2006 Cross Country 

Girls Results

Season Highlights:  The team was coached by Joe Lykes and assisted by Jim Schlentz.  The team finished with a dual meet record of 6 wins and 0 losses in the A North division of the Shore Conference, which they won.  This was their 5th division title in a row.  Team highlights included finishing 4th in the Nike Team Nationals and winning their first NJ State All-Groups Championship.  They were undefeated in NJ winning the State Group IV Championships, the Central Jersey Group IV Championship, the Shore Conference Championships, and the Monmouth County Champs.  Individual highlights included Ashley Higginson winning the Nike Team Nationals, finishing 4th at the Northeast Footlocker Champs to qualify for the Footlocker Nationals in San Diego where she was 22nd and finishing 2nd at the Meet of Champions with the #4 time in NJ history; Briana Jackucewicz finishing 19th at the Northeast Footlocker Champs, 11th in the Nike Team Nationals, and 6th in the Meet of Champions; Allison Donaghy running 19:30 in the Meet of Champions and finishing 4th in Monmouth County; Allie Flott running 19:55 at the MOC and finishing 5th in the Monmouth County Champs; Erin Donaghy finishing 7th in the Monmouth County Champs; Kristin O'Dowd running the race of her life to help the team finish 4th in the nationals; and Alyssa Morgan winning the Monmouth County JV title, Morgan Clark winning the Shore Conference JV title and Eva Wimberly winning the Monmouth County and Shore Conference frosh titles.

Post-Season Highlights:  Ashley Higginson was named NJ State Runner of the Year and was 1st team All-Northeast with Briana Jackucewicz named 3rd team; Ashley and Briana were named 1st team All-State, All-Groups and 1st team All-State Group IV by the Star Ledger.  Allison Donaghy was named 3rd team All-State Group IV.  Ashley was named 1st team All-State senior team and Briana was 1st team All-State sophomore team.  Ashley and Briana were named 1st team All-Shore Conference by the Asbury Park Press.  Allison was named 2nd team and Allie Flott was named 3rd team.  Ashley, Briana, Allison and Allie were named 1st team All-Monmouth County by the Star Ledger with Erin Donaghy 2nd team and Kristen O'Dowd 3rd team.  Ashley, Briana, Allison, Allie and Erin were named 1st team All-Freehold District by the News Transcript.  Kristen, Morgan Clark, and Allison Linnell were named honorable mention All-Freehold District.  Coach Joe Lykes was named Shore Conference Coach of the Year by the Asbury Park Press.

Time Trial 2006

@ Bucks Mill Park  9/05/06

pouring rain, low 70s, grass thick

Freehold Twp/Howell/Marlboro vs Colts Neck

@ Freehold Twp  9/12/06

Spiked Shoe Inv

@ Penn State, University Park, PA  9/23/06

Ashley hits splits of 5:28 and 11:24 (5:56) to break 18:00 for the first time on a full 5k course and finish 2nd to Hannah Davidson, two-time Footlocker finalist.  The girls finished 2nd to the legendary Saratoga Springs team that was 2nd in the nation last year and first the year before.

Battle of Monmouth

@ Battleground Park, Manalapan  9/23/06

New Balance Jersey Shore Cougar Inv

@ Bucks Mill Park  9/29/06

Ashley Higginson took the lead from the start and pulled away from the field at about 1000 meters.  She went through the mile in 5:30 and the 2 mile in 11:19 (5:49) before running the last 1.1 in 6:15 (about 5:41 pace) to finish in 17:34 to win by exactly one minute.  Ashley's time broke the course record by over a minute.  Allison Donaghy led a pack of 4 Cougars, all within 15 secs of each other as the team won by 18 pts over Assumption High of Louisville, Kentucky.  Bronxville, NY, #5 in the Northeast finished 5th.  The JV girls were led by Alyssa Morgan's 8th place finish and finished 3rd as a team.  Jessica Fasano (12:50) and Eva Wimberly (12:51) just missed the previous course record of 12:48 in finishing 2nd and 3rd.

Middletown North vs Colts Neck

@ Bucks Mill Park  10/3/06

Freehold District Championships

@ Bucks Mill Park  10/04/06

Weather:  80 degrees, very humid

Full Results

Colts Neck Results

Manalapan vs Colts Neck

@ Manalapan  10/10/06

80 degrees and humid

Manhattan Inv

@ Van Cortland Park  10/14/06

In the deepest field in Manhattan Inv history, the Easterns States Championship race had 7 teams ranked in the top 21 in the nation and 10 ranked in the top ten in their region.  Ashley Higginson, in 3rd and  trailing the leader by 8 secs with 900 meters to go, made up all but 1.2 secs to finish 2nd and run the #3 time in NJ history and the 9th fastest in course history.  The Van Cortland Park course has been run for 45 years and has had some of the greatest Northeast and Southeast runners ever compete on this course.  The team averaged 25 secs faster than last year with Allie Flott and Allison Donaghy running over a minute faster than last year.  The team was just 29 points out of 5th place.

Monmouth County Champs

@ Holmdel Park  10/17/06

steady rain, low 60s

Despite being tired from Saturday's race, the girls went out easy and moved through the field to finish 4 in the top 7.  The JV girls went 1-2-11 to finish 3rd and Eva Wimberly set a new school record in the freshman race. 

