Cross Country Weekend Review IV

The Staten Island Advance was the source of the quotes which follow.

The best boys' team in New York City is once again the Monsignor Farrell, which beat Collegiate, 32-58, in the NYC Mayor's Cup Championships at Van Cortlandt Park. Farrell placed 1-5-7-9-10-11, averaging 13:25, as Daniel Galford won the individual title in 13:05 over Adam Yohanan of Bronx Science.

The second runner for Farrell was John Bentivenga, who placed fifth in 13:24, leading a Farrell pack of five who each finished within 16 seconds. The jayvee squad also won its race, showing that Farrell is well situated for many years to come.

"When you work hard, it's very gratifying to get positive results," said Farrell coach Tom Cuffe. "Our goal today, one, (was) to have a low compression (30 seconds) between the one-through-five runners; two, to have the top five runners finish in the top 10; and three, make sure all the runners drive to the finish line."

They came close to those goals — finishing with a 35-second compression — but accomplishing the other two.

Jaclyn Panepinto of Port Richmond won the girls' championship race in 16:09, but her team was upset by Staten Island rival St. John Villa, 61-64. Port Richmond put two runners in front of Villa's first, but its fourth and fifth girls were outscored by a combined 17 points.

Led by Cecilia Pflegling in fourth and Danielle Iacampo ninth, SJV won the meet by sweeping 16th through 20th places, the third-through-seventh girls finishing within 12 seconds.

"We don't have any superstars on our team," said Villa coach Mike Proffitt. "We didn't run a great race today, but our pack came through."

At the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, N.C., the Saratoga Springs (N.Y.) girls got a great race from Tatnall (Del.), but the Blue Streaks pulled out the win, 64-72. Haley Pierce, an Armory regular last season, ran 17:32 to beat Katie Fortner of Cave Springs (Va.) by three seconds. Saratoga freshman Estella Smith was sixth in 17:54 to lead her squad. Her teammate placed 8-11-12-20 behind her to secure the win despite averaging three seconds more per runner than Tatnall.

In the Boys' Race of Champions, Daniel Moore of Holy Trinty (Fla.) ran 14:57 for the win. Cardinal O'Hara (Pa.) won the team title, 119-129, over Great Oak (Calif.) while Bishop Hendricken (R.I.) was the top Northeast team in fourth.

Maroon Invitational

The Ridgewood and Seton Hall Prep boys staged a heck of a battle at Garret Mountain. Ridgewood beat The Prep, 70-71, and both teams averaged exactly the same time (18:05.2). Seton Hall Prep had huge 14-point lead through the first four runners but Ridgewood's Ryan Neville outscored his counterpart by 15 to secure the win. Also key was Ridgewood's sixth man - Alex Sarappo - placing 27th to displace Seton Hall Prep's fifth.

Domenic D'Agostino of Wallington won by nearly a minute when he stopped the clock at 16:19.

Brooks Paul Short Invitational

ArmoryTrack.com college article here

The La Salle (Pa.) team won easily, outscoring Holy Ghost Prep 154-227 in the 44-team Brown race. The North Rockland (N.Y.) boys placed fifth with 262 points. The Cornwall boys placed 13th in the White race, won by West Chester Henderson (Pa.).

New York City's Alexis Panisse — a senior at Benjamin Cardozo — ran a spectacular race to place third in the Brown race in 17:50. According to TullyRunners.com, Panisse should be ranked in the top eight overall in New York State. That puts her in the conversation for Foot Locker Nationals or Nike Cross Nationals.

Cardozo coach Ray James talked about how he likes to take his top girls out of the City to expose them to both different competition and more college coaches. This was a break-out race for Panisse after what James called a "sub-par" performance in Rhode Island last week.

Notre Dame Inviational

The Florida State women blasted the field in the Blue race, beating Arkansas 54-116, as Greenwich (N.Y.) graduate Caitlin Lane placed 14th in 17:20 for the 5,000-meter course.

The BYU men beat Florida State, 46-93, in the Blue race. Princeton — running a split squad — was third. Tiger senior Donn Cabral was second overall in 24:00, losing to Miles Batty of BYU by just a second. Former New Jersey prep star Brian Leung was the second Tiger in 14th place. Packer Collegiate (N.Y.) graduate Eddie Owens placed 51st in 24:56, right behind his teams fourth and fifth runners.

Beaver River Invitational

Franklin Academy swept both team and individual titles. The girls won, 49-57, while the boys also beat Beaver River, 28-43. Conor Gordan and Rebekkah Bond were the champs.

Brewster Bear Invitational

It was simply a mudfest at Brewster High School. The course — which is great for spectators — is laid out almost entirely on athletic field around the school grounds. When the heavy rains came on Friday, after a super wet month, the course had no chance. What is usually a very fast course became just another slow one as the runners tried in vain to fight through the slop.

Nanuet sophomore MaryKate O'Meara beat teammate Megan Young for the win in Varsity I as Nanuet easily took the team title. Young — a two-time state champion — looked lost in the mud, her long stride apparently not suited for such conditions.

