NY Weekend Highlights - 9/20/08

PSAL Marty Lewis Invitatinal - VCP
Cross country is alive and well in NYC as the PSAl has over 2000 athletes competing in XC this fall. Last Saturday saw a slightly differenr format as scoring is done NYC boprough against borough.

There is a lot of pride in your borough's in NY, something very unique to NYC. Brooklyn won the team title for the girld over Manhattan as Kadian Dunkley won the girls race in 16:55 for Clara Barton.

Jamaal Holder of Erasmus won again, this week in 13:36 as Brooklyhn once again won the team title, this time over Staten Island.

PHOTOS AND RACE VIDEO COMING TUESDAY

Bowdoin Park Classic - Wappingers Falls, NY
All the hype for NXN all summer and we finally got to see how some of the top teams in NY and the NE looked on the qualifying course. CBA, NJ won the Boys Champ race with Shenendehowa 2nd with a 17:09 average on the notoriusly slow course. Monsignor Farrell had a fine 5th place finish and great JV depth.

For the girls, Shen beat a tough Lincoln Sudbury, MA team that sport a new coach (Henry Phelan who coached Bromfield, MA recently). Northport, NY girls run well to place 5th.

Other highlights included Iona Prep's Sean Halpin winning the varsity boys race and the Fox LAne boys taking the team title. Ursuline's Katy Sullivan won the varsity race as Holy Names, NY took the team title (team pictured above)

PHOTO COURTESY KEN KRAFT - more pics coming Tuesday

Briarwood Invitational - Philedelphia, PA
Twins Erica and Kerry Guerin lead Pearl River, NY to girls DII title by placing 1-2.

Bob Pratt Invitational - Sunken Meadow State Park, LI

Arlington, Queensbury, Bay Shore, and Warwick Valley girls all win varsity races. Footlocker Finalist and All American Emily Lipari wins A race over newcomer Samantha Nadel from Northport.

Bay Shore's Kim Moran, Geneseo's Liz Shinski win B and C races. Queensbury's Danielle Winsslow has the fastest time of the day as she wins the D race in 18:54 and her team wins th merge results.

For th boys, Long Island sweeps the first 3 races as Shoreham Wading River tops a tough Arlington squad in the A race led by Bobbby Andrews. Andrews's 16:25 was the fastest of the day.

Wantagh and Smithtown take the B and C races, with Arquimedes and Brenden Connell both winning titles for the winning teams. Binghamton's Vasili Papastrat makes it a clean sweep for team title/individual titles coming from the same school as the Binghamton senior takes the D race.

Picture courtesy Tony Turro - more pictures here

Fort Plain Invitational - Fort Plain, NY
Albany Academy over Norwood-Norfolk in boys DI as Jonathan Aziz from Bishop Gibbons takes title on short, 2.95 mile course in 15:11.2. Alney Tobias of Lansingburgh wins DII in 15:14.8 as Scotia-Glenville wins team title.

Courtney Tedeschi of Berne-Knox-Westerlon take girls DI title in 18:20, winning by 59 seconds but she can't prevent Vooreesville from winning with 35 points to ehr squad's 69.

Gina Cristaldi of Broadalbin-Perth wins in 18:14.2 to lead her team to victory over Scotia-Glenville.

Baldwinsville Invitational - Baldwinsville, NY
Burnt Hills boys top host team 38-47. Marcellus's Chris Stogsdille stays undefeated this season with 15:00.2 winning effort. Beaver River looks tough again as tey top Tully 77-82. Beaver River is ranked 1st in NYS Class D while Tully was overlooked this week as a top class C school but will no doubt be ranked next week.

Baldwinsville girls top Ithaca 48-61 in large schools race though Johnson City's McKenna Coughlin and Lauren Mullins have a photo finish in 17:36.

The Tully girls won the small schools race easily and proved that their NYS#2 ranking is legit. Katie Weisenburger of Pulaski took the individual crown.

Photo courtesy TullyRunners.com

Hickories Invitational - Owego, NY
Max Straneva, Chenango Valley, Boys Varsity Race, new course record 16:31. Old course record Stephen Benedict, Windsor '06, 16:51. Erin Cawly, Newark Valley, Girls Varsity race, new course record, 18:56. Old course record Paige Mullins, J.C. '06, 19:10. - Course is a bit long...Measures 5070 meters.

