantly, continued her season.

So did Rumson-Fair Haven’s Andrew Sharkey, who finished sixth in the boys’ Group II race posting a 17:22.3.

Ullmeyer put on a finishing kick in the final 200 meters to pull away from Grace deMarrais of Bernards to win the Group I section title. She clocked 20:05.8 to deMarrais’ 20:10.2.

Following deMarrais, it was a Blue Devil dual meet as Laura Hayden (21:29.3), Nicole Ullmeyer (21:36.3), Martine McGrath (21:37.0) and Lauren Ostrowsky (22:04.5) finished third, fourth, fifth and seventh. Sixth runner Ashley Jordan was 10th (22:28.4) and seventh runner Heather Gates (23:23.9) was 13th.

Group I is in for more of the same next year as the Blue Devils return everyone. Coach Mel Ullmeyer has started a powerhouse here, and the boys are certainly not far behind.

Bernards won a very tightly contested race with the Shore boys by getting its fourth and fifth runners home before the Blue Devils’ No. 4.

A year ago, Altenau lost a controversial race to Metuchen’s Sam Hetzel, but the Blue Devil runner was not out to avenge anything. He pointed out that he came back the next week and beat Hetzel to win the Group I title, and that put the sectional race controversy to rest — that, and the fact that Hetzel has graduated.

"Today’s goal was just to win," said Altenau. "It’s hard to run a pb when you’re the favorite."

So Altenau just focused on the job at hand, winning, and did so comfortably in 17:06.3.

Joseph Ruane (17:0.0) finished second among the Blue Devils in sixth place. Tom Dunphy was 10th (18:00.7). Pablo Martin (18:20.2) and Paul Murphy (18:21.4) were 14th and 15th.

Altenau said that the loss to Bernards was a "wake-up call" for the Blue Devils, who will look to return the favor this week at the state championships.

Both the boys and girls of Shore Regional are the defending Group I state champions.