2013 NY Boys XC Preview: Overall and Federation

Aug 05, 2013

New York State XC Season Guide
--- Boys 2013 ---



Season Intro
Another cross country season of gigantically exciting proportions fast approaches with all the glory up for grabs at the old the familiar settings.. Along with the glory and ecstasy is naturally a lot of unimaginable pain, sweat and suffering, but for those who want to mix in some fun there is always the Six Flags Wild Safari down in New Jersey which is great for those who can outrun the lions or who at least have a few slower teammates. Working as always off the speed ratings compiled on the Tully Runners site and individual and team profiles, the New York State XC Season Guide provides a lot of team performance and historical data and many questions about that most unknowable of all subjects: who's going to be lighting it up on the XC trails this fall. Fortunately, many of last year's runners decided to stick around for another go at NY XC, and among them are a lot with puffy resumes. The Season Guide includes an overview of the NYSPHSAA class action for A, B, C, and D, and this year also adds coverage of the Federation leagues for New York City and Buffalo teams consisting of public school PSAL, Catholic school CHSAA, and independent school AIS. With about 85 team profiles included, the guide is a bit chunky and is thus divided into five hopefully more digestible portions on the NY Milesplit site. The top teams are sorted on the average Tully Runners speed ratings (TR) of the top 5 returning runners, which is a convenient but certainly not optimal way to compare teams that are unbalanced or have a lot of new blood. The regression factored listings on Tully Runners are far more nuanced, but everything in preseason is fuzzy, so none of the numbers tossed into the articles have much gravity to them. And as with last year, all information here that does unfortunately manage to seep its way into your cranial cavities should be removed once the season begins. Cheers to yet another XC season like no other.



Nick Ryan of Fayetteville-Manlius hits the tape at the NXN-NY regional. Credit: NY Milesplit

2012 Season Summary

The 2012 season featured a great wave of change crashing over the NY XC world everywhere except in the NY City area, which got smashed by a natural cataclysm instead. Although many of the usual cast of characters headed to States from the various sections, the four team title winners included three first-time champs along with a team that had not won a crown in seven years. Saratoga nipped the favored reigning champ Fayetteville-Manlius by a point for the Class A title in the Blue Streaks' first visit to States since 2005. Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons made its first trip to States and hauled away the B trophy, Pawling finally broke through for an elusive C crown after finishing 2nd or 3rd five times in recent years, and a fledgling Mount Academy captured the D title. NYC had the only holdovers for titles as St. Anthony's won the CHSAA crown and dominated among the non-NYSPHSAA leagues, while Collegiate was again far above the other teams in the AIS. The weather had momentous effects on the XC action as Hurricane Sandy wiped away the Section 8 and 11 state qualifier meets and with them some of the most anticipated sectional match-ups. The mud at .Portland Meadows for NXN also took its toll in a meet that for NY qualifiers turned into something more resembling a rugby scrum. Three guys who did provide some continuity were FM's repeat States A and NXN-NY winner and top NY runner Nick Ryan, Notre Dame-Batavia's Jeff Antolos who added a C crown to the D title he won in 2011, and Monsignor Farrell's Dan Galford who took his second straight CHSAA title. Senior runners made it a clean sweep at States as Marcellus's Ryan Manahan got the B title and Geneseo's Gabe Rodriguez cruised to victory in D. Arlington senior Sibby Hanson took the Federation title as a talented class of runners took their final bows.



Sibby Hanson of Arlington powers home for the win at the Federation Championship.

