2017 NY Girls XC Preview: Class A

2017 XC Previews

Perry King

Aug 09, 2017

West Genesee

Wildcats

Section: 3

Class: A

Colors: Blue and gold

West Genesee's Emily Young and Mia Mitchell were the second and third Wildcats in the Manhattan Eastern States race behind frontrunner Carly Benson and both went on to qualify for States in 2016.

XC History

States Teams:

States Individuals (Top 10 finishers): Elizabeth McMahon (2005, AA-9th), Laura Leff (2009, AA-9th) (2010, AA-4th) (2011, A-2nd)

Last Year's Summary: 18th in Federations, 2nd in Sectionals A

Roster
Name	Grade	Sect. Place	Top Notes	States Results	Season TR
Carly Benson	12	11	5th in McQuaid-AAA	---	121
Mia Mitchell	10	10	9th in CNYCL	64	117
Emily Young	12	9	2nd in Chittenango-1	36	116
Kendall Dombroske	11	18	21st in CNYCL		96+
Elizabeth Morey	10	20	15th in Marathon-Sd		91
Elizabeth Baker	10	28	85th in Manhattan-ES		90
Taylor Rech	9	--	(11:14 in 3000m, track)		90 (est)
Hannah Craybas	10	50	19th in CNYCL		84

This Year's Outlook

West Genesee surged back last year with the influx of newcomers Young and Mitchell who finished the season as States finalists. Longtime frontrunner Benson was also back in strong form in four big meets in September and October before falling back. Everyone returns on the varsity from last year's squad, and if the development continues and everyone is healthy, the Wildcats could find themselves up among the top 5 teams in the state.

Monroe-Woodbury

Section: 9

Class: A

Jessica Pidgeon (no. 135) sprinted home 20th at the Federation meet to lead the Crusaders to 5th place after they finished 4th at States.

XC History

States Teams: 1976 A-4th), 1977 (A-3rd), 1978 (A-6th), 1980 (A-5th), 1984 (A-7th), 1985 (A-5th), 1986 (A-2nd), 1991 (A-5th), 1993 (A-3rd), 1994 (A-5th), 1996 (A-4th), 1999 (A-9th), 2002 (A-4th), 2004 (AA-7th), 2008 (AA-5th), 2008 (AA-5th), 2009 (AA-3rd), 2010 (AA-5th), 2011 (A-6th), 2014 (A-5th), 2015 (A-5th), 2016 (A-4th)

States Individuals (Top 10 finishers): Donna Halpin (1975, A-7th) (1976, A-6th) (1977, A-7th), Stacey Boyce (1982, A-6th) (1984, A-3rd), Julianne Littman (1991, A-5th) (1992, A-3rd) (1994, A-9th), Megan Patrignelli (2009, AA-10th)

Last Year's Summary: 5th in Federation, 4th in States A, 1st in Sectionals A

Roster
Name	Grade	Sect. Place	Top Notes	States Results	Season TR
Jessica Pidgeon	11	2	20th in Federation	21	125
Julia Hoyt	12	5	58th in Federation	61	108
Daniella Napoli	11	8	9th in OCIAA	72	106
Sarah Kern	11	11	16th in OCIAA	77	102
Rachel Hirschkind	11		7th in Crusader		94
Kristina Boylan	12		1st in Manhattan-JV-B		91
Ella Dephillips	11		2nd in OCIAA-JV		89
Erin Cytryn	12		3rd in OCIAA-JV		86

This Year's Outlook

After the loss of a few key runners from last year's senior class, Monroe-Woodbury starts the 2017 season a tad behind where they began last year and with a little less depth. Pidgeon had a breakout sophomore season in 2016 and returns to lead a team that was 4th at States. The Crusaders have a solid pack of Hoyt, Napoli and Kern behind Pidgeon and will be favored to win their 4th straight Section 9 Class A title, but they may need a fair-sized boost from the top 5 to move up at States.

Liverpool

Warriorss

Section: 3

Class: A

Colors: Orange and blue

Liverpool's Jenna Schulz kicked in just one place away from a trip to Nationals at NXN-NY in 9th, one spot ahead of Shenendehowa's Hannah Reale.

