Five New Jersey Runners Earn Spots at Brooks Cross Country Nationals in San Diego

Five girls from New Jersey punched their tickets to the 2025 Brooks Cross Country National Championships. They did it by racing at the Brooks Northeast Regional Championship on Saturday at Franklin Park in Boston. Ocean Township's Leah Starkey, West Windsor-Plainsboro North's Allison Lee, and Hunterdon Central's Molly Domurat qualified by finishing in the top 10.

Union Catholic junior Paige Sheppard and Lawrenceville junior Blair Bartlett also secured their spots. Brooks handed them golden tickets, which meant they could skip the regional race.

The national championship happens in San Diego on Dec. 13. Each region sends its top 10 finishers.

Starkey grabbed third in 17:02. That's the No. 3 time in the history of this course. The Ocean Township sophomore stayed with the leaders through the first mile and never gave up her position in the top three. Compare that to last year when she ran 18:28.50 at the same course during Foot Locker's Northeast Regional meet and finished 12th.

Lee crossed the line fifth in 17:20.7, which was nearly 38 seconds quicker than her Franklin Park time from last year. The West Windsor-Plainsboro North runner became just the 14th girl in state history to make it to XC National Championships two years in a row.

Domurat clocked a ninth-place finish in 17:33. The Rutgers commit stayed in the top 10 from start to finish and never slowed down. She won Skyland Conference and Group 4 state titles this season.

Reigning state champion Abby Hennessy from Massachusetts took first in 16:47.3, coming close to breaking her own course record. Virginia Kraus from Saucon Valley in Pennsylvania ran the second-fastest time in course history at 17:01.1.

The Brooks Cross-Country Nationals replaced the Foot Locker National Championships after that series ended in August. The Brooks competition started way back in 1979 as the Kinney National Championships before becoming Foot Locker in 1993.

On the boys' side, Cherokee's Jack Tindall missed qualifying by four spots. He finished 14th in 15:43.8.