Still the champions. The Kinnelon boys defended their Small School team title at the NJAC cross country championships on Tuesday, going back-to-back at the top of the conference.
Kieran Fitzgerald owned the day from the front, winning the individual race in 16:36.34 to lead the Colts home. The fastest small-school runner at the meet and a team championship to go with it — that is about as complete an afternoon as a program can have.
Defending a title is a different kind of hard. Every team in the field spent the season aiming at Kinnelon, every runner out there knew exactly who the champions were, and the Colts went out and kept the crown anyway. Repeat champions are rare for a reason — and Kinnelon just became one.
Kinnelon's repeat stood tall among a Morris County sweep of the meet's team titles: Mendham's boys and Montville's girls won the large-school championships — Montville's for the first time in program history — and Mountain Lakes' girls, behind individual champion Violet Page, claimed the small-school crown.
Stars of the Game: Kieran Fitzgerald, the Repeat Machine — individual champion and team-title winner in one afternoon. And the Kinnelon pack, the Defenders, still holding the crown.
Game details compiled from published box scores.