The Delbarton cross country team continued its impressive fall season with a pair of outstanding performances at the NJAC Championships and Morris County Championships over the past week. The Green Wave earned top-three varsity finishes at both meets while capturing multiple championships at the junior varsity and freshman levels, showcasing the program's depth as the team builds toward the state championships.
At the NJAC Championships on October 13, Delbarton finished third overall, led by another strong performance from Ryan Leuenberger. The Green Wave seniort placed fourth overall with a time of 16:37.03, pacing Delbarton's varsity effort against some of the conference's top competition.
The success extended throughout the program, as Delbarton's younger runners brought home two championships. The JV squad captured first place in the 2,800-meter race, edging Morris Hills by just two points in a tightly contested team battle.
The Green Wave also claimed the Large School Junior Boys 5,000-meter championship, finishing ahead of Randolph. Daniel Tuck and Jonathan Gels led the way with third and fourth-place finishes, respectively, while freshman Harris Smith added a ninth-place performance to help secure the title.
Just one week later, Delbarton returned to championship competition at the Morris County Championships on October 20, turning in another impressive team performance.
The varsity squad finished second overall, falling just three points shy of county champion Mendham in one of the closest team battles of the meet.
Leuenberger continued his outstanding season, finishing as the county runner-up with a time of 16:10.99. His performance marked an improvement of more than 26 seconds from his NJAC Championships time just seven days earlier.
Matthew Heyer finished 21st overall, followed by Liam Johnson in 25th and Lucian Bret in 28th. Joshua Akakpo (39th), Hans Clovis (40th) and Todd Smith (43rd) rounded out Delbarton's varsity finishers, helping the Green Wave remain in contention for the county title.
While the varsity team narrowly missed the top spot, Delbarton's JV and freshman squads both captured Morris County championships, completing another impressive day for the program.
In the JV race, the Green Wave took home the county title over Randolph behind a tremendous team effort. James Battle led Delbarton with a second-place finish, followed closely by Aditya Kumar in fourth and Mason Varneckas in sixth. Jack McInerny added a ninth-place finish, giving Delbarton four runners among the top 10.
The freshman squad was equally impressive, capturing first place in the 2,800-meter race. Rocco Burdi and Charlie Ross each finished among the top five, while Yihan Yin added a top-12 performance to help secure another championship for the Green Wave.
With the state championships approaching, the Green Wave will look to build on that momentum as the program continues its pursuit of postseason success.