XC History

States Teams: 2002 (A-5th)

States Individuals (Top 10 finishers): Jennifer Rhines (1989, A-10th) (1990, A-3rd) (1991, A-2nd), Karen Polinsky (1993, A-10th), Jenna Schulz (2016, A-10th)

Last Year's Summary: 10th in NXN-NY, 6th in Federation, 3rd in Sectionals A

Roster
Name	Grade	Sect. Place	Top Notes	States Results	Season TR
Jenna Schulz	10	6	9th in NXN-NY	10	133
Madison Neuner	11	8	5th in Manhattan-D	39	119
Windsor Ardner	11	24	26th in CNYCL		92
Natalie Kurz	12	22	46th in McQuaid-AAA		92
Isabella Brancato	10	25	33rd in CNYCL		82
Rosie Petrella	10	39	86th in NXN-NY		71

This Year's Outlook

The Warriors rebounded for a strong Top 10 ranked season last year even though they again finished 3rd in S3-A. Jenna Schulz had a huge first season as a freshman when she went 10th-10th-9th at States-Feds-NXN-NY, and Liverpool has five of the top 6 back including Madison Neuner who was also a States finalist last year. The still fairly young Warriors squad should battle West Genesee for the 2nd spot behind Fayetteville-Manlius at Sectionals this year.

Colonie

Raiders

Section: 2

Class: A

Colors: Garnet and gold

Kathryn Tenney again usually was the frontrunner for Colonie as a sophomore last year and finished 7th in the Manhattan E race.

XC History

States Teams: 1985 (A-1st), 1999 (A-1st)

States Individuals (Top 10 finishers): Rachel Simone (1985, A-9th), Katie Twarog (1997, A-7th) (1998, A-1st) (1999, A-4th), Jen Kramer (1998, A-10th) (1999, A-6th), Eryka Perrault (2001, A-4th), Anna Jankowski (2002, A-7th)

Last Year's Summary: 14th in Federations, 5th in Sectionals A

Roster
Name	Grade	Sect. Place	Top Notes	States Results	Season TR
Kathryn Tenney	11	23	1st in Grout-2		120
Marilyn O'Brien	12	21	3rd in Ocean State		110
Sophia Biscognano	10	35	11th in Brown-2		104
Julia Cogan	10	54	5th in Suburban-JV		92
Samantha Pellegrini	12	56	46th in Suburban Council		88
Madison Stealey	10		3rd in Brown-JV		83
Lydia Frick	11		16th in Suburban Council-JV		83

This Year's Outlook

The Raiders fell back last year and then lost three of their top 6 to graduation. Kathryn Tenney moves into her third year as frontrunner for Colonie and will be needing a surge from a pack of sophomores behind her to keep the team competitive in the ever-tough S2-A..

Sachem East

Flaming Arrows

Section: 11

Class: A

Colors: Red, black and gold

Sachem East's Rachel Ruggiero (no. 1181) ran to a 25th place at the state championship last year as the Flaming Arrows' sole finalist.

XC History

States Teams: 1997 (A-2nd), 1998 (A-6th), 2014 (A-6th), 2015 (A-4th)

States Individuals (Top 10 finishers): Linda Detlefsen (1978, A-2nd), Karen Labbadia (1992, A-8th), 1993 (A-7th), Jackie Berman (1996, A-6th) (1997, A-6th), Jeanna Composti (1997, A-5th), Rachel Paul (2011, A-9th)

Last Year's Summary: 11th in NXN-NY, 13th in Federation, 2nd in Sectionals A

Roster
Name	Grade	Sect. Place	Top Notes	States Results	Season TR
Lindsay Dodenhoff	11	7	24th in NXN-NY		122
Rachel Ruggiero	12	4	27th in NYN-NY	25	122
Melissa Marone	10	24	54th in Manhattan-ES		99
Kaitlyn Famiglietti	12	37	48th in Burnt Hills-3		86
Chelsea Benedict	12	46	65th in Burnt Hills-3		82
Shayna Arrigo	12	27	45th in Burnt Hills-3		80

This Year's Outlook

The Flaming Arrows were beat out for the S11-A title after two straight championships in a rebuilding year last season. They start 2017 with a strong 1-2 punch of Ruggiero and Dodenhoff at the top and all but the runner who walks so well (Lauren Harris, 2017 graduate) back from last year's team, so Sachem East will actually be rated a little higher than the reigning champ Ward Melville. There's a lot of room for runners to grow in the 2-6 spots, but SE should be heavily in the mix of four teams battling for the Sectional title.

2017 NY Girls XC Preview: Class A

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