***Disclaimer*** I do not intend to be comparing athletes to
their siblings and putting pressure on them to amount to their siblings. Just because someone's sibling has accomplished something, does not mean that they are or should be expected to turn around and be just as good or better. Just because one runner is fast, does not mean their siblings
will all be just as fast. Genetics alone is not what makes a runner fast. The work
you put into your training is what makes you fast.
The meet was at Queensbury. Graduated Aidan Tooker had been the Division 1 Champion for 2 years straight. And then, this past weekend at the Queensbury Invitational we saw yet another Tooker victory. Brady Tooker, an 8th grader, won the boys' freshman race with a time of 9:28.6 over TJ Randall of Shaker who had a time of 9:29.25. Brady took over a minute and forty seconds off of his time from last year to claim the win. With Brady's victory, this marks the 3rd year in a row that we saw a Tooker victory. Back in 2013, Aidan took 3rd in the championship race and their sister Maddie, now a senior, took twelfth in the freshman girls' race. In 2014 and 2015 Aidan took home victories and now Brady adds to the Tooker streak to make it 3 years in a row that someone in the Tooker family has won at the Queensbury Invitational. Dawson Tooker, an 8th grader as well and 18th overall, was 6th for the Saratoga boys' freshman team with a time of 10:13.
As eighth graders, Brady and Dawson have predicted 5K conversion times of 17:01 and 18:22, respectively, from their performances at Queensbury. We didn't see Maddie race at Queensbury this weekend as the Saratoga girls didn't make an appearance on the course, but we're sure to see her racing again very soon. As they get older, it'll be interesting to see the progression of both Brady and Dawson, and how Maddie finishes her senior season out.