High School South’s two top runners both finished first in the Mercer County Champrionships at Veteran’s Park on Friday, October 27. Brian Leung, the senior who has dominated dual meets throughout the year, finished first at 15:38.60 despite illness and injury.
The girls’ sophomore standout, Katie Kellner, won the race in 17:53.51, 15 seconds ahead of her closest competition. Kellner continued the dominance she has shown all year by breaking the old course record by 13 seconds. This race was the first time any female runner has finished under 18:04 in Mercer County competition.
Both runners finished second in the Mercer County championships last year. Leung was recently diagnosed with mononucleosis and shingles in addition to being plagued by chronic shin splints. He battled through it all to finish 13 seconds ahead of Sean McNulty, the WW-P North senior who had some off-track distractions of his own — his father, a former runner at Rutgers, was hospitalized in the days before the meet.
While McNulty finished second to Leung in the individual standings, his North team finished second, well ahead of fifth place South.
For Kellner, the only disappointment could be seeing the Pirates’ three-year team win streak end. They finshed third behind Princeton and Hopewell Valley.
