Livingston High School's junior varsity boys cross country team finished first among eight teams in the 5K race at the Brett Taylor Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 3, at Darlington Park in Mahwah.
The result capped a strong week for the Lancers program. The varsity squad posted its best five-man team performance at Branch Brook Park in a decade during Super Essex Conference dual-meet action on Sept. 29, according to the West Essex Tribune. Individual times and team scores from that race were not published.
At the Brett Taylor Invitational, Livingston's top five JV runners all crossed the line within 15 seconds of each other. Benjamin Strasnick led the group with a second-place overall finish in 19:49. Marshall Weaver matched that time for third.
The depth showed.
Landon Maru placed fifth in 19:58, Ethan Chan seventh in 19:59 and Ahmad Ayoub eighth in 20:04. Ethan Kartagener finished 11th in 20:13, Naren Muchantula 13th in 20:16, Akshaj Arya 16th in 20:22 and Logan Leitao 17th in 20:23. William Gao, Jonas Lin and Christian Aguila also placed in the top 26.
Weaver and Maru are familiar names on the Livingston roster. Both were among the varsity scoring five at the 2025 Essex County Championships, where the team placed sixth in the county with a five-man average of 17:56.
Livingston's varsity was also entered at the Shore Coaches Invitational at Holmdel Park the same day against 33 teams. Results from that meet were not available as of Oct. 9.
The Lancers' postseason schedule begins with the NJSIAA North I Sectional Championship on Oct. 31 at Garret Mountain. The state championship follows Nov. 7 at Holmdel Park, with the Meet of Champions set for Nov. 14 at the same venue.
