The Olympic Conference Championships provided an instant classic in the boys team race and a strange twist in the course record breaking performance by Aaron Groff of Cherry Hill East.         

The team race more than lived up to the hype as No. 9 ranked Cherokee and No. 3 ranked Cherry Hill East staged an epic battle in a South Jersey showdown on Friday at Rowan College at Gloucester County in Sewell

When the dust settled, Cherokee put 3 runners ahead of Cherry Hill East's 2nd runner and received a career best race from junior Jack Shea, second in 15:26, to score a heart-pounding 43-44 victory over defending champion Cherry Hill East. It's the first title for Cherokee since 2011.

As for the individual winner, Groff blasted out to a quick lead with a 4:45 first mile, and the senior kept hammering the whole way until he stopped the clock at 15:14! That was well under the the course record of 15:25 set in 2012 by Cherokees's Shawn Wilson, but the boys race was approximately 20 meters shorter than it was supposed to be because the runners began from the wrong start line. 

Meet director Ed Colona said a start line that is used for college races was accidentally used for the boys race instead of the correct line that was further back (about 20 meters).   

Despite the error, which was caught in time for the later girls race, Colona said Groff would still be credited with the record. 

"He'll get credit for the course record,'' said Colona. "I'll talk to the Olympic Conference athletic directors and discuss it with them about how the record will be listed. "It's an unfortunate situation. We all know that he definitely would have run under (Wilson's 15:25) because of the short distance between the starting line that was used and the genuine starting line. At this point, he's the record holder in name only because the time really can't be established.''

While there's little doubt that Groff would have run well under Wilson's 15:25 if the correct start line was used, Groff was a bit disappointed that the course wasn't the proper length. 

"It's a little disappointing that I didn't get to run the full course,'' said Groff.   

The UPenn-bound Groff was elated with being the new course record holder.

"It's pretty great,'' Groff said of his record performance. "I was a freshman when Wilson broke that record and I saw him blow away everyone. I really looked up to him at the point and its really ridiculous that I am where I am now. I would have never guessed when I was a freshman that I'd do this. So I'm really excited.''

Groff said he usually doesn't race for time.

 "I don't like to run for time,'' said Groff. "I haven't raced my best when I do that. But I talked to my coach at the beginning of the week and he kind of gave me permission to go for it.''

In the thrilling team race, Cherokee went 2-4-6-12-19 and averaged 16:09. Cherry Hill East went 1-7-9-10-17 and averaged 16:11.

"A lot of guys stepped up huge for us today and I'm really proud of how everyone race today,'' said Shea. "We knew it was going to be close and we came here to win. We train for a reason and we came here for a reason and that was to win.

Cherokee will clash with Cherry Hill East again at the South Jersey sectional meet and the state Group 4 meet next month.

"It will be interesting,'' said Shea. "We poked the bear today and we know both teams will be hungry, so we'll have to be ready and we'll give it all we have to try to win those races.''