New Jersey gives out TOC titles for soccer, volleyball, cross country and field hockey

Since there is no Tournament of Champions for New Jersey soccer, we settled for the crowning of new group champions this past weekend that included St. Rose (Belmar) winning both the boys' and girls' crowns in Non-Public B.

On the boys' pitch, Cherokee (Marlton) repeated as the Group 4 titlist, while Wallington (Group 1) and Holmdel (Holmdel) (Group 3) won their first-ever crowns. Other champions included Cliffside Park (Cliffside Park) (first outright championship, Group 2) and St. Augustine Prep (Richland) (Non-Public A).

On the girls' pitch, Lenape (Medford) earned its unprecedented fifth-straight Group 4 crown. Millburn captured its first state crown in Group 3, New Providence won its first outright state title in Group 1 and Mahwah notched its first Group 2 championship since 1985. In Non-Public A, Immaculate Heart Academy (Washington Township) and Red Bank Catholic played to a 1-1 draw and shared the title.

NORTHERN VALLEY, OAK KNOLL WIN TOC'S
Both field hockey and girls' volleyball crown the outright top team in New Jersey by playing a Tournament of Champions. When they concluded, we saw two first-time TOC titlists anointed as Oak Knoll (Summit) won in field hockey and Northern Valley (Old Tappan) triumphed in volleyball.

ROSE, VENABLES WIN CROSS COUNTRY MOCs
West Windsor-Plainsboro South (Princeton Junction) senior Jim Rosa, who will run at Stanford, won New Jersey's boys cross country Meet of Champions last Saturday in a time of 15 minutes, 15 seconds at Holmdel Park, beating Mike Mazzaccaro of team champion Christian Brothers Academy (Lincroft) by five seconds. Rosa's time tied for the second-fastest clocking on the course, tying his previous mark set in last year's MOC when he finished behind twin brother, Joe, who ran a course-best 14:56.

In the girls' race, Highland Regional (Blackwood) runner Megan Venables posted the third-swiftest championship time in winning her first cross country MOC title, recording a clocking of 17:38 to outdistance both Bishop Eustace Prep (Pennsauken) runner Holly Bischoff and West Windsor-Plainsboro South's Caroline Kellner by 31 seconds. Meanwhile, Hillsborough repeated as team MOC titlist.

TOP PERFORMERS
* Maggie Blackwood and Ryan McCarthy, Oak Knoll field hockey: Blackwood made 12 saves, many of the spectacular variety, while McCarthy concluded her terrific freshman campaign with a hat trick as the Royals upended perennial power Eastern for the TOC title Sunday at The College of New Jersey.

* Anna Kate Miller and Aiyana Whitney, Northern Valley (Old Tappan) girls volleyball: Miller set 15 assists, with most of them helping Whitney put down 17 kills as the Golden Knights swept Ramapo in the TOC final Sunday at William Paterson University.

* Jim Rosa, West Windsor-Plainsboro South boys cross country: Rosa outran a fast field in the boys' MOC, emerging as the state's top runner after finishing second last season.

* Megan Venables, Highland Regional girls cross country: Venables added to her 2010 MOC indoor and outdoor 3,200 titles by outrunning the girls' cross country MOC field by 31 seconds to finish as New Jersey's top runner.