By Christopher Hunt
WAPPINGERS FALLS—There aren’t many times you’ll see anything like this. It wasn’t some local county meet or some small schools where one team breaks away and wipes the floor with everyone. This was the national qualifier, the Nike Cross Nationals New York Regional and Fayetteville-Manilus had clogged the front of the field like they were leading some ridiculously fast training run.
The girls team went 3-4-5-6-7 to win the regional championship at Bowdoin Park with just 25 points in a race that included three other nationally-ranked teams. Saratoga Springs finished second with 63 points. Both teams earned an automatic bid to the Nike Cross Nationals Dec. 6 in Portland, Ore.
“The goal for the girls was to run a strong effort and win today,” Fayetteville-Manilus coach Bill Aris said. “Courtney (Chapman) didn’t feel great today -- nothing wrong with her, just an off-day. On the positive note it helped our compression.”
Chapman still led the team, finishing third in 18:29.8 for a team that ended up with an 18:39.4 team average. MacKenzie Carter finished next in 18:40.8, Molly Malone in 18:41.7, Meaghan Anklin in 18:42.2 and then Hannah Luber in an identical time of 18:42.2.
“I was just so happy at the end when I turned around and saw those four girls behind me,” Chapman said.
Chapman explained that she simply felt heavy legs over second half of the race and couldn’t shake it. But even if Chapman didn’t completely dominate, her team certainly did.
“Our team is so confident right now,” she said. “I mean, we were confident before but we’re even more confident now about what we can do.”
Queenbury’s Danielle Winslow, running under the Adirondack Runners, led the race from start to finish and controlled the race in a way that surprised most spectators. With a mile to go, Winslow opened almost a 100 meter lead on Sam Roecker of Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake. She won the race in 18:00.8 with Roecker second in 18:22.3.
“I felt really good today,” Winslow said. “Before the race I was nervous because my legs felt really heavy when I was warming up. But I was fine.”
Winslow was outkicked by Roslyn’s Emily Lipari and Aisling Cuffe of Cornwall (who competed at the Foot Locker Regionals at Van Cortlandt Park Saturday) at the state federation meet two weeks ago. She decided the race much earlier this time to ensure she wouldn’t relive that race. Winslow started to blow the race up midway through when most of the course turned downhill. No one challenged her after that.
“I was surprised when I turned around and didn’t see anybody,” she said. “I thought it was going to be a really close race.”
Burnt Hills didn’t gain the automatic bid into the national meet but will likely earn an at-large bid after finishing third with 72 points. It was difficult to gauge where Saratoga had finished initially because the team each wore different uniforms. Runners are not mandated to wear identical uniforms at unsanctioned competitions. Either way, Saratoga Springs beat Burnt Hills for the first time this season to secure its spot on the line in Oregon next Saturday.
“They raced very well,” Saratoga coach Linda Kranick said. “They worked well together. … We have a very young team. For two of the girls – Keelin Hollowood and Madison Carr – they never ran cross country before. This is exciting.”
Hollowood led the team in 10th place overall in 18:56.2. Teammate Sydney King followed in 12th in 19:00.3 with Carr 15th in 19:14.8 and Amanda Borroughs 15th in 19:15.2. Cassie Goutos closed the scoring in 19th place in 19:17.3.
In the boys race, Shenendehowa, running as Clifton Park Track Club, won the New York Regional title despite a sub-par race by Alex Leuchanka, finishing 62-70 ahead of Manilus XC Club, representing Fayetteville-Manilus.
“I didn’t think we ran our best,” said Brian Trainor, who finished 32nd overall for Shen. “We definitely left the door open but I don’t think anyone else stepped up.”
Although what Trainor said seemed accurate when the race initially ended, he might have been wrong on both accounts. FM’s Alex Hatz won the race in 15:52.7 and anyone who also followed the state championships would have expected Leuchanka to make a mad dash at the end of the race to challenge Hatz but Leuchanka finished eighth in 16:19.1 and never got in position to challenge for the lead.
Unfortunately, Alex got a cramp and that’s the first time that’s ever happened to him,” Shen coach Mark Thompson said. “But even with the stitch in his side, that’s the fastest he’s ever run at Bowdoin before.”
Much like the Fayetteville-Manilus girls, the supporting group, made the difference. Dan Harris finished 11th in 16:23.5, Mike Danaher 16th in 16:31.4, Jamie Glover 20th in 16:40.2 and Trainor finished in 16:58.2. The team average was 16:34.5, which Thompson said was the best his team has run this season.
“We got the job done and I think that’s all that matters,” Trainor said.
Where Trainor’s assessment fell short was that his was one of the team’s best races of the season and what he didn’t know then was how much Fayetteville-Manilus truly did step up. FM’s second-best runner, junior Paul Merriman, dropped out of the race in the first half-mile. Assistant coach John Aris saw Merriman drop out and immediately started shouting to his team that they needed to pick up the slack.
Fayetteville-Manilus still finished second.
“That came as a result of the team,” Bill Aris said. “They ran their butts off. Brendan Farrell ran out of his mind. Andrew Roache ran the race of his life.”
Bill Aris said the plan for Hatz was to start aggressive and own the race even if the risk cost him in the end. