Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, December 18, 2016
GRONER WINS THE NEW BALANCE GRAND PRIX WITH A PERFECT SCORE
It’s a wrap. The
racing season is over and the final numbers and places have been posted for the
USATF New Jersey Grand Prix series. The
only way Roberta Groner of Randolph could not win the women’s New Balance
individual grand prix was to not show up.
But show up she did and she ran up a perfect score of 5,700. Karen Auteri of Belvidere was second and Misa
Tamura of Ridgewood was third.
Local runners did well in the age divisions. Joanna Stevens of Basking Ridge took third in
the W45 division and Susan Kinsella of Millington took third in the W50
division.
The top three women in the W60 division were all Morris area
women, topped by Nora Cary of Morristown.
Lorraine McPhillips of Basking Ridge was second and Susan Stirrat of
Rockaway third. Roseanne Svihra of
Gillette was third in the W65 division and Mary Ann Murphy of Livingston was
first in the W70 division. Diane Stone
of Chatham won the W85 division and Shirley Pettijohn also of Chatham was third
in the W80 division.
Atilla Sabahoglu of Manville won the men’s division after
placing second in 2015 when Kyle Price of Milltown jumped into first place with
two late races. This year Sabahoglu had
no surprise stalkers and stayed in first with 5,679 points with Matthew Slocum
of Montclair in second with 5,661 points.
Karl O’Reilly of Morristown was third with 5,649 points.
Only 15 points kept Gary Rosenberg of Morristown from third
place. Rosenberg topped his M45 division
as well. In one of the best rivalries
in the state Beau Atwater, 58, of Bernardsville outscored Gary Leaman, 57, of
Hardwick by five points to place first in the M55 division and Leaman second,
but seventh and eighth overall, 5,550 to 5,545.
When the top three men are taken out of the file, Mark
Minervini of Stanhope moves into first in the 39 and younger division.
Robert Skorupski of Rockaway placed second in the M40
division and John Sabatino of Morris Plains was second in M50. Reno Stirrat of Rockaway won the M60 division
with Charlie Slaughter of Parsippany in second.
Bill Bosmann of Rockaway won the M65 division with Bruce
Langenkamp of Wharton taking third.
Hilary Peterlin of Oak Ridge won the M75 division, and George Studzinski
of Kinnelon placed third in the M80 division.
INVESTORS BANK FOUNDATION CLUB AND TEAM GRAND PRIX FINAL
STANDINGS
It was a runaway by the Clifton Running Club in the Investors
Bank Foundation club and team grand prix.
The club racked up first place in the W40, W50 and W60 divisions and
second in the open women’s division.
Their M40 team took third in their division and their and M70 A, M70 B
teams took second and third. The clubs
strength was in those B and C teams, picking up points in many divisions.
The adidas Garden State Track Club had a similar effect in
the open divisions with several teams competing as well as some masters
divisions that placed well. The Shore
Athletic Club placed third with the Garmin Runners in fourth.
Some teams were able to put two bonus points in their club’s
tally by racing in all of the championships throughout the year. This new scoring system allowed each team to
drop their poorest score in a race, but their consistency was rewarded with the
two point bonus
Local clubs included the Morris County Striders in eighth
place, the Do Run Runners in ninth, the Geezers in eleventh, the New Jersey
Racing Project in 13th and Rose City Runners in 14th out
of 19 clubs competing.
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A calendar of USATF sanctioned events can be found at www.usatfnj.org or at www.raceforum.com for running and tri and
biathlon events.
Contact Madeline Bost at madelinebost@verizon.net.
