Dupont Wins Again
By Christopher Hunt
WAPPINGERS FALLS — Brian Trainor said he had never experienced anything like it. The Shenendehowa junior found himself crammed in with 254 other runners on the starting line, all pushing, elbowing and squeezing their way to the front at the same until a peloton formed in the front.The chaos never truly subsided. There were too many runners that just wouldn’t go away. But as the brigade thinned he knew he teammates were there, close behind him — as tight as they’ve been all season.
Shenendehowa won the New York Sate Federation championship today at Bowdoin Park with 101 points.
Trainor was the team’s fifth man last week when they finished second behind Warwick Valley in Class AA at the state meet. Today, he sat around 40th place with 1,200 meters left. Looking to pass runners from Shaker, he said, Trainor just clipped off runner after runner and finished in 20th place overall.
“I figured it was make it or break it at that point,” he said. “I just went and the rest of the guys came with me.”
The junior transfer from Christian Brothers Academy finished in 16:33.9 to lead Shenendehowa, which separated its top five by 33 seconds. They had a 10-second spread at the state meet. Teammate Jamie Glover finished 31st in 16:43.5, Vasili Papastrat 40th in 16:47.8, Dan Harris 49th in 16:52.4 and Alex Brimstein 61st in 17:06.9.
“It went pretty much as anticipated,” Shen coach Mark Thompson said. “The guys ran all ran well.
“I think it’s a confidence boost,” he said when asked about winning at Bowdoin Park since the Nike Team Nationals New York Regional is on the same course Nov. 24. “I think the experience well help them and the fact that they’ve won here will help them next week.”
Warwick Valley skipped the meet to rest for the New York Regional, also at Bowdoin Park. The race today would have given Shen a chance for revenge after their second-place finish at states. Instead they’ll have to wait until Saturday. Trainor though, thinks racing today benefited them even if his team couldn’t redeem themselves.
“We gained an advantage by being here, even if Warwick wasn’t,” he said. “We’re still No. 2 but we’re not settling for No. 2 (next week). We’re going in there to win. “
While Shen controlled the team competition a heated individual battle forged up front. Fairport’s Pat Dupont, Zach Rivers of Victor, Colby DelBene of Pawling, Kyle Merber of Half Hollow Hills West and Giovanni Signoretti of Smithtown took turns trying to run the others into the ground over the last mile and a half of the race.
DelBene, Rivers and Dupont took shots at each other over the last mile. First DelBene surged then Rivers pounded the pace. Signoretti hung on the rear of the pack and Merber joined later.
But with about 1,000 meters to go, Dupont dropped the entire field in just few steps, like he had somehow pushed a button that gave him an incredible boost of speed. No one could cover the move and Dupont ran away.
“When I came around the last turn, I just saw the finish line and thought, ‘I can win the Federation,’” he said. “I just thought about how cool that is.”
Reach Christopher Hunt atchunt@armorytrack.com.
Photos by Tim Fulton