The City Belongs To...

The good folks at weather.com don't sing this song very often. As of Tuesday afternoon, that website is predicting ZERO percent chance of precipitation in the metro. So why not spend about five or six hours taking in the various city championships on the final weekend of high school action at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. ArmoryTrack.com will be on hand at both the state championships as well as Vanny.

CHSAA Intersectionals

The 82nd Annual CHSAA Intersectional Championships — the "City Champs" — will be contested Saturday — the girls' varsity race going off at 1:25 pm and the boys varsity race following at 1:45 pm.

The individual race should come down to Thomas Awad of Chaminade and Dan Galford of Farrell. Galford was third, in 13:03, a year ago as a sophomore while Awad was sixth in 13:20. But this year at the Manhattan College Invitational both runners broke 13:00 with Galford running 12:54 and Awad 12:57.

Ryan Phillips of Regis could also challenge for the win. Phillips has run between 12:58 and 13:04 four times this season — with his fastest coming last week in the NYCHSAA Sectional.

The boys' team race will match up three state-ranked squads — No. 5 St. Anthony's, No. 6 Monsignor Farrell and No. 11 Chaminade. Last year St. Anthony's edged Chaminade, 59-61, for the title and Farrell — then a young team — was fourth.

This year's meet will be very interesting. St. Anthony's appears to be the favorite here, but things are a little different on the 2.5-mile course.

St. Anthony's coach Tim Dearie thinks his boys are ready. "We're excited for Intersectional Championships," he said. "We've been keeping our eye on Farrell all season as I know they've been doing the same with us. The only time we've competed with them was at the Easterns, which we won, but that race is another world from this type of race. While we'll certainly be paying attention to any teams in front of or with us, we're confident in our abilities and feel if we can execute our plan and run to our potential, we have an excellent chance to win."

Farrell's top five times this year are 12:54, 13:24, 13:26, 13:27 and 13:30 while St. Anthony's top marks are 13:18, 13:28, 13:32, 13:36 and 13:38. It looks like this is going to be another close one at Van Cortlandt Park.

Coach Tom Cuffe of Farrell also feels his boys are ready. "Everyone is looking forward to Saturday," he reported. "We feel confident and well prepared. The guys training has been going very well and we are looking to have an outstanding battle with the Friars at the Mecca."

The CHSAA girls' individual race is between Caroline Brown of Holy Trinity, Kerri Flynn of St. Anthony's and Flynn's teammate Victoria Ciotti. Last week at the NSCHSAA Championshops at Sunken Meadow State Park, Brown beat Ciotti, 19:43 to 19:56, with Flynn third in 20:02.

But the girls also run the classic 2.5-mile course instead of the 5,000-meter course — and the shorter distance could change the finish order. Brown does have the best time this year at the shorter distance as she ran 15:51 early in the season. But Kerri Butler of Notre Dame and Ciotti have also broken 16:00 this season and could very well steal the victory.

St. Anthony's — the favorite for the team title — will try to make up for a five-point loss to Kellenberg a year ago.The Friars have a chance to score somewhere in the low 40s. Notre Dame will be the challenger, but will need a strong performance from a fifth runner to have a chance. Projections would put ND around 65 points.

PSAL City Championships

The New York City Public Schools Athletic League will sandwich its championships in just before lunch — the boys at 11:05 am and the girls following at 11:30 am.

The PSAL has a qualifying system in place to determine the competitors in the championship race. This year 23 boys' teams and 20 girls' have made the cut and the full list of participants is posted here.

There will also be individual races for all runners whose teams did not qualify for the team championship race. Those runners are still eligible to qualify for the NYS Federation Championships. The boys individual race will be at 10:15 am and the girls at 10:40 am.

The girls' team race should be a rematch of the PSAL Staten Island Championships — where Port Richmond beat Curtis, 38-39. Port Richmond's led by Jaclyn Panepinto and Amanda DeLaCruz, who placed 2-3 at the Borough champs.

Curtis has a very nice pack of girls who finished within 65 seconds of one another at the Borough championships. This is a deeper race and the expectations is that Curtis can pick up more points on Port Richmond's fifth, which should give them a chance to come back.

The individual title should go to Benjamin Cardozo's Alexis Panisse, arguably the best PSAL cross country runner since the Lynch sisters of Hunter College High in the 1980s. Panisse's teammate Sabrina Sutherland could give the Judges a 1-2 finish.

The boys team title looks like a battle between PSAL No. 1 Stuyvesant and PSAL No. 2 Bronx Science. Three weeks ago Stuyvesant beat Science, 115-123, at the Section 1 Coaches Invitational in Bowdoin Park. Stuyvesant has better up-front strength, but Bronx Science might have a better back end — which should make for a tight race.

Stuyvesant's Konrad Surkont is a clear favorite here, but perhaps he will be challenged by teammate Jack Stevenson and Mitchell Kun of Sheepshead Bay. Bronx Science sophmore Pier Berkmans could also be with the leaders.

NYAIS Championships

The New York State Association of Independent Schools will also run championships this Saturday at VCP as it will serve as the qualifier for the NYS Federation Championships for those schools. The boys' varsity championship race will go off at 9:15 am with the girls following right after at 9:25 am.

The boys' race should very well be the Collegiate show, as the heavy favorite could score fewer than 25 points. Last year it scored 28 to Trinity's 115. Collegiate's top runners Will McDuffie and Marco Pompilj should battle for the title with Trinity's Nick Ellenoff.

The Brearley School is the clear-cut favorite for the girls' team race, but should get a close challenge from Hackley. A year ago Brearley beat Horace Mann, 59-119, as Hackley was fifth.

The girls' individual title race could be a very good one as four girls have a strong chances here. Marymount's Isabel Villalba, Friends Seminary's Beax Mitton, Lydia Davenport of The Chapin School, and Katie Hanss of Brearley are all capable while Villalba is the top returner from last year.