There's a reason that the Manalapan Braves were logging 60 miles a week during the summer. It was to make them stronger for the second half of races.

Manalapan's harriers demonstrated that strength Thursday in winning the Freehold Regional District Championship for the fourth consecutive year. Led by Robby Andrews' repeat individual victory, the Braves turned back Freehold Township, 30-51.

For the first half of the race, the Patriots were positioned to dethrone the Braves, but Manalapan runners took over in the second half and ended up placing four runners in the top 10 and its fifth runner in 12th place.

Gary Sparapani (17:27.77) led the parade of red behind Andrews in fourth place.

The first mile, Sparapani said, the Braves were "chilling" while it was Freehold Township that was pushing the pace at the front of the pack.

After the first mile, it was time to start picking opposing runners off.

With the Braves needing Andrews' first place, he took off after the first mile, running negative splits en route to retaining his championship.

"I've been working on a middle-race surge," he said, "trying to maintain while going into oxygen debt."

Like his teammates,Andrews has been putting down a solid training base.

"I'm not feeling as fast as last year, but I'm feeling a lot stronger," he pointed out.

Andrews was the only harrier under 17:00 on the Bucks Mill Park 5K layout (16:54.25).

Matt Gabor (17:33.94) and Anthony Silvestri (17:37.04), who were fifth and eighth, demonstrated Manalapan's late-race strength. They improved their positions with strong finishing kicks.

Gabor held off a pair of Howell runners to get fifth, and Silvestri nipped a Patriot on the line in taking eighth. Jon Nagel was the Braves' fifth scorer in 12th (17:44.61).

For seniors Andrews, Sparapani, Gabor and Nagel, this was an historic win as they took their place among the great Manalapan teams of the past by winning a fourth straight title. It was important, Sparapani said, to continue the winning tradition first established when they were freshmen.

"It's nice to win and to have never lost it," he said.

Andrews noted that the entire Brave team has made a commitment this year to doing everything it takes to fulfilling the team's potential.

Howell proved it is an up-and-coming team, taking third (75), led by underclassmen Tyler Gillies (17:34.43) and Aansh Mehta (17:35.38), who were sixth and seventh.

In her four years at Colts Neck, Rachel Morris watched as teammates won championships.

While the likes of Ashley Higginson, Briana Jackucewicz and Allison Linnell were winning titles, Morris was a face in the Cougar pack. But she persevered. First, she made the top seven and then steadily advanced to the point that she became one of the Cougars'best harriers.

Thursday, Morris had a chance to become a champion herself, and she took it. Breaking away from the pack after the first mile, Morris captured the Freehold Regional District championship at Bucks Mill Park, her home course. Morris, a senior, was the only one under 20:00, stopping the clock at 19:55.

Following her prerace game plan of getting clear of the field so that it wouldn't come down to a sprint at the finish, Morris left no doubt who was the best this day.

"I went a little earlier than I thought I would," she said. "The pace felt pretty easy. I was a little hesitant [to make a move], but I felt good."

With no clear favorite in the race, the contenders played a waiting game, and through the first mile no one tried to impose her will. That changed when Morris made her move between the first and second mile. By two miles, Morris had a 15-second gap over Howell's Jacquie Ward and Freehold Borough's MacKenzie Roche, who were now battling for second place.

Morris stretched it out over the final 1.1 miles and could enjoy the homestretch.

"The final quarter-mile I felt pretty confident," she pointed out. "It's great. It made me feel that all the training paid off.

"I've always enjoyed the District," she added. "There are a lot of great girls in the District."

And Morris was the best of them Thursday.

Ward and her Howell teammates know about championships as well. The Rebels were the defending team champions, and having graduated five of their top seven, they were a team with something to prove at Bucks Mill Park.

"People didn't look at us as a threat," said Ward. "We lost so many people and we have a lot of newcomers."

What the Rebels do have, Ward said, is "a lot of heart."

They used that to turn back Colts Neck, 42- 56. Laura Kochenash, Tara Nealon, Jamie Hand and Alyssa Pinney completed the scoring behind Ward in seventh, ninth, 10th and 13th. Ward noted thatwhile theRebelswere concerned about Colts Neck, they couldn't let that interfere with their individual races.

"Colts Neck always is talented," said Ward. "Our goal was to run our own race."

Howell had a little something extra going for it in the presence of Lindsey Gallo.

The Howell High School graduate, who now is a world-class runner for Reebok, was at the meet to watch her alma mater win. Gallo is the only harrier, boy or girl, to win the District cross country title four times. She handed the medals out to the winning team and individual.

This was Howell's second straight District championship and fifth in the last seven years for coach John Hein. Since 2001, only Howell (five) and Colts Neck (three) have won the team championship.