2013 Season Overview

In a turnaround from 2012, there will definitely be a clean slate of new faces winning the big individual titles at States, Federations, CHSAA, PSAL, and NXN-NY meets, but some of the team champs could well repeat. Only States B champ Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons appears to have been stabbed to the core by graduation, but St. Anthony's in the CHSAA-NY City area, Saratoga and Fayetteville-Manlius at the States A and NXN-NY level, Pawling in Class C, and Mount Academy in Class D should all have strong pulses in November. All of the States class divisions and two of the NYC leagues seem to have the potential for spirited ratings contests throughout the season, with only the AIS being an outlier. While Chaminade will likely be dishing it out with St. Anthony's in a storied CHSAA rivalry, a quintet of teams including LIverpool, Northport, West Genesee, Syosset, and Webster Thomas are early season favorites to join Saratoga and Fayetteville-Manlius near the top of the Class A standings. Only Liverpool of that less heralded five has a States title, won years before any of the team's current runners were born. Recent power Warwick Valley could also play a major role. Class B will likely see a huge turnover at the top as only Pittsford Mendon remains clearly strong from last year's old guard, and Section 9 teams Port Jervis and Cornwall enter the season with solid claims to being top contenders. Class C is just a big muddle with a dozen higher ranked teams looking for even a smidgen of depth in the lineup. Finally, Class D should pit the new king Mount Academy against a quartet of luminaries, as Barker, Beaver River, Sauquoit Valley, and Greenwich place their combined 20 titles on the line (and the Beavers will be quite willing to tell you that they own 14 of them). A renowned group of runners graduated last year, so the question is now who will be filling the shoes of Nick Ryan, Sibby Hanson, Dan Galford, Jack Stevenson, Eric Holt, Ryan Manahan, Jeff Anolos, and Gabe Rodriguez. Rush-Henrietta's Mickey Burke, Fayetteville'Manlius's Bryce Millar, Carmel's Benito Muniz, Lake Shore's TJ Hornberger, Pearl River's Brian Cook, Chaminade's Thomas Slattery, Collegiate's Marco Pompilj, Bronxville's John Flannery, and Greenwich's Jeremy Spezio are all top contenders at various levels as guys who will be wearing a championship pair of spikes, but somewhere out there in the shadows right now there is a guy lacing up the running shoes and saying, "Wait till they see the hurt I'm going to lay down this year."



The lead guys at the Federation Championship fronted by Baldwinsville's Alec Peinkofer and Chaminade's Thomas Slattery on the downhill section.

13 Questions for 2013

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.



The guys also had to run up a steep bit of nastiness (a.k.a. the Wall) at the Gressler meet in White Plains, but some did not appear to truly enjoy the fun experience.


Fairly Fantastifastical Factoids

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.



The lead pack for the Eastern States race of the Manhattan Invitational head toward the cow path at Van Cortlandt Park.


Top NY Teams for 2013
Using the TR speed ratings for returning runners from last year without any adjustments for great track results or special hunches about some upcoming young runners, here's the list of how the top 10 NY teams stack up.

Team	Class	TR Average from 2012
1. Saratoga	A	170.0
2t. Liverpool	A	169.0
2t. Northport	A	169.0
2t. St. Anthony's	A	169.0
5t. Chaminade	A	168.0
5t. Fayetteville-Manlius	A	168.0
7. West Genesee	A	164.6
8. Syossett	A	164.2
9. Webster Thomas	A	164.0
10. Port Jervis	B	163.6






Federation Teams -- New York City and Buffalo Areas

Top 12 Teams in 2012 by TR Ratings

1. St. Anthony's 173.4 (1-CHSAA, 3-Fed)	2. Chaminade 172.4 (2-CHSAA, 7-Fed)	3. Collegiate 170.4 (1-AIS, 8-Fed)	4. Monsignor Farrell 166.0 (3-CHSAA, 19-Fed)
5. Xavier 164.2 (5-CHSAA, 16-Fed)	6. St. John the Baptist 163.6 (6-CHSAA, 28-Fed)	7. Fordham Prep 163.2 (4-CHSAA, 15-Fed)	8. Stuyvesant 160.4 (2-PSAL, 23-Fed)
9. Curtis 158.6 (1-PSAL, 22-Fed)	10. Regis 158.2 (8-CHSAA, 21-Fed)	11. St. Joseph's-Buffalo 156.8 (27-Fed)	12. McKee Tech-SI 154.2 (3-PSAL)

