Cross Country Weekend Review II

It's not surprising anymore when the Fayetteville-Manlius girls dominate a race. But it's still almost breath taking how good they are.

Running the first girls' race of the day at the VVS Invitational in Verona, N.Y., FM swept the top eight places as all eight broke 19:30. Jillian Fanning's winning time of 18:05 was the best on the day and teammate Christy Rutledge made her return with a 18:23 runner-up finish.

How good? FM's jayvee squad would have claimed a team win in the race. And its top-five freshmen and eighth graders would have been champions of that race as well.

Here's what happened around the region:

Peconic Invitational

Running at Red Creek Park, The SWR boys averaged 18:33 to win the varsity race as Evan Purdy took the crown in 18:09 for SWR. Ashley West won the girls' title, but Center Moriches swept the next three places to top SWR 36-69.

Red Raider Run

Running on a new course because of rain damage from the tropical storms this month, Holly Cavalluzzo and teammate Kirsten Borriello of Valley Central led their squad to a 50-58 win over Monroe-Woodbury. (Interestingly Monroe Woodbury is located in Central Valley, N.Y.). Liam Purdy or North Rockland won the boys' race in 16:53 to help his squad beat Ramsey of New Jersey, 34-67. The Red Raiders placed four runners in the top eight to dominate the field.

Big Red Invitational

In the boys' DI race, Somers and Washingtonville staged a great battle. It was easy to tell that it was going to be between these two early. Washingtonville was leading by three or four points at the one-mile mark and extended it a bit at two miles. But Somers closed very well over the final mile of its home course to beat the Wizards, 50-56, and earn a 17:25 average. Michael Turi of John Jay East Fishkill won the race in 16:39, a course record for the brand new course.

The girls' DI race went to Mahopac, which edged the host 55-65. Washingtonville's Lauren Herir snuck just under 20 minutes in 19:59.4. Hackley swept the DII races.

The lead pack in the boys' DII race took a wrong turn, taking the entire field on an extra loop that added almost a full half-mile to the race, including a pretty solid hill. Stephen Shine of Briarcliff won the 3.5-mile jaunt in 19:52.

Briarwood Invitational

Molly Shine won the race in 19:17 to lead the Lady Pirates to a 56-77 win over Great Valley (Pa.). Teammate Kelly Hayes was second in 19:30.

The girls' championship race was one for the ages as Pennsbury beat Downingtown East, 53-54. Pennsbury got its first two girls in before a pack of four Downingtown East girls. Pennsbury then packed three girls right ahead of Downingtown East's fifth to secure the win. Megan Lacy of Cherokee (N.J.) won in 18:04.

Dustin Wilson of Chestnut Hill (Pa.) beat Thomas Awad of Chaminade (N.Y.), 15:39 to 16:04. Cardinal O'Hara won the team title, 48-84, over Salesianum School. Chaminade was fourth with 122 points and a 17:06 average. Xavier of NYC was 10th. The Kellenberg girls placed seventh in the girls D1 race, scoring 190 points and averaging 21:43.

Elmira Invitational

Brian Crimmins beat three Elmira runners to the line to win the boys A/B race in 17:20 and his teammates did their job behind him to hold off Elmira, 32-35. Watkins Glen and Addison also staged a close one in the C/D race with Glen winning, 83-89. Tyler Sutherland of Trumasburg won that race in 17:56.

The Elmira girls dominated the field for the A/B. They were led by Khiere Ashley, who won the race in 21:21. Watkins Glen also won the girls C/D race, this time beating Thomas Edison, 44-50. Maddie Zeitz of Windsor broke the tape in 20:17.

Fort Plain Invitational

Maple Hill's Jordan Healy beat the field with his 15:48 win, edging two Berne-Knox-Westerlo runners 15:48 to 15:52 and 15:52, but BKW still easily won the team title, 43 to 74, over Sauquoit Valley. BKW also won the girls' small school race over Sauquoit Valley, this time 58-70. Courtney Tedescho of BKW was the individual champion in 18:03.

Evan Little of La Salle ran 15:25, the fastest time of the day, but two Bethlehem runners followed to lead their squad to an easy victory and a 16:06 average on the three-mile course.

Niskayuna and Colonie staged a battle for the girls' large school title. Felicia Sciortino won in 18:17 and helped her squad win the team crown, 26-30, in what was nearly a dual meet.

