ERMA — The Lower Cape May Regional and Middle Township high school cross country teams split a meet against one another Monday afternoon.
Zeb Hinker carried Lower Cape May to an easy victory in the boys meet, while Middle Township won a close girls meet that included an exciting finish at the top of the race.
Hinker beat the field by two minutes in winning the boys race in 17 minutes even to lead the Tigers to a 15-48 victory. He was followed by, in order, teammates Anthony Magliocco (19:00), Elijah Jackson (19:39), Jesse Coombs (20:03), Sean Murphy (20:32) and Connor Deignan (21:07).
Luke Seddon (21:37) was seventh overall to lead Middle Township.
In the girls race, Hailee Steifel’s charge over the last 50 meters of the race allowed her to edge Middle Township’s Mariann Kurtz for first place, with both runners given official times of 23:36.
Middle Township was able to win the team competition, 23-35, by placing four runners among the top five. In addition to Kurtz, they included, in order, Sofia Jurusz (24:10), Paulina Rios (26:12) and Morgan Delaney (26:24).