Gianna Frontera of Newburgh had the best time of the day, running 19:03 and winning by over two minutes.

Brewster won both the boys and girls varsity races. Justin Maguire led the Bears with a win in the Varsity III race in 16:37, the day's fastest. Port Jervis (N.Y.) and Newtown (Conn.) were also team champs.

Grout Invitational

The boys' Division C race was the best of the day as Fonda-Fultonville edged out Rhinebeck, 49-51. It all came down to fifth runners battling it our down the home stretch. Fonda's Omijah Piening beat Rhinebeck's Otto Neiler, 15:29.02 to 15:29.59, to secore the win. You see, Rhinebeck has a better sixth man, so if those two runners had flip flopped then the teams would have tied at 50 and Rhinebeck would have won on a very rare sixth-man tie breaker.

The Connetquot girls made the trip up to Schenectady from Long Island and came away with a 43-44 win over a tough Shaker team. Connetquot's top three were too much to overcome, placing 2-3-4. Granville's Alica Clark won the C race in 15:48, the fastest of the day.

McQuaid Invitational

Cameron Bruce of Lansing ran 15:21 to win the Varsity A race and earn the Steve Prefontaine Award for the fastest boy of the day. North East (Pa.) won the race, 116-121 over Barker, the New York State No. 1 Class D team.

Walsh Jesuit (Ohio) took the Varsity AA race, 77-113, over the top-ranked Class B team in New York, Pittsford Mendon. Burnt Hills placed third to move from No. 5 to No. 2 in the latest state rankings.

The matchup between Shaker and Rush Henrietta lived up to its billing with Shaker taking it, 79-82. The Bison lost points on the third man, but made those points back up on the fourth and fifth runners to nail down the win. Rush-Henrietta will be looking for revenge on Sunday as the two teams go at it again in the Eastern States Championships at the Manhattan College Invitational.

Maple Grove (N.Y) proved deserving of its top state ranking in Class D by winning the Varsity A race. The squad from Western New York beat Villa Maria Academy, 57-135, averaging more than a minute faster per girl.

The Burnt Hills (N.Y.) girls dominated the Varsity AA race, averaging 18:34 over the muddy 3.0-mile course. Teammate Dani Martino and Schuyler Pruyn placed first and third to lead the team to a 28-59 win over a very good East Aurora (N.Y.) squad.

Canandiagua (N.Y.) and Honeoye Falls-Lima (N.Y.) went at it in the Varsity AAA race with Canandiagua winning 65-76. HFL had a better back end but couldn't make up the points lost on the top three. West Genesee sophomore Laura Leff ran 17:14 to record the day's fastest time and earn the Victory Cup.

Shore Coaches Invitational

Edward Cheserek destroyed the field and the course record, winning the Championships race by more than a minute.

Cheserek overshadowed what should have been the story of the day, the fact that Christian Brothers Academy (N.J.) placed 2-3-4-5-6 behind him, averaging 16:08 and scoring a perfect 15 points. CBA is the top-ranked team in the country and will next race Sunday at the Eastern States Championships at the Manhattan College Invitational.

Voorhees (N.J.) won the girls race, 40-43, over Mount St. Dominic Caldwell (N.J.).

St. Anthony's Invitational

Cardinal Gibbons (N.C) made the trip up and dominated the field, beating Suffern (N.Y.) 18-42. Gibbons' Steven Phillips and Tommy Schotzinger went 1-2 before Suffern's Evan Ward came in third. Then came three more Tar Heel State runners in 4-5-6 to close it out.

The St. Anthony's boys looked very good — scoring 23 points and winning the Varsity A-2 race over Port Washington. The Friars averaged 17:01 over the tough 5,000-meter course. Thomas Diliberto beat Tappan Zee's Joe Dinan, 16:52 to 16:54. The Friars placed all five scorers in the top eight.

Mary Cain of Bronxville had the fastest time of the day yet again — this time running 18:28 to win the small school race. Teammate Meredith Rizzo continued her fine season, placing second in 19:30. Kelsey Margey of Friends Academy ran 18:58 to win the Varsity A-21 race. Garden City and Northport were the other team champions.

Tully Invitational

Cicero-Noth Syracuse won the boys' varsity race as Anthony Lupia won in 16:35. Fayetteville-Manlius ran the jayvee squad and won the varsity race, 27-38 over CNS. Jacqlynn Halstead won the race for CNS in 19:20.

Whitesboro Invitational

Both the boys' and girls' varsity races were close finishes here. Rome beat Whitesboro for the boys' title, 62-65, and Holland Patent beat Scotia-Glenville, 75-81.

NYRR Harry Murphy Classic

Nearly 300 runners finished the tough 5,000-meter course at Van Cortlandt Park. Konrad Surkont, a 17-year-old from Flushing who attends Stuyvesant High, won the race in 16:31. A year ago he was in the high school cross country team and last winter he won the PSAL 1,600m title.

Christina Argueta of Central Park Track Club won the women's title in 19:08, beating NYAC's Caitlin Phillips by two seconds.