by Tim Fulton — posted on 12/16/2011

USATF Results

Before becoming stars in high school, a handful of athletes gain valuable experience competing at the USATF Junior Olympics, like the recent cross country championships held at Whispering Pines Golf Course in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Leading the way locally was the Brooklyn-based Prospect Park Youth Club founded by Sean Rice, a former Midwood High coach who ran at Bishop Ford. Rice — who established the team to give his sons more opportunities to compete — wound up building one of the best clubs in the country. His eldest son, John, now a freshmen at Xavier High, ran 8:13.77 on the 1.64-mile freshman course at Van Cortlandt Park this year, the second-fastest time ever for a CHSAA rookie.

In the bantam boys division in South Carolina, Prospect Park placed third overall in the 3,000-meter race with 112 points. Tobias Zinner led the team in 12th place while teammate Robert Straight was 17th and Ethan Rice 32nd. The sub-bantam girls race saw Sophia Bruno of Prospect place 18th, covering the 2,000-meter distance in 8:34. Teammate Owen Hassler was 15th in the boys' sub-bantam.

A handful of other local teams had success including local high school star Gianna Frontera of Newburgh placing second in the intermediate girls race, finishing 5k in 17:57. Sarah Flynn from Westchester County ran to an 11th-place finish in the bantam girls, right behind long Islander Catherine Farrell's 10th-place finish. Farrell competes for Team Sports Center and covered the 3,000-meter course in 11:26. Finally, in the youth boys race, James Burke of the Infant Jesus Track Club was our only local winner as he ran 12:40.8 on the 4,000-meter course.

Prospect Park will now take to the track and will be racing at The Armory on December 26th at The Armory Youth Holiday Classic and the Millrose Trials on January 11th.