Trust us, the course record of 16 minutes, 6.87 seconds, set by former North Rockland (NY) great Katelyn Tuohy in 2018, is nowhere near in jeopardy this weekend! In fact, we expect that historic mark to be untouchable for years to come. But nonetheless, individual honors in the Championship girls’ race of Saturday’s Hoka Ocean State Invitational could be epic with several still in the mix in the closing stages. We took a look at the entry list and found several harriers that could go under 18 minutes this weekend.
In no particular order, here’s a look at the top entries for Saturday’s race, which starts at 12:45 p.m.
Fahys is the defending champion in this race and certainly someone you can’t count out for the individual title. Due to what essentially became a year-ending injury after the State Meet in November, the EG senior is taking a gradual approach to her fall campaign with hopes of winning her third straight title at the states this fall and continuing the momentum with a prosperous postseason. She kicked off this season at the start of the month with a convincing victory at the Injury Fund Carnival where she was timed in 19:03.87. This past weekend, she was all alone at the finish with another dominating victory at the Highland Park (MA) Invitational, which she won by more than a minute with a time of 18:50.6. Fahys won last year’s Ocean State meet in 17:38.98. She followed that effort a week later by taking second at the Great American X-C Festival with a PR of 17:12.30 on a lightning-fast terrain in North Carolina. To win the race on Saturday, we’re thinking a time in the 17:30 range might be enough, possibly faster. Is Fahys ready to unload this early in the season with an effort in that time range? We’ll have a better idea once the pack exits the woods for the final half-mile of the race.
The Avengers finished 1-3 in this race in 2021 with Shunney taking the bronze behind Fahys’ victory with a time of 18:54.15. She ran a best of 17:55.19 at Great American and made the first-team, all-state squad for the third straight year by taking third at the championship meet with a time of 18:17. EG, which was just six points behind RI rival and eventual winner North Kingstown at last year’s Ocean State meet, has a good chance to get it done this year. That should give Shunney added motivation to excel once the gun is fired.
Bullock is coming off a fantastic freshman campaign in 2021 where she was the Division 1A champion with a best of 18:28.76. She also placed seventh in Div. 1 race at the All State Meet. The Red Hawks’ sophomore will be running Ocean State for the second time after placing fourth in the Div. 1 race last year with a time of 19:29.07. Besides clocking fast times, the one thing that sticks out with Bullock is her consistency. After Ocean State, she was generally in the mid 18:30 range for the 5K distance. With a year of experience under her belt and her knowledge of the course, we expect this gifted tenth-grader to be among the top finishers on Saturday.
Tilly O’Connor, St. Rose (NJ)
O’Connor is certainly a runner to keep an eye on this weekend. The talented junior was a fourth-place finisher at the NJSIAA Meet Of Champions last year where she was clocked 18:12.0 for the 5K course. She had a best of 17:35.0 at the Shore Conference Championship and won the Div. 1 race at Ocean State in 2021 with a time of 18:44.53. O’Connor has strong range in distances from the 800m to the two mile with bests of 2:12 for the half mile, 4:48 for 1,600m and 10:40 for the deuce. That could benefit her late in the race.
Cate DeSousa, Red Bank Catholic (NJ)
DeSousa is another top runner hailing from New Jersey with times that mirror her counterpart. She was third at the South Shore Championship last year with a time of 17:45 and was tenth at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions at 18:41. DeSousa is also a sub five-minute miler with a PR of 4:54 and a best of 4:49 for 1,600m. She’s also done 2:11 for 800m. This past weekend, she captured the South Jersey Shootout where she clocked 13:39 for 4,000m. She appears ready for a fast time this weekend.
Along with her teammates, Luisi was a dominant force in the Bay State. Except the McIntyre Twilight Invitational, where she finished second to Fahys, the Holliston junior was unbeaten in MA with times consistently under 18 minutes, including a best of 17:42.10 at the Frank Mooney Invitational. She was the Div. 2B titlist and was the Div. 2 winner at All States. Luisi will have extra motivation on her side as her team is among the contenders for the hardware, returning all of its runners from a squad that scored just 26 points at All States.
Karrie Baloga, Cornwall (NY)
Baloga just might be the runner to beat on Saturday. The Dragons senior had a big year in the Big Apple last fall that culminated with a fifth-place finish at the East Bay Cross-Country Championships (formerly Foot Locker Nationals) in San Diego with a time of 17:53.20 at Balboa Park. Beluga also had victories at the NY Federation Championship (17:54.70), the Washingtonville Wizard Invitational (17:06.42), the Six Flags Wild Safari Invitational (PR, 16:52) and the Eastern States Championship race at the Manhattan Invitational where she was timed in 14:11 for the 4K distance.
Erin Boler Niskayuna (NY)
Boier is another NY harrier that could be among our top finishers this weekend. The Silver Warriors senior was primarily in the mid 19-minute range last year in cross country, and ran 19:21.99 at the Ocean State Invite. Boier stepped it up a notch (or two) at a few select meets on the track oval, including clocking 17:35.99 for the 5,000m at the New Balance Nationals during the winter and 17:33.25 at NBN in the spring.
Strauss is the top returnee from last year’s CIAC State Open where she placed second overall with a time of 18:48 on a challenging 5K course at Wickham Park. She was also third (19:06.0) at the Wickham Park Invitational, a winner (19:20.10) at the Central Connecticut Conference Championship and runner-up (19:16.0) at the CIAC Championship. On the track, Strauss has bests of 5:05 for the mile and 2:58 for the 1,000m.