Projected Top 12 Teams for 2013 from Returners' 2012 TR Ratings

1. St. Anthony's 169.0 (1-CHSAA)	2. Chaminade 168.0 (2-CHSAA)	3. Collegiate 162.8 (1-AIS)	4. Fordham Prep 160.4 (3-CHSAA)
5. Xavier 159.0 (4-CHSAA)	6. St. Joseph's-Buffalo 156.8	7. Monsignor Farrell 153.0 (5-CHSAA)	8. St. John the Baptist 150.8 (6-CHSAA)
9. Regis 147.4 (7-CHSAA)	10. Trinity 144.2 (2-AIS)	11. McKee Tech-SI 141.6 (1-PSAL)	12. Xaverian 140.0 (8-CHSAA)


Monsignor Farrell senior Dan Galford was the CHSAA champ for the second year in a row, and he picked up a 12th here in the Eastern States race of the Manhattan Invitational.


Top 2013 Returning Runners by Last Year's TR Rating

Name	Team	Grade	Conference	Championship Place	Season TR
Thomas Slattery	Chaminade	12	CHSAA	2	185
Marco Pompilj	Collegiate	11	AIS	1	181
Sean Kelly	Chaminade	12	CHSAA	3	181
Pier Berkmans	Bronx Science	12	PSAL	2	176
John Rice	Xavier	11	CHSAA	16	174
Patrick Tucker	St. Anthony's	11	CHSAA	9	173
Liam Buckley	Collegiate	12	AIS	3	172
Louis Santelli	St. Anthony's	12	CHSAA	7	171
Joseph Tucker	St. Anthony's	11	CHSAA	12	170
Billy Hector	Midwood	12	PSAL	8	168
John McMullin	St. Anthony's	12	CHSAA	13	168
Eric Chen	Stuyvesant	11	PSAL	6	168
Gunnar Nolan	Chaminade	11	CHSAA	18	168
Joseph Prunty	Fordham Prep	11	CHSAA	14	167
Patrick Kearns	Fiorello Laguardia	12	PSAL	7	167
Joseph Calvello	Fordham Prep	12	CHSAA	11	166
Jacob Marlin	Curtis	12	PSAL	9	166
Eliot Kaufman	Xavier	12	CHSAA	27	166
Sean Phillips	Regis	11	CHSAA	17	164
Josh Kotran	Packer	12	AIS	4	163
Mohammed Aziz	McKee Tech-SI	12	PSAL	17	163
Tyler Wolfe	St. Anthony's	12	CHSAA	--	163
Thomas Louro	St. Anthony's	12	CHSAA	--	163



Chaminade's Thomas Slattery has a half step on Baldwinsville's Alec Peinkofer in the sprint to 2nd place at the Federation meet.


2012 Season Summary for Federation Teams
Not to be lost among the many things that did get swept away by Hurricane Sandy last year was the manner in which St. Anthony's dominated the action in the NY City region, taking the CHSAA title for the 4th straight time and then putting up a 3rd place at the Federation meet behind Saratoga and Arlington. The Friar pack led by Patrick Ginty, Jake Hensler, and Matthew Taddeo won the CHSAA by 36 points, a gargantuan amount when you consider that the three previous titles had been won by 2, 2, and then 12 points. The CHSAA holy wars have traditionally been heated to the max with mercy thrown to the winds, so last year's romp was likely just an interlude before the start of more armageddons ahead. The CHSAA was a hotbed of fast-moving teams last year as joining St. Anthony's in the upper top-20 echelon of the state rankings were Manhattan G race winner Chaminade, Fordham Prep, Xavier and Monsignor Farrell. Two of the top individual runners were Monsignor Farrell's Dan Galford, who took his second straight CHSAA and NYC Mayor's Cup championships, and Chaminade's Thomas Slattery, who grabbed the runner-up spots at both CHSAA and Feds. The PSAL was nowhere near as explosive as the CHSAA but it also had its share of highlights. Curtis knocked off Stuyvesant and McKee Tech for the PSAL title and then ran to a respectable 22nd place at Feds. Stuyvesant senior Jack Stevenson was the top guy in the PSAL championship and also picked up a 2nd in the Mayor's Cup. The AIS was ruled by Collegiate, which also finished as the top NY Class C school and 12th overall in the state rankings. The Dutchmen took 6 of the top 9 places at the AIS championship behind a pack of Marco Pompilj, Ty Buckley, Liam Buckley, JP Meredith, Isao Anzai, and Jack Farley, and they then went on to take 8th in the Federation meet. Collegiate was also the Mayor's Cup champ.