Shore Conference Champs

@ Ocean County Park  10/30/06

low 60s, low humidity

The girls survive a close one as Erin Donaghy passes a Mon Don in the last 50 meters and Allie Flott passes two girls in the final 20 meters to give the Lady Cougars a 3 point win.  Ashley Higginson tied the course record of 17:32 and Briana Jackucewicz in only her 2nd big meet, finished 2nd in 17:44.  The team broke the old team average course record of 18:46.2 by Jackson in 2005.

Shore Conference Champs (JV/Frosh) 

@ Ocean County Park  11/01/06

lo 70s, low humidity

Central Jersey Group IV Champs

@ Thompson Park  11/04/06

Ashely and Briana ran with a pack of 8 through 1 mile and then sat on Amanda Marino until 1.5 miles where they surged away to win by 12 secs as they tied for the 2nd year in a row.  The time was a new course record.  Despite resting last week's 5th and 6th runners (Flott and O'Dowd), the rest of the team was running real fast as the team's average time of 18:58.2 was faster than the previous individual course record of 19:11 by Katie Kellner.

GROUP 4 Results

1 Colts Neck 47 1 2 11 14 19 29 33 Total Time: 1:34:51.02 Average: 18:58.21

2 Jackson 107 3 13 20 26 45 50 78 Total Time: 1:38:31.94 Average: 19:42.39

3 Howell 134 8 18 25 41 42 109 Total Time: 1:40:01.73 Average: 20:00.35

4 Hunterdon Central 144 5 17 21 37 64 71 82 Total Time: 1:39:56.18 Average: 19:59.24

5 Montgomery 154 7 24 32 43 48 90 105 Total Time: 1:40:49.09 Average: 20:09.82

6 South Brunswick 235 9 46 54 59 67 73 101 Total Time: 1:43:41.77 Average: 20:44.36

Middletown South vs Colts Neck

@ Holmdel Park  11/06/06

mid 50s, no humidity  beautiful

The girls varsity was asked to run the first 1 mile 30 secs slower than normal and keep that pace until 1.5.  They would then run strong until 2.0 and then ease back 30 secs/mile again.  After 2.0 the girls split up and Flott and Donaghy ran with Olenik and O'Dowd ran with Morris.  The JV girls (normal #9 and back) ran huge PBs.  What a way to end their season!!

Group IV State Champs

@ Holmdel Park  11/11/06

mid 60s, very humid

Ashley battles with Danielle Tauro and falls 4 secs short as she ties her personal best.  The others battle the warm weather and run well enough to win the Group IV State title, the first of any sport in Colts Neck.  The winning margin was 42 pts over Cherry Hill East.

Meet of Champions 

@ Holmdel Park  11/18/06

high 40s, low humidity

Ashley stayed with Danielle Tauro through the mile at 5:58.  At 2 miles, Ashley was 2 secs back but caught up to Tauro at the tennis courts and tried to get by.  Tauro responded back and opened up a gap of 5-6 secs.  Ashley closed the gap to 3 secs over the final straight.  Meanwhile, Briana ran a strong race to miss her freshman PB by only 10 secs, Allison Donaghy ran a huge PB by 13 secs to run 19:31 and Allie Flott broke 20:00 for the first time.  Erin Donaghy looked in trouble but gutted her way through the last mile to finish 5th for the team.  The team won the team title by a stunning 66 pts, a huge margin.  The team average of 19:11.2 was a new Shore Conference record and missed the state record of 19:08.4 by Roxbury in 2005.  It was the school's first All Group title in any sport.

Footlocker Northeast Regional Champs

@ Van Cortland Park  11/25/06

low 50s, average humidity

Ashley Higginson was one of four runners who led through the mile at 5:28.  The pack stayed together until 1200 meters to go where the winner, Neely Spence, came up from behind and the racing really started.  Ashley came over the bridge with 900 meters to go in 4th.  She lost some ground to the leaders but held onto that position through the finish line.  The top 10 qualified for the Footlocker Nationals in San Diego on Dec 9th.  Ashley's time was the 4th fastest time in NJ history and a new Shore Conference record, beating Danielle Tauro's 17:55 from 2005.

Nike Team Nationals 

@ Portland, Oregon  12/09/06

mid 40s, sunny, extremely muddy course

The team finishes a dream trip with a 4th place finish in the national championships.  Ashley Higginson beats defending champion Betsy Bies from Yankton, South Dakota to finish first.  She takes the lead with just 800 meters to go after spending most of the race in 3rd place.  Briana follows with a 11th place finish and then Allison stays within 1:30 of Ashley to keep the top 3 at 52 pts.  Kristen O'Dowd saves her best race for the biggest stage of all as she comes through with a break-out performance in 67th and Erin anchors the team in 81st.  Allie gets home just 15 places later and Morgan loses her shoe at 1000m and runs the final 2.5 miles in the cold and mud with one shoe.

Footlocker National Champs

@ Balboa Park, San Diego, CA  12/09/06

mid 60s, average humidity

Ashley Higginson was near the front of a huge pack that hit the 800 in 2:50 and was in about 12th place in 5:39, 3secs behind the leader, at 1 mile.  She fell back to 23rd place as she completed the first 1.5 lap.  As she started the 2nd lap she was with a pack that seemed to be surging a lot.  She moved into 22nd at 2 miles and then fell back to 25th place a short time later.  She kept fighting back and by 200 meters to go had fought back to 22nd.  In the final stretch she passed 4 runners only to hit a wall with 30m left where all 4 passed her back.  She was obviously still tired from an early week cold and the traveling and race from last week in Oregon.  Still a valiant effort by our game senior! 

results from footlockercc.com