Bishop Eustace's Bischof wins

[Nick]

Bishop Eustace's Bischof wins !!!!

2011 Meet of Champions Winner Holly Bischof
Rich Bevensee, November 19, 2011 4:31 p.m.



The best part of competing in a state championship race for Holly Bischof is surrounding herself with friends.

The Bishop Eustace senior doesn’t mean the thousands of fans who lined the finishing chute to cheer the runners, and she didn’t mean the flock of well-wishers who rushed to her side after the race.

She meant the people she beat.

"Besides winning, the best thing about today was running with my friends," Bischof said after winning the 40th NJSIAA/Star-Ledger Meet of Champions title in 18:13 Saturday at Holmdel Park. "I’ve gotten to be very close with a lot of these girls. They’re all my friends. It’s very satisfying to race with friends and do well, too."

Bischof became the first girl from her school to win the title, one week after becoming just the fourth Bishop Eustace girl to win a state group title. Bischof triumphed in Non-Public A last week in 18:47.

Bischof, second last year in this event, split 6:04 for the first mile, took off after cresting the bowl and did not let off the gas for the rest of the race. She split 12:02 for two miles and rumbled to a seven-second victory over West Windsor-Plainsboro South senior Caroline Kellner, who crossed in second place.

"My goal was to win and nothing was going to get in my way," Bischof said. "Going out of the bowl, my legs just felt good and I said to myself, I need to do this. I’m tired coming out of the bowl, no doubt about it, but I just knew I had to go there."



Holly Bischof (right) of Bishop Eustace is congratulated by runner-up Caroline Kellner of West Windsor-Plainsboro South. - (Patti Sapone/The Star-Ledger )

After Bischof and Kellner, Mendham sophomore Mackenzie Barry finished third in 18:21, a Holmdel best by 14 seconds. Bridgewater-Raritan junior Marisa Ruskan, a first-year cross-country runner, placed fourth in 18:23, an 11-second Holmdel PR, and Eastern Christian senior Kristen Traub crossed in fifth place in 18:25, a 20-second PR.

A year ago in this race, Bischof out-sprinted Kellner for second place and they both recorded 18:09s. Bischof didn’t allow any close calls this time, but Kellner showed some jets of her own, passing about seven runners in the final half-mile.

"I was in the lead pack going into the bowl but I was in about seventh when I came out," Kellner said. "After the tennis courts (and after the two-mile post), I just went for it. All that training I did this summer, I wanted to make it all worth it. I wanted to be ecstatic about my race when I was done."

Kellner was one of nine seniors in the state who qualified for the M of C all four years, and one of only two who qualified as an individual all four years. The other was Point Pleasant Beach’s Brianna Feerst, 23rd in 19:16.

A perfect indication of how hard it was to forecast the individual favorite for this race was that no girl dipped under 18 minutes at Holmdel this season for the first time since 2007, yet the M of C produced 16 girls under 19 minutes, the second-highest output in meet history behind last year’s event (18). It truly was a season of mass excellence.