2013 Season Overview for Federation Teams
In 2013, St. Anthony's again enters the season among the state leaders even after losing its top two guys to graduation. The Friars again have a pack at the top as Patrick Tucker, Louis Santelli, Joseph Tucker, and John McMullin are back with a top foursome unmatched by any other NY team. But St. Anthony's is not in the clear even on its home turf because archrival Chaminade has the strongest duo with Thomas Slattery and Sean Kelly and a fast enough supporting group to stay right on the Friars heels all season. A little further back, a Fordham team led by Joseph Prunty and Jonathan Calvello and an Xavier team with frontrunner John Rice are expected to battle for the third and fourth spots in the CHSAA. The PSAL is in a far more uncertain state of flux this year as Curtis, Stuyvesant, and McKee Tech all took hits at the June graduation. McKee may be in best shape going into 2013, but a lot of development needs to be done before anything is really known. The top returning runner is Bronx Science's Pier Berkmans, the runner-up in last year's PSAL championship. The AIS leader Collegiate lost half of its top six to graduation, but the Dutchmen will again be strong with junior Marco Pompilj as the AIS frontrunner and Liam Buckley and Jack Farley forming a great top 3. Trinity has six of its varsity guys back from last year led by Sam Marchan, and the Tigers could move into the second spot in the AIS ahead of Packer Collegiate, which is fronted by Josh Kotran.


Previews of Top Teams


St. Anthony's Patrick Tucker at left ahead of Bronx Science's Pier Berkmans, and Patrick Ginty at right on the downhill at Bowdoin at the Federation championship.

	St. Anthony's	Friars

Conference: CHSAA				Colors: Black and gold

Last Year's Summary: 3rd at Federation, 1st in CHSAA

Roster
Name	Grade	Conference Results	Season TR
Patrick Tucker	11	9	173
Louis Santelli	11	7	171
Joseph Tucker	12	10	170
John McMullin	12	13	168
Thomas Louro	12	2 (JV)	163
Tyler Wolfe	12	3 (JV)	163
William Henfling	12	1 (JV)	162
Jed McMullin	12	--	159
Ryan Kerwick	12	9 (JV)	157

This Year's Outlook
St. Anthony's is known for having the tightest pack of any team in the state, and this year is no different. Patrick and Joseph Tucker with Louis Santelli and John McMullin give the Friars a very strong four-headed monster at top and there are a lot of seniors in the mix to fill out the 5-6 spots. If everything shakes out for the Friars, they could be moving up on their 3rd-place place NXN-NY finish and taking a ride out to Portland.


Chaminade's Thomas Slattery at left, and Sean Kelly on right running with champ Sibby Hanson of Arlington at the Federation meet.

	Chaminade	Flyers

Conference: CHSAA				Colors: Crimson and gold

Last Year's Summary: 7th in Federation, 2rd in CHSAA

Roster
Name	Grade	Conference Results	Season TR
Thomas Slattery	12	2	185
Sean Kelly	12	3	181
Gunnar Nolan	11	18	168
Thomas Hayes	12	6 (JV)	153
Michael Raver	11	53	153
Ryan Sheridan	12	62	152
Jack Aneser	12	--	149
Sean Butler	11	16 (JV)	149

This Year's Outlook
The Flyers' Thomas Slattery and Sean Kelly put up some gaudy numbers last year while leading the team to 2nd place in the CHSAA and 7th at Feds. If they can get a little more development work form Gunnar Nolan and the guys behind them, this team could be very dangerous not only in the CHSAA matchup with St. Anthony's but possibly even more so at NXN-NY.



