St. Greg’s junior varsity girls cross-country team successfully defended its state championship Saturday, Nov. 7, holding off a strong field of Catholic school runners from across New Jersey.
The race, featuring girls in sixth grade and younger, drew more than 100 runners from 18 Catholic schools, ranging from Sparta and Bergen County in northern New Jersey to Haddonfield and Blackwood in South Jersey.
St. Greg’s scored 53 points to edge host St. James, which finished with 61. St. James has a nationally competitive program whose varsity girls team placed fifth at nationals last year.
St. James won the JV girls title in 2023 and 2024 and captured every other team championship at this year’s meet. But St. Greg’s held off the host school by running as a pack, placing four girls among the top nine finishers on the hilly 2,400-meter course.
The St. Greg’s runners had trained since August, logging miles, tackling hills and completing sprint workouts in preparation to defend their 2025 JV girls state championship.
Grace McGowan led the team with a third-place finish in 10 minutes, 4 seconds, just four seconds behind the individual champion.
Salma Kiehl, Kyleigh Jones and Camila Kiehl ran together throughout the race, finishing seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively, within one second of each other.
All four medalists improved significantly over their performances on the same course last year. McGowan cut 18 seconds off her time, Camila Kiehl improved by 43 seconds, Salma Kiehl by a full minute and Jones by 1 minute, 27 seconds.
Natalie Ferrara and Leah Minutoli also played important roles in the championship effort, pushing each other throughout the race and crossing the finish line together in 48th and 49th places, respectively, with identical times of 12:27.
Lillian Cote and Maggie Patrick rounded out the team’s effort, battling their way up the challenging final hill to complete the race.
St. Greg’s individual results:
- Grace McGowan: Third, 10:04 (medal)
- Salma Kiehl: Seventh, 10:21 (medal)
- Kyleigh Jones: Eighth, 10:22 (medal)
- Camila Kiehl: Ninth, 10:22 (medal)
- Natalie Ferrara: 48th, 12:27
- Leah Minutoli: 49th, 12:27
- Lillian Cote: 71st, 13:56
- Maggie Patrick: 79th, 14:48