JFK Sterling Invitational - Somers, NY
Jamesville DeWitt makes trip south from Syracuse and wins DI over Fordam Prep. Somers and Byram Hills boys battle as Somers win 53-58. Manu Kumar of Yorktown wins fast 3 mile DI race in 15:45 and Joe Violone of Byram Hills takes DII race.

Dover girls win DII race over Kennedy. Kennedy's Jessica Kendzor looks great in winning DII in 19:05. Eileen Cody of Jamesville DeWitt leads mates to title with 18:32 winning time on the 3 mile, fast course.

RACE VIDEO AND PICS COMING TUESDAY

Auburn Invitational - Auburn, NY
ESM and Weedsport win boys titles. Vestal over Mercy in close battle for girls race, Jordan Elbridge wins other girls race.

Xavier Invitational - VCP
Don Bosco, NJ wins with great 13:28 team average even though they had to fight around the girls PSAL from the previous race.

Breanna Crane from Valley Stream North wins girls varsity in 16:12.5.

Wildcat Invitational - Marcus Whitman HS
Alex Deir and Steve Morgan go 1-2 for HFL as they edge Brighton 70-77 for A team title. Colin Keer of Wyane leads mates ton win, Pembroke boys over Greece Odyssey 72-74, Oakfield-Alabama wins race 4.

Pittsford-Mendon girls look tough, win DI race. Wayne and Oakfield-Alabama win DII and DII races.

East Aurora Invitational - East Aurora, NY
What a perfect day to end the Summer of 2008 with another festival like XC event at East Aurora. The course was altered from past year configuration due to construction but it proved to be challenging nonetheless...and that's just from a spectator's perspective.

The East Aurora boys team were not the gracious hosts as Scott Anderson took first overall finishing 4 seconds faster than second place finisher Canisius' Jordan Hamm. Rounding out the top five were East Aurora's Lyle O'Brien, Jamestown's Savantuay Boyette and Frontier's Lee Swaydis. Surprisingly, Hamburg's Joe Whalen, the top runner in Section 6 as predicted in early season polls, was a non-factor in his first invite of the season.

The lady East Aurora harriers where no better hosts as they took the team title by placing five out of the top ten lead by Kirsten Weberg who finished fourth overall. Amherst stalwart, Brenna Symoniak finished first with a time of 17:51, followed by Katie Niblock of Sweet Home, Erin Kling of Jamestown and fifth place finisher, Alden's Jamie Wallace. The ladies will be battling all throughout this season for the top five spots in the races guaranteed! -

Bill Wende / ArmoryTrack.com correspondent - Section6Runs.com

Suffern Invitational - Bear Mt. State Park
By Christopher Hunt
Photos courtesy Karen Ward/PennTrackXC.com

SHELBY GREANY VIDEO INTERVIEW

BEAR MOUNTAIN – Pearl River senior Mike Hickey glanced over his shoulder steps after the first mile of the race. He gauged his pace against his chasers then realized he’d be riding solo for the rest of this one.

He felt that good. Hickey finished his 3-mile race at the Suffern Invitational at Bear Mountain in 15:28:13, his best time on the course. Pearl River finished fifth as a team in the Boys Varsity B race with 148 points. Randolph (N.J.) won with 80 points.

“Right now I’m in the best shape of my life by far,” Hickey said. FULL STORY HERE

Western NY Officials - Beaver Island State Park
A record number of teams for this event competed in a unique format of races. The races were held to pit the top seven varsity runners with the 5-7, 3-4 and 1-2 runners in seperate races. Junior varsity runners competed in races of their own.

Final results are being compiled and will not be available until mid week, but in the Varsity 1-2 boys and girls races, a brother/sister duo from Grand Island defended the home turf so to speak. Evan Tsemblis and sister, Maritina finished first in each of their respective races.

The format of the invitational is unique as it allows many of the competitors a chance to win the race where the traditonal format makes it more difficult.

Bill Wende / ArmoryTrack.com correspondent - Section6Runs.com