2013 NY Boys XC Preview: Overall and Federation

13--  Will there be mud?  The muck at States in recent years seems to alternate between being absent in the even years (Pawling and Elma Meadows) and a loathsome muck or puddle in odd years (S-Plattsburgh and V-V-S), with Sunken Meadows back in 2009 being somewhere in between because it had little race-time precipitation but the course's man-eating sand pits are kind of like mud. So 2013  is an odd year, and that means there shall be mud.

12--  Which school has the nastiest top-runner "routine treatment"?  A lot of teams have named one or two of their top guys to be the intimidator when you visit them for a meet. At Saratoga you get Tookered, at FM you get Hunted down during its anything-goes Millar time, at Hilton you get Ranked out, and at St. A's you get Tuckered out twice over. At Pearl River you're Cooked, at Port Jervis they hit you with a Zanger, at Jordan-Elbridge you get Gugeled, Maple Grove leaves you Wefing, and Sauquoit Valley will give you a Spina injury. And I don't want to know what happens when you go to Lake Shore and get Hornbergered and Butlaked. The season hasn't started yet, but already the action is getting vicious.

11-- What are the Queensbury rules?  Set up to enforce fair-play standards back in the 1800s in that milquetoast sport called boxing, the rules state that contestants are not allowed to engage in wrestling, you can't pummel a guy who falls down, all action takes place in a 24-foot ring, and no spiked footwear is allowed. Obviously at States this year, none of those standards apply, though it would be interesting to see what happens if the Section 2 guys decide to set up one of those constricted 24-foot-sized loops for the course. Wouldn't put it past them.

10--  Who's froshing at the bit?  Last year Ben Petrella of Liverpool and Aidan Tooker of Saratoga established themselves as the top freshman XC runners. This year in contention for the top frosh spots are a bunch of guys who established themselves in XC last year as 8th graders, guys like Jonah Allard of Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons, Collin Beasor of Rhinebeck, Connor Doran and Adam Perilli of Lockport, Paul Suflita of Greece Arcadia, Joe Dougherty of Bronxville, Kyle Fulk of Norwood-Norfolk, William Young of Mamaroneck, and Jemar Ortega of Nyack. Add to that list a group of guys who ran well in track such as David Leff of West Genesee (last name sounds familiar somehow), Tommy Alverman of McQuaid, Brad Farnham of Penfield, and Dylan Savino of North Rockland and you have a potent pack of freshman on the way up.

9-- Which looks to be the toughest sectional war?   There must be something in the mud up in Section 3, because preseason three of its classes are set to have nasty scraps for the title. S3-A has Fayetteville-Manlius trying to hold off Liverpool, West Genesee, and couple other contenders; the always fractious S3-C has Holland Patent, Jordan Elbridge, and Hannibal going at it; and S3-D has Beaver River, Sauquoit Valley, and Utica-Notre Dame fighting it out. Class B's deepest contest seems to be out in S5-B with Pittsford Mendon, Brighton, Honeoye Falls-Lima, and Greece Arcadia giving it a shot, though Section 9 and 1 should have terrific battles between the top two teams.

8-- Which school among this year's top contenders has the most distinct mascot?  Since the Potsdam Stoners missed the cut this year for the top teams in a class or league, the contest for the most interestingly unusual nickname is wide open. We have Flaming Arrows and Witches and Little Red, and as far as I can determine, the nameless ones of Mount Academy (no listing yet for the school on Maxpreps), but I'll go with the Jugglers of Utica-Notre Dame, who obviously have their hands full on the XC trails. 

7--  Who's going to Portland?  There are only two guaranteed spot for NXN at NXN-NY, though up to four tickets may be available. Top candidates based on this year's prospects and past perfomances are Saratoga, Fayetteville-Manlius, and St. Anthony's, but Northport, Liverpool and Chaminade will be looking to go west too.     .

6--  Who's the new guy on the high wire?  Last year Nick Ryan just ran away from the competition at the meets in NY and was the undisputed top guy for the Empire State. So will any of a trio of senior frontrunners in the form of Class A's Mickey Burke, Class B's TJ Hornberger, or the CHSAA's Thomas Slattery be able to navigate the top tightrope? Or will be a junior like Bryce Millar, Benito Muniz, or Mike Branigan decide to set himself up for a top two-year reign as did Ryan? Stay tuned.

5--  Who has the edge in the Friars vs. the Flyers contest?  St. Anthony's has been steadily rising in the NY power rankings for the last four years and in 2012 its pack was just a short ways behind NXN finalists Fayetteville-Manlius and Saratoga at NXN-NY. Entering 2013 as one of the top four rated teams in the State, the Friars still can't sit easy even on their home turf because archrival Chaminade has the CHSAA's top two runners and a solid enough team to make a strong run at ending St. Anthony's streak of league titles. This contest is definitely worth watching.

