It was only fitting that legendary Ridgewood track/XC head coach Jacob Brown was on hand to finally see the Maroons break their 26-year state championship drought.

Brown, who was named one of N.J.’s greatest coaches of all time by NJ.com in 2019, led the girls cross-country program to four group state championships, including the 1999 Group 4 title—the last time Ridgewood hoisted a group state championship trophy.

Until Saturday.

Ridgewood’s seven-year streak of finishing second in the Group 4 state meet is finally over. The Maroons, ranked No. 2 in NJ.com’s Top 20, won the Group 4 state title in dominant fashion.

“Today we definitely wanted to break that streak and just finally get that win,” Ridgewood junior Katherine Keating said. “This is our biggest goal for the season: win Grou

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