Clashes and Course Records at 'Quaid - Full McQuaid Invitational Meet Recap

Notes: On the starting line, both Ben Petrella and Kenny Vasbinder knew what was at stake. For each, they had heard about Affolder's record performance earlier in the day. Affolder had stolen Vasbinder's newly minted course record at Crusader a few weeks back. Petrella had overtaken Affolders winning mark at the VVS Invitational, despite being in different races. And they knew eachother as two of the top performers in NYS. As the gun went off, the pair got out early, pulling Donny Glavin along for the ride. The pair began to separate at the mile mark, and they continued pushing through 2 miles. At 2.5, Petrella pushed ahead, and began to break the competition. Ben Petrella would surge down the finishing straight, securing the win, but missing out on the chance to challenge the course record.

Behind the front two, Ty Brownlow was moving into contention, passing Glavin in the final stretches, while Corning's Brian Bates was separating as well.

Notes: One of the fiercest team battles in State History, ended in one of the most confusing.

East Aurora had pushed through with an impenetrable pack through the first half of the race. A tight compression of four, behind front runner Vasbinder. But Liverpool is renowned for being a second half team, taking it out easy in the early stages of racing. The race was decided almost entirely in the last 200m. Ty Brownlow (L) caught Donny Glavin with 20m to go, and leaned in front to lower his team score. TJ Murray (EA) saw opportunity, and squeezed an extra slot at the line in front of Peter Kane. Stevie Schulz (L) saw an East Aurora jersey of Ian Russ in front, and with 5m to go, dove over the line to clinch another team point. Terrell Coleman (L) sprinted the final straightaway. Then the final push. Ryan Comstock (L) was Liverpool's 5th man. In front of him, he saw a pair of East Aurora jersey's, their 6th and 7th displacers. Comstock dove through the line, splitting the pair. It would be the deciding point in a race finish that was close through every man.

As the scores streamed in, the score was close. At first, it was a tie at 61 points, in Liverpool's favor, then it switched to a tie at 64 points, in East Aurora's favor. That then bumped up again to a tie at 65. Here is where it gets dicey.

Jesuit schools break ties differently than Federation rules apply, as stated in the meet program. Federation rules state that the 6th man is the tie-breaker in these situations, which would give the win to East Aurora. But Jesuit ruling states that to break the tie, you score the teams against each other in a duel meet, through five runners. The advantage switched back to Liverpool giving them the team title. However, East Aurora would take home the merge title, and the title under Federation rules.

This ruling simply adds to strange variations in tie-breakers. The American East College conference breaks ties by the best placing first place team finisher. Other conferences break ties on team average. Other variations go by top finishing 5th man. Either way, there was much confusion on the line. But what is proven, is that both Liverpool and East Aurora are solid, nation level teams, and will have much to say later in the season.