Jim Smith Invitational

Team scored don't mean too much from this meet, which matches runners against each other by grade. John Lee of Shoreham Wading River easily had the best time of the day as he stopped the clock at 16:30. Northport sophomore Bridget Brennen ran 19:41 to beat twin sisters Tiana and Talia Guevara of Miller Place. Brennen was the only girl to break 20 minutes all day long.

Long Point Invitational

The youngsters from Maple Grove (N.Y.) are a year older, but they look strong again. Last year the Grove won the NYSPHSAA Class D state championship and appears to be the favorite again. Eighth-graders Megan Marsh and Hope Pietrocarlo went 1-2 in 19:29 and 19:35. Teammate sisters Caroline and Katelyn Benson placed 3-4, both running under 20:00. The team scored a lean 21 points for the win.

The Maple Grove boys also won, beating Jamestown, 56-114. Pioneer's Nathan Smith won the race in 16:29.

Maddy Adams of Skaneatles crossed the line at 18:44 to win the individual title and lead her team to a 40-60 win over Vestal. Skaneatles placed three girls in the top five and two more in 15th and 16th for the win.

The Maine-Endwell boys won their home invitational, 24-52, also over Vestal. ME runners Nick Miller and Ryan Brizzolara went 1-2 in 15:40 and 15:44 to secure the victory.

Regis Invitational

Don Bosco took Van Cortlandt Park by storm on Saturday. Senior Christian Costello won the race in 13:00.3, just edging out Ryan Phillips of Regis, who ran 13:01.7.

Costello didn't have long to recover and cheer for his teammates Ryan Tucker (third, 13:03), Kyle Livermore (fifth, 13:06), Nicholas Carapezza (sixth, 13:16), Nicholas Mendolia (seventh, 13:22) and Nick Lapinski (eighth, 13:25) as all came streaming in on his heels. That's right, Bosco had three runners named Nick finish 6-7-8, all within nine seconds of each other. Even the seventh runner, Brian Taylor, broke 13:30 in 10th place.

Monsignor Farrell actually looked quite good in second place as Dan Galford led the way in 13:04.8. Behind him Farrell had runners in 13:27, 13:31, 13:36, 14:01 and 14:02.

Suffern Invitational

Three schools from Rockland County swept the varsity races at the Suffern Invitational. The Suffern, Nanuet and Tappan Zee girls' squads, all very familiar with the 3.0-mile Bear Mountain Course, came away with victories.

Suffern was easliy over Sachem North, 26-91, with leader Ursula Svoboda winning in 18:20.6. Nanuet's Megan Young ran 18:20.0 to lead her team to a 43-64 win over St. Anthony's.

Dobb's Ferry's Sarah King won the last varsity race in 19:08, but Tappan Zee beat her team, 35-88.

On the boys' side, two Long Island teams came away with wins. The Suffern boys won the first race, 41 to 115, over Sachem East. Sachem East took the B race, 62-66, over Tappan Zee with White Plains a close third with 74. Northport won the C race over Haddam Killingworth of Connecticut, 53-64.

Ryan Scarpelli of Sachem East was the fastest boy, running 15:56 in winning the Varsity B race.

Villa Bears Invitational

Sophomore Mary Cain beat the field by nearly a minute and the Bronxville girls won again, this time with 22 points. Meredith Rizzo was third in 15:18, Courtney Campell seventh in 16:01, Amelia Phillips eighth in 16:11 and Argentina Chrappa 10th in 16:22.

One of New York City's best runners, Alexis Panisse of Benjamin Cardozo, placed second overall in 15:07. Teammate Sabrina Sutherland ran 15:58 for sixth.

VVS Invitational

It's not surprising anymore when the Fayetteville-Manlius girls dominate a race. But it's still almost breath taking how good they are. Running the first girls' race of the day, FM swept the top eight places as all eight broke 19:30. Jillian Fanning's winning time of 18:05 was the best on the day and teammate Christy Rutledge made her return with a 18:23 runner-up finish. Katie Sischo was third in 18:44. Fourth place went to newcomer Annika Avery, a freshman who ran 18:48. Avery has never run for FM before. Katie Brislin was fifth in 19:10 and eighth grader Jenna Farrell was sixth. Seventh place went to another newcomer for FM — Hannah Smith. Heather Martin was eighth for FM in 19:24.

The North Shore girls placed 2-3-4-5 to win Varsity 2 with 24 points. Brianna Nerud, Samantha Nadel, Jessica Donohue and Elizabeth Caldwell ran from 18:35 to 19:35. The lone weakness appears to be a gap of more than a minute from four to five.

