Preview of the State Sectional Championships

The state meets are scheduled for Saturday, with the top five teams and top 15 teams qualifying for the Nov. 9 state sectional meet in Holmdel.

Site North 1 is Mount Garrett in Woodland Park and Site North 2 is Morris County Central Park (Greystone) in Parsippan. Here’s a breakdown of the guys’ encounters from Paul Schwartz.

North 1

GROUP 1

Start time: 10 in the morning

Teams: Bergen Arts and Sciences; Bunton; butler; College Achieve Paterson; Cresskill, Hopatcong; Indian Hills; Kinnelon; Kittatinny; Lenape Valley; Midland Park; Mountain lakes; New Milford; Newton, North Warren; Park Ridge/Emerson; Pascack Hills; Passaic Arts and Sciences; Paterson Charter; Pequannock; Pompton Lakes; Saddle Brook; Sussex Tech; Waldwick; Wallkill Valley.

Last year’s champions: Glen Rock and Max Kahn, Mountain Lakes (Glen Rock is now in Group 2)

Return of state qualifications: Cannes (1st); William O’Donovan, Park Ridge/Emerson (5th); Sebastian Herrera Pineda, New Milford (9th); Michelangelo Lepore, Mountain Lakes (11th); Jaden Hoor, Kinnelon (12); James Torres, North Warren (14th); Chase Zalfino, Pequannock (15th). (Frank Coppa, Indian Hills was eighth in Group 1; Lucas Kertesz, Indian Hills was 9th; Dylan Barrett, Pascack Hills was 10th; Justin Vitale, Indian Hills was 14th and Brady Dransfield, Indian Hills was 15th -m in group 2 last year).

Projected North Jersey Individual Qualifiers: Coppa; Kertesz; Vitale and Dransfeld; Goure, Will Portman and Henry Manton, Kinnelon; Barrett and Jack Gatherington, Pascack Hills; Herrera; O’Donovan and Zalfino.

Top five teams: Indian Hills, Kinnelon, Pascack Hills, Mountain Lakes, New Milford.

How will the race go?: Other than Ridgewood (30 straight and a whopping 50 in 51 years), no other North Jersey team has more state championship success than Indian Hills. The Braves have qualified for the last 23 state meet with 11 wins and six runner-up finishes. They all came in Group 2 or 3. No. 24 will be Indian Hills’ first in Group 1, and if the race is big enough, it should once again be the sectional champion. Kinnelon and Mountain Lakes probably have the better front three, but the Braves’ depth should prevail. Pascack Hills very much too

GROUP 2

Start time: noon.

Teams: Demarest; Dumont; Elmwood Park; Glen Rock; High Point; Jefferson; Lakeland; Leonia; Lodi: Mahwah; Manchester; Morris Tech; Pascack Valley; Passaic Valley; Ramsay; River Dell; Sparta; Vernon; West Essex; West Milford; Westwood.

Last year’s champions: Indian Hills and Patrick Kurtz, Pascack Valley (Indian Hills is now in Group 1)

Return of state qualifications: Marcus Cauchy, Pascack Valley (5th); Vansh Patel, Morris Tech (10th); Carl Andre III, Dumont (12th) and Marcus White, Demarest (13th). (Ian Cortez, Leonia was 13th in North 2, Group 2 last year).

Projected North Jersey Individual Qualifiers: Bins; Yachel Raviv, Demarest; Calvin Dow, Leonia; TJ Hill, Passaic Valley; Daniel Seminara, Evan Caldwell and Josh Donza, Lakeland; Andre; Chris Baxter and Aidan Grivas, River Dell; Declan Finnegan, Ramsey; Katsper Majevsky, Glen Rock.

Top five teams: Lakeland, Sparta, Demarest, Leonia, Glen Rock

How will the race go?: This is one of the more intriguing races, not just in this section, but in any section in the state. On paper, it looks like a two-team race between Lakeland and Sparta. But never count out a Demarest team that has been first or second seven of the last nine years. Leonia may have the best backpack, while Dumont and River Dell have great trios and huge backpack challenges. The individual race is also under a question mark. Cauchy should have been the favorite, but he has plateaued in recent weeks. If he finds his form, he will win. If not, Julian Laznik-Moragan of Sparta, Dow and Raviv have a chance to win.

GROUP 3

Start time: 10:30 am

Teams: Bergenfield; Cliffside Park; Dover; Dwight Morrow; Fort Lee; Garfield; Montville; Morris Hills; Morris Knolls; Mount Olivet; Northern Highlands; Old Tappan; Paramus; Ramapo; Randolph; Roxbury; Teaneck; Tenafly; Wayne Hills; Wayne Valley.