Collegiate's Ty Buckley on the downhill and Liam Buckley on the right sprinting in a pack to the finish were among the Dutchmen running at the Federation meet.

	Collegiate	Dutchmen

Conference: AIS				Colors: Blue, orange and white

Last Year's Summary: 8th in Federation, 1st in AIS

Roster
Name	Grade	Conference Results	Season TR
Marco Pompilj	11	1	181
Liam Buckley	12	3	172
Jack Farley	11	9	161
Luke Chang	12	--	151
Tristan Gwertzman	12	39	149
Nick Heath	12		141
Russell Shepard	11		139

This Year's Outlook
Collegiate has a very strong group back led by Marco Pompilj and Liam Buckley, and it should dominate the AIS and again lead the NY Class C rankings.




Fordham Prep's Joseph Prunty and Jonathan Calvello head uphill at the Federation meet.

	Fordham Prep	Rams

Conference: CHSAA				Colors: Maroon and white

Last Year's Summary: 15th in Federation, 4th in CHSAA

Roster
Name	Grade	Conference Results	Season TR
Joseph Prunty	11	14	167
Jonathan Calvello	12	--	166
Conor Lundy	10	28	162
Michael Dugan	11	19	161
Mike Miano	11	30	160
Sam O'Driscoll	12	70	147

This Year's Outlook
The Rams have a nice pack of top guys on a young and developing team and should be able to move up to the top 3 in the CHSAA if the good trends continue.




Xavier's John Rice in flight mode at Federation meet.

	Xavier	Knights

Conference: CHSAA				Colors: Maroon and blue

Last Year's Summary: 16th in Federation, 5th in CHSAA

Roster
Name	Grade	Conference Results	Season TR
John Rice	11	16	174
Eliot Kaufmann	12	27	166
Jordan Berka	12	39	158
Henry Comacho	11	22 (JV)	150
Louis Vasquez	11	8 (JV)	147
Thomas Sternglass	11	18 (JV)	145

This Year's Outlook
The Knights lost three of their top five to graduation, but top guys John Rice and Eliot Kaufmann are back to provide a good top set of runners for the group moving up from JV to develop around.




St. Joseph's Matt Belfatto focuses in on the downhill at the Federation meet.

	St. Joseph Collegiate	Marauders

Conference: CHSAA-Buffalo				Colors: Maroon, silver and white

Last Year's Summary: 27th in Federation

Roster
Name	Grade	Conference Results	Season TR
Anthony Belfatto	10		162
JD Maguire	12		154
Cornell Overfield	12		154
Joe Suhay	12		137
Jim Kilpatrick	12		135
Nick Courtney	12		123

This Year's Outlook
The senior-heavy Marauders have their top three back from last year, which should be enough to keep them in the lead of the CHSAA Buffalo league.




Monsignor Farrell's Brandon Freeman at left was the second guy in for the team after Dan Galford at the Federation meet. At right, Brian Tress heads downhill with Freeman just behind.

	Monsignor Farrell	Lions

Conference: CHSAA				Colors: Maroon and Vegas gold

Last Year's Summary: 19th in Federation, 3rd in CHSAA

Roster
Name	Grade	Conference Results	Season TR
Sam Crowley	12	16	158
Brandon Freeman	11	27	154
Luke Jackson	12	39	154
Julio Ruiz	11	12 (JV)	151
Christopher Arnone	12	17 (JV)	147
Andrew Scharf	12	28 (JV)	147
Joseph Lauria	12	20 (JV)	146
Sean Goodwin	11	29 (JV)	142

This Year's Outlook

With graduation of long-time standout Dan Galford along with much of the top varsity, the Lions are in rebuilding mode with Sam Crowley assuming the lead role.




St. John the Baptist's Paolo Fiore chases Stuyvesant's Eric Chen toward the finish at the Federation meet.