Canandaigua had a strong front three runners and their 2-3-4 finish helped the team win Varsity 3.

Holy Names' Leah Triller placed second in 19:23 to lead her team to the win, 50-52, over Pittsford-Mendon in Varsity 4.

The Varsity 5 team title went to Greenwich, which had the third-best team average on the day (19:47).

Two Section 2 powers matched up in Varsity 6. Shenendehowa edged Shaker, 48-60, as Lizzie Predmore led her team to the win.

The final girls' race of the day went to Rush-Henrietta, which topped Guilderland, 55-72. Lizzie Greiner led her team in fifth place.

BOYS: Arlington boys top Shaker, Fayetteville-Manlius has best average

Nick Ryan

The Varsity 2 race was a nice battle beat Walt Whitman and Pearl River. The Pirates put their top three within nine seconds of each other, running 17:03, 17:06 and 17:12 to place 9-10-11. Coach Mike Kiernan was happy with the start to their season.

"The boys are running well," he said. "Our top four are working very well together and we have competition on the back end for the varsity spots, which should hopefully aid in closing the gap on those guys up front. It's early and we still have a lot of work to do, but this was a very good starting point for us."

Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool matched up in Varsity 3 with CNS winning 51-53. Anthony Lupia and Neil Gill led the winning team in third and fourth places.

Pittsford-Mendon is looking like a potential state champion in Class B with a very solid 17:06 average in the Varsity 4 race. Its top five spread a mere 29 seconds.

Honeoye Falls-Lima beat Queensbury, 47-85, in Varsity 5 as Cooper Roach placed second for the winning team.

Varsity 6 was one of the more surprising races of the day. The Arlington boys knocked off Shaker, the NYS pre-season No. 1 selection and U.S. No. 14 in the pre-season. While Shaker was missing Christian Delago and Ethan Hausamann with injury, it was still an impressive win for the Admirals. Arlington placed 4-5-6-8-9 and spread just 33 seconds. Interestly, Shaker has already raced four times this year on a weekend that many New York teams started their season.

Rush-Henrietta easily won the Varsity 7 race with 29 points. Nate Kozyra led his team to victory by winning in 16:12.5. One concern for Rush-Henrietta could be how far removed its fifth runner was - 13th place at 17:40. Even though Arlington and Rush-Henrietta basically tied for the second-best averages of the day at 16:50, the Arlington fifth man was 35 seconds ahead of Rush-Henrietta's.

West Seneca West Invitational

In the large school girls' race, Starpoint edged Frontier for the team title, 52-54, though Fontier's fifth placed six spots higher. It was because of a front three which placed 1-4-13. Livia Chase won the race in 18:49.

Starpoint also won the boys' large schools race, 70-81 over Irondequoit, with a balanced attack.

The East Aurora girls put up a near perfect 16 points. Marta McLaughlin, Paige Anderson, Sarah Anstett and Madeline Murry went 1-2-3-4. McLaughlin's winning time was 18:58.

The East Aurora boys scored 21 points for the win. Sean Phillips, Elli Martynkiewicz, Gene Barritot and Brendan Keany placed 2-3-4-5 to secure the victory.

Brother Doyle Meet of Champions

The Iona men's team, currently ranked fourth in the NCAA DI, easily won its own invitational, scoring 19 points to Brown's 64. Leonard Korir, Mitch Goose, Alexander Soderberg and Mathew Bailey placed 1-2-3-4 to set the tone and all but secure the win. Iona's Craig Murphy and Chris Stogsdill placed ninth and 10th. Stogsdill is a graduate of Marcellus High School in upstate New York.

The Iona women survived a fifth runner back in 44th place to pull out the win. Hollie Rowland won the 6k race in 21:29. Her teammates placed 10th, 14th, 15th and 44th behind her as Penn (86) and Brown (89) were right behind.

South Jersey Shootout

This meet likes to split up a teams top runners into different races. The 'Stud' races are for each team's top two runners. Christin Bettis of Hammonton ran 18:47 to win the girls' race, beating Paige Senatore of Delsea by 21 seconds. The boys race was won by Shawn Wilson of Cherokee, who also beat a Delsea runner, Nick Costello, in second place. Wilson ran 16:06 for the win. After a merge of all races, the Cherokee boys were the best on the day.