West Windsor-Plainsboro South’s Caroline Kellner won the individual title as cross country champion at the Mercer County Championships on October 28 at Washington Crossing State Park.
Kellner, a senior, took the title for the third year in a row. She finished 40 seconds ahead of Peddie School’s Kelly Bailey with a time of 18:09.
Despite Kellner’s strong finish, the Pirates finished second to a strong Robbinsville squad, 55-67. Although Robbinsville did not have one strong runner, three runners finished in the top 10 and had five within the top 16.
High School North finished in fifth place with 128 points.
Kellner is one of only two runners to win three Mercer County titles since the race began in 1976. The other is Karin Swartz of Princeton, who took the championship every year from 1986-88.
Between Caroline and her sister, Katie, who is now a junior at Cornell University, the Kellners have taken five individual county championships in the last six years.
“It’s pretty cool that we’ve done it a lot in the past couple of years,” Kellner said. “I wanted to keep it in the family this year and it’s really exciting to be able to do that.”
Over their six county races, the Kellners combined for five first-place finishes (2006, 2008-11), two second-place finishes from Katie (2005, 2007) and one third-place finish from Caroline as a freshman in 2008.
The next step for Kellner will be to compete in the NJSIAA State Tournament on Saturday, November 5, in Jamesburg. Last year, she won the Group IV Central title, and then went on to finish fourth in Group IV statewide and third at the Meet of Champions.
“I am just so proud of Caroline,” WW-P South coach Josh Siegel said. “She works so hard and is just a great individual. I couldn’t be happier for her and what she has done.”
