Brookdale Cross Country Tops In Times, Places Well At NJIT Highlander Challenge

Newark, NJ - Brookdale men's cross country continues to make their mark in the country and region, and this past weekend was no different. The Blues participated in the 8k NJIT Highlander Cross Country Challenge in Branch Brook Park, and placed 8th out of 24 full teams, with 255 points. The teams consisted of NCAA DI, DII, and 4-year DIII teams as Brookdale was the top DIII JUCO team.

In addition to being top finishers, the Blues ran their best overall five-man team average time of 29:03 since Head Coach Mike Tursi was hired in 2019. All eight Jersey Blue runners on the line finished with their personal best times.

Brookdale was led by sophomore All-American, Theodore Purdon (Red Bank Regional High School), who finished 13th overall at 26:41, beating his personal best by 21 seconds. Next was freshman, Casey Brown (Point Pleasant Borough High School), in 47th place, timing in at 28:46, and running a minute faster over his personal best time. Following Brown, was sophomore, Josh Seba (Mater Dei Prep), who finished at 29:26, 58th overall, and beat his personal best by 13 seconds. Freshman, Jayden Morris (Monmouth Regional High School), had a time of 30:07 in 72nd place, exceeding his time by a minute and a half, while sophomore, Joshua Beer (Shore Regional High School), crossed the line 75th at 30:17, surpassing his best time by 22 seconds.

Freshman, Matt Newman (Rumson-Fair Haven High School), was the 108th finisher in 32:21 and topping his personal best time over one and a half minute. A few minutes behind was freshman Joshua Cabral (Middletown North High School) in 148th place, outdoing his best time by over two minutes at 37:25, and freshman Aeshawn Carney (Long Branch High School) who finished 148th, trumped his personal best time by three minutes, at 40:02.

Brookdale's next meet will be at the White Clay Creek State Park for the Delaware Cross Country Invitational, on Saturday, October 15th, beginning at 10:00am.