Last year’s champions: Randolph and Luke Schegelin, Morris Knolls.

Return of state qualifications: Alex Pelov, Montville (2); Nicholas Falcone, Morris Hills (4th); Thomas Amato, Randolph (7th); Krish Bhaskaran, Montville (8th); Jimmy Hernandez, Bergenfield (10th); Justin Laznick-Moragan, Sparta (13th); Kennan Byers, Randolph (15th).

Projected North Jersey Individual Qualifiers: Benjamin Johnson, Old Tappan; Hernandez; Jason Enrile, Bergenfield; Daniel Haddad, Wayne Valley; John Walsh, Fort Lee.

Top five teams: Morris Hills, Montville, Randolph, Morris Knolls, Northern Highlands.

How will the race go?: This is a group dominated by Morris County, with Morris Hills favoring Randolph’s ouster. The fifth spot is up for grabs between North Highlands and Old Tappan. Individually, Pelov should be an easy winner with Hernandez and Bergenfield’s Enrile in or near the top five. If Hernandez advances, he will become the first Bear to qualify in back-to-back meets since Richard Acosta qualified three straight years from 1999-2001.

GROUP 4

Start time: 12:30 pm

Teams: Belleville; Bergen Tech; Bloomfield; Clifton; Oriental orange; Eastside; Lawn Fair; Hackensack; Kearney; Kennedy; Livingstone; Memorial; Morristown; North Bergen; Passaic, Passaic Tech; Ridgewood; Union City; West Orange.

Last year’s champions: Ridgewood and Luke Pash, Ridgewood.

Return of state qualifications: Pash (1st); Trevor Kane, Ridgewood (4th); Jett Lincoln, Ridgewood (5th); Julian Cannon, Memorial (6th); Lamarr Olive, Clifton (7th); Benji Pappageorge, Ridgewood (8th); Tom Mawissen, Ridgewood (9th); Michael McGinnity, Hackensack (10th); Aidan Soukas, Fair Lawn (12th); Samuel Kubides, Memorial (14th).

Projected Individual Qualifiers in North Jersey: Pash; Kane; Lincoln; Mewissen; Jack McKenna, Ridgewood; McGinnity; Kevin Remash, Hackensack; Chase Amin, Fair Lawn; olive; Victor Melnyk and Michael DeCarlo, Passaic Tech.

Top five teams: Ridgewood, Hackensack, Memorial, Union City, Passaic Tech.

How will the race go?: Ridgewood won’t return the top five it did a year ago, but the Maroons will repeat their win by more than 75 points. Hackensack, Memorial, Union City and Passaic Tech have close competition, and any of the quartet could finish second, with PCT earning its first state berth since 1990. Fair Lawn has the best chance of any other team to make the team qualifier. Pasha’s running speed may be determined by how long Canon can stay with him. Imagine winning in 16:00 with 85% effort.

North 2

GROUP 1

North Jersey teams: Bogota; Hasbrouck Heights; North Arlington; Palisades Park; Ridgefield; Rutherford; Secaucus; Weehawken.

Start time: 10:00 am

Last year’s champions: McNair and Aidan Morrow, Hasbrouck Heights

Returning North Jersey state qualifier: Morrow (1st); Emmanuel Marin, Bogotá (3rd); Ryan Ober, Hasbrouck Heights (6th); Zohaib Syed, Bogota (12); Hussein Salam, Bogotá (13th).

North Jersey State Individual Qualifications: Morrow, Ober; Marin, Syed, Salam.

Top five teams: McNair, Hasbrouck Heights, Rutherford, Bogota, Beloved Charter

View of North Jersey: McNair seems too strong for Hasbrouck Heights, with Rutherford and Bogota comfortably qualifying. Morrow needs to win its second straight sectional and create a real shot at a state sectional title.

GROUP 2

Start time: noon

North Jersey teams: Harrison; Lyndhurst; Ridgefield Park.

Last year’s champions: Bernards and Ben Connell, Bernards.

Returning North Jersey State Qualifiers: Max Thorn, Becton (11th); Aidan Nogiera, Lyndhurst (12th).

North Jersey State Individual Qualifiers: none

Top five teams: Bernards, Mendham, Madison, Lyndhurst, West Morris Central.

View of North Jersey: Lyndhurst is favored to host the state meet for the first time since 2016. (The Golden Bears were supposed to qualify in 2020, but the bracket meet was canceled.) Parsippany Hills is the team Lyndhurst will lose to.