Morris finds Joy at Princeton

PRINCETON – Joy Dudley led a pack of Morris runners at the front of Saturday’s Coates Invitational at Princeton’s Zearing Park.

Dudley set the pace with a top time of 19:57.54 as Morris finished with three of the top four runners and four in the top eight to beat out Aledo Mercer County, 28-53, for team honors.

Morris freshmen Makensi Martin (20:04.77) and Danica Martin (20:31.0) finished third and fourth, while classmate Jadyn Bertram placed eighth (20:56.56).

Dudley said her run was “really good.”

“I’m very happy with what I did. It’s a flat course and the weather’s pretty good, so I was pretty excited and I hoped to do well,” she said. “The girl who came in second [Orion sophomore Olivia Thomsen], she was really good. She helped pushed me throughout the race.”

The Morris girls are off to a fast start this season and remain undefeated.

“A lot of the girls have been getting top 10 and stuff,” Dudley said.

Also for Morris, Moriah Mayberry finished 19th (22:07.08), and Leah Ortiz placed 24th (22:41.34).

Senior Matt Clark finished sixth in the boys’ race with a time of 17:09.95.

The Morris boys placed fourth as a team with 111 points behind Amboy (66), Sandwich (74) and Sterling Newman (85).