4--  Is the Mount high enough?  In its first year of competition, Mount Academy toppled the competition in Class D and had a frontrunner in the top 20 at Feds. Now as a known quantity and a couple guys moving onward from last year's team, will the new kid on the block still be king of the hill in Class D this year with its deep squad against a flock of traditional States contenders?

3-- Will the real Class C favorite please stand up?  In preseason none of the Class C teams look overwhelming, and in fact all have issues big enough to run a Manhattan Invitational JV race through. So will reigning champ Pawling or 2011 victor Holland Patent kidnap enough guys from the soccer team to contend again? Will Rhinebeck show it can stay healthy? Will Adirondack capture its first sectional title? Can the Bronxville guys' team show their girls who's the real boss at the school? Many questions here, and we'll just have to C what develops.

2--  Who's going to let it B?  Three of the top four teams in last year's States B race were steamrolled by graduation losses, with only Pittsford Mendon getting through with as few as two hits to the top 5 core. Now the Vikings hope they have the legs to plunder their first States title, but do they have a strong enough crew to hold off a group of teams like Port Jervis, Cornwall, Burnt Hills, Pearl River, and Tappan Zee that have a more full squad of old hands coming back for this year's campaigning season.

1--  Who's going for an A ?  Prognostications for Class A are always a little muddled, as the likelihood of a team like last year's Saratoga Springs riding a well-engineered late-season surge to the title is always in the cards. This year Saratoga again joins the usual set of contestants such as FM and Northport, but we may also see a less heralded pack of upstarts such as Liverpool, West Genesee, Syosset, and Webster Thomas make a run at the top spot.

Matt's What I'm Talking About    In one of those freaky type things that regularly happen in XC, the 3rd through 6th place finishers plus the 9th place guy were all named Matt in the States C race. Champion Pawling frontrunner Matt Jorgenson put out the welcome mat for his namesake brethren, and he was followed by Matt Gill of Watkins Glen, Matt Hoffman of Fonda-Fultonville, Solvay's Matt Cregan, and then Schuylerville's Matt Watson in 9th, thus composing half of the top 10. The Bronxville 7th place finisher and Maple Hill 8th place runner were considering changing their names to Matt Flannery and Matt Healy to keep things rolling. And the really strange part of it was that there were no guys winding up in the top 20 named Matt in any of the other three States races.

Big Bro, Little Sis    In one of the more unusual States coincidences last year, Greenwich's Spezio duo of sophomore Jeremy and freshman Tori ran to 2nd places in Class D, and of course they both will be back for a few more shots at the title. Another States runner-up was Jordan-Elbridge freshman Abby Gugel in the C race, and her junior brother Jack also took home a States medal. Schuylerville 8th grader Ashley Watson was another part of a big bro-little sis medalist tandem with senior brother Matt in the class C races. Perhaps the most famous members of the club are the Whitneys, whose younger speedster Laura won the first two of her four States titles in 1977 and 1978 as an 8th and 9th grader at the same time that first brother Mark and then Andy won Class C crowns.

The Brothers vs. Sisters Showdown     Each year going on along with the States sideshows of the Class A-B-C-D races, the only contest that anyone really cares about grabs the limelight as the guys and the girls battle to see which side can place the most sets of siblings into action. The girls got off to a good start at Elma Meadows as 11 sets of sisters including two sets of triple siblings dashed around bunkers and fairways. Though facing a big challenge, the guys roared back to overall victory with 12 brother combos that included the Byler trio of Addison. Though they were edged in the triples category, the guys took the win by triumphing in both the sets contest 12-11 and overall individuals score by 25-24.

6 + 1     One of the oddest championship compositions ever at States was Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons formation of 6 seniors with number two guy Jonah Allard, an 8th grader. So Jonah's varsity teammates may all be ready to graduate from college when he takes his last run at States.

Battle of the Bigs    Pocketing its 4th States title in the largest NY division last year, Saratoga tied Fayetteville-Manlius for the second-most heavy-medal crowns. Shenendehowa has collected 6 titles since getting its first back in 1994. I'm hoping this is not secret information since it doesn't seem to get recognized in recent States souvenir programs.

Going Back to Back    FM senior Nick Ryan's repeat for the States A title was the first back-to-back in A or AA contests since Orchard Park's Peter Meindl pulled it off in 2000 and 2001. Notre Dame-Batavia's Jeff Antolos also repeated last year, though his titles came in 2011 in Class D and then in Class C in 2012 after his team got assigned upward. The last guy to pull off a C-D pair of titles was Tully's Lopez Lomong in 2002 and 2003, and the last runner previously to repeat before Ryan and Antolos was Seton Cathloic-Plattsburgh's Mike Champagne with D titles in 2008 and 2009.