Standings Set To Be Squared Away At Chenango - Pre-State Preview Blowout

If one race could be designated as the Seeded Section, this would be it.  At the top of the list, you have the known quantity in Patrick Perry, of Fayetteville-Manlius.  However, Perry is only known because he is the only front runner who has raced straight up so far, producing a 180 speed rating two weeks ago.  Perry has the highest lifetime rating of the group, but will be facing off against two worthy competitors who can call Chenango Valley their home-section course.  Kevin Moshier of Corning is the reigning Indoor State Mile Champion, and will looking to make the same kind of breakthroughs on the cross country course.  Jake Avery's team of Ithaca was denied a trip to States last year by Corning, yet finished higher at States than any returning Corning member.

And those are only the runners vying for the team win as well.  Add in Matt Sayre of Lakeland, who took the second fastest time of the day at Suffern the week before, and you have a real race. Next, take Joe Doerr (McQuaid) and Mike Peppy (Maple Grove), both from well established programs, and things get more than interesting.  Rounding out the field is Dom Morganti of CBA Syracuse who looked strong at Chittenango, alongside the rising sophomore Ray Sambrotto (West Seneca East).

This race is loaded.

They are arguably the three best teams in the State right now (only Warwick splits them in the State Rankings), and they are all entered in the same race.  Fayetteville-Manlius and Ithaca were ranked 1-2 in the pre-season, after both of them failed to make the State Meet in 2015.  They return with much more solidified teams, but will be running against the State Runner-Up from last year, Corning.  The projections are so close heading into this meet that there is no clear favorite.  Throw out the rankings after this one, and just let the race results stand.