Harris wins individual title
By Christopher Hunt
WAPPINGERS FALLS — Dan Harris came through the mile in fifth, went through the second mile mark in fifth. It looked like he had a front row seat to the real race. But instead, he was just biding his time, waiting to steal the show.
Harris of Clifton Park TC (Shenendehowa) let Matt Flint of Adinrondack RC (Queensbury), Mike Fox of The Purple Wave (Warwick Valley) and Giovanni Signoretti of Blue Collar Runners (Smithtown) take shots at each other while he drafted on the pace until about a half-mile left when he moved into third. The lead group faded into the wood with 300 left and when they emerged Harris owned a 20-meter lead and first-place finish for Clifton Park TC as they won the Nike Team New York Regional championship with 37 points.
Harris finished in 16 minutes, 22.9 seconds. The Purple Wave finished second with 57. Both teams earned an automatic bid to the Nike Team Nationals Dec. 1 in Portland, Ore.
Clifton Park’s Brian Trianor admitted that his team had Warwick Valley on the brain all week since Warwick topped Shen at the state championship and then sat out the federation meet, which Shen won last week.
“It definitely felt good to beat them,” Harris said.
Harris’s move in the closing stages of the race had a lot to do with why his team won. Shenendehowa has shown impeccable resilience and depth over the past three weeks. At the state meet their finished with a 10-second gap among their top five. Last week, Trainor lead the team in eighth, after finishing as their fifth man the week before. Today Harris, a lanky sophomore, secured the win after finishing as the team’s fourth man at federations.
“Going up the hill I just wanted to stay with that lead pack,” Harris said. “I just kept chasing that pack. Then as we were about to go in the woods, I just went all out. I just gave it everything I had.”
Plus, they were finally able to exact revenge on Warwick Valley, a team they hadn’t beaten head-to-head this season.
“We never really thought that we would have done this well,” said Trainor, who said last week that he thought his team would have an advantage against Warwick today since they raced the course last week when they won the federation title.
Jaimie Glover finished fifth for the team in 16:41.3, William Danaher sixth in 16:52.2, Trainor 10th 16:58.9, and Jon McDonald 15th in 17:05.5.
Brookline (Mass.), ranked eighth in the nation, won the Nike Northeast Regional championship in the most suspenseful face today. Brookline beat fourth-ranked Danbury (Conn.) by one point 86-87. No one knew the results until nearly an hour after the race — the meet directors deciding not to announce the final score but the end of the award ceremony.
When the result was finally uncovered the team first looked at each other, with their jaws wide open at the close score, then the hugs and cheers started. Brookline and Danbury earned automatic bids to the Nike Team Nationals. Robert Gibson won the individual title, finishing in 16:00.9. Teammate David Wilson was third in 16:16.0.
Brookline placed four in the top 18 but, three other teams had their top five in before Brookline’s fifth.
“I thought that we didn’t even make it,” Brookline coach Mike Glennon said. “I thought we finished third. Someone from Danbury said they thought we won but I didn’t think so.”
Bosco XC Club (Don Bosco Prep, N.J.) finished third with 97 points. Du Hast RC and Bosco were called first at the awards ceremony and Brookline and Danbury knew they made it. The win came secondary.
“We exploded when third place was called,” Glennon said. “It’s nice to win but we just really wanted to go.”
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.
Warwick Valley boys earned their ticket to Portland with a 2nd place finish.
Willie Ahearn (Danbury, CT) led his team with a 4th place finish and helped his squad earn 2nd place.