	St. John the Baptist	Cougars

Conference: CHSAA				Colors: Red and white

Last Year's Summary: 28th in Federation, 6th in CHSAA

Roster
Name	Grade	Conference Results	Season TR
Bryan Reilly	12	47	155
Ryan Bennis	12	46	153
Tim Seeburger	11	5 (JV)	150
Sean Kildare	11	7 (JV)	149
Aaron Zigrosser	11	19 (JV)	148
Brandon Khoury	12	23 (JV)	142
Chris Tinti	10	39 (JV)	141
Sean Sokol	12	25 (JV)	141

This Year's Outlook
The Cougars lost top guy Paolo Fiore and most of the varsity to graduation, so like Monsignor Farrell they will be entering a season when last year's JV guys will be playing a big role.




A pack of red-clad Regis runners are in a dusty throng of the Manhattan Invitational's G race.

	Regis	Raiders

Conference: CHSAA				Colors: Scarlet, silver and white

Last Year's Summary: 8th in CHSAA

Roster
Name	Grade	Conference Results	Season TR
Sean Phillips	11	17	164
Walter Abrams	12	57	159
Brian Dobrowski	12	63	154
Nicholas Hissong	11	48 (JV)	130
Mark Kindschuh	11	50 (JV)	130
Timothy McMullen	12	52 (JV)	128
Kevin Field	12	53 (JV)	127

This Year's Outlook
Regis has some chance to move up in the CHSAA if last year's JV squad can fill out the team behind frontrunner Sean Phillips.




Trinity's Sam Marchan is in the distance on the right coming in at the Manhattan Invitational's A race.

	Trinity	Tigers

Conference: AIS				Colors: Blue and gold

Last Year's Summary: 3rd in AIS

Roster
Name	Grade	Conference Results	Season TR
Sam Marchan	12	--	162
Giacomo Taylor	11	22	147
Jake Bolster	11	21	144
Vaughan McDonald	10	23	135
Finn Freymann	12	28	133

This Year's Outlook
Trinity has much of its varsity back from last year's 3rd place AIS team and could pass Packer for 2nd place if there is a solid performance behind top guy Sam Marchan.





McKee Tech's Kevin Trimmer on left and Mohamed Aziz on right running at the Federation meet.

McKee Technical - Staten Island

Seagulls

New York State XC Season Guide
--- Boys 2013 ---



Season Intro
Another cross country season of gigantically exciting proportions fast approaches with all the glory up for grabs at the old the familiar settings.. Along with the glory and ecstasy is naturally a lot of unimaginable pain, sweat and suffering, but for those who want to mix in some fun there is always the Six Flags Wild Safari down in New Jersey which is great for those who can outrun the lions or who at least have a few slower teammates. Working as always off the speed ratings compiled on the Tully Runners site and individual and team profiles, the New York State XC Season Guide provides a lot of team performance and historical data and many questions about that most unknowable of all subjects: who's going to be lighting it up on the XC trails this fall. Fortunately, many of last year's runners decided to stick around for another go at NY XC, and among them are a lot with puffy resumes. The Season Guide includes an overview of the NYSPHSAA class action for A, B, C, and D, and this year also adds coverage of the Federation leagues for New York City and Buffalo teams consisting of public school PSAL, Catholic school CHSAA, and independent school AIS. With about 85 team profiles included, the guide is a bit chunky and is thus divided into five hopefully more digestible portions on the NY Milesplit site. The top teams are sorted on the average Tully Runners speed ratings (TR) of the top 5 returning runners, which is a convenient but certainly not optimal way to compare teams that are unbalanced or have a lot of new blood. The regression factored listings on Tully Runners are far more nuanced, but everything in preseason is fuzzy, so none of the numbers tossed into the articles have much gravity to them. And as with last year, all information here that does unfortunately manage to seep its way into your cranial cavities should be removed once the season begins. Cheers to yet another XC season like no other.



Nick Ryan of Fayetteville-Manlius hits the tape at the NXN-NY regional. Credit: NY Milesplit

2012 Season Summary

The 2012 season featured a great wave of change crashing over the NY XC world everywhere except in the NY City area, which got smashed by a natural cataclysm instead. Although many of the usual cast of characters headed to States from the various sections, the four team title winners included three first-time champs along with a team that had not won a crown in seven years. Saratoga nipped the favored reigning champ Fayetteville-Manlius by a point for the Class A title in the Blue Streaks' first visit to States since 2005. Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons made its first trip to States and hauled away the B trophy, Pawling finally broke through for an elusive C crown after finishing 2nd or 3rd five times in recent years, and a fledgling Mount Academy captured the D title. NYC had the only holdovers for titles as St. Anthony's won the CHSAA crown and dominated among the non-NYSPHSAA leagues, while Collegiate was again far above the other teams in the AIS. The weather had momentous effects on the XC action as Hurricane Sandy wiped away the Section 8 and 11 state qualifier meets and with them some of the most anticipated sectional match-ups. The mud at .Portland Meadows for NXN also took its toll in a meet that for NY qualifiers turned into something more resembling a rugby scrum. Three guys who did provide some continuity were FM's repeat States A and NXN-NY winner and top NY runner Nick Ryan, Notre Dame-Batavia's Jeff Antolos who added a C crown to the D title he won in 2011, and Monsignor Farrell's Dan Galford who took his second straight CHSAA title. Senior runners made it a clean sweep at States as Marcellus's Ryan Manahan got the B title and Geneseo's Gabe Rodriguez cruised to victory in D. Arlington senior Sibby Hanson took the Federation title as a talented class of runners took their final bows.



Sibby Hanson of Arlington powers home for the win at the Federation Championship.

2013 Season Overview

In a turnaround from 2012, there will definitely be a clean slate of new faces winning the big individual titles at States, Federations, CHSAA, PSAL, and NXN-NY meets, but some of the team champs could well repeat. Only States B champ Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons appears to have been stabbed to the core by graduation, but St. Anthony's in the CHSAA-NY City area, Saratoga and Fayetteville-Manlius at the States A and NXN-NY level, Pawling in Class C, and Mount Academy in Class D should all have strong pulses in November. All of the States class divisions and two of the NYC leagues seem to have the potential for spirited ratings contests throughout the season, with only the AIS being an outlier. While Chaminade will likely be dishing it out with St. Anthony's in a storied CHSAA rivalry, a quintet of teams including LIverpool, Northport, West Genesee, Syosset, and Webster Thomas are early season favorites to join Saratoga and Fayetteville-Manlius near the top of the Class A standings. Only Liverpool of that less heralded five has a States title, won years before any of the team's current runners were born. Recent power Warwick Valley could also play a major role. Class B will likely see a huge turnover at the top as only Pittsford Mendon remains clearly strong from last year's old guard, and Section 9 teams Port Jervis and Cornwall enter the season with solid claims to being top contenders. Class C is just a big muddle with a dozen higher ranked teams looking for even a smidgen of depth in the lineup. Finally, Class D should pit the new king Mount Academy against a quartet of luminaries, as Barker, Beaver River, Sauquoit Valley, and Greenwich place their combined 20 titles on the line (and the Beavers will be quite willing to tell you that they own 14 of them). A renowned group of runners graduated last year, so the question is now who will be filling the shoes of Nick Ryan, Sibby Hanson, Dan Galford, Jack Stevenson, Eric Holt, Ryan Manahan, Jeff Anolos, and Gabe Rodriguez. Rush-Henrietta's Mickey Burke, Fayetteville'Manlius's Bryce Millar, Carmel's Benito Muniz, Lake Shore's TJ Hornberger, Pearl River's Brian Cook, Chaminade's Thomas Slattery, Collegiate's Marco Pompilj, Bronxville's John Flannery, and Greenwich's Jeremy Spezio are all top contenders at various levels as guys who will be wearing a championship pair of spikes, but somewhere out there in the shadows right now there is a guy lacing up the running shoes and saying, "Wait till they see the hurt I'm going to lay down this year."



The lead guys at the Federation Championship fronted by Baldwinsville's Alec Peinkofer and Chaminade's Thomas Slattery on the downhill section.

13 Questions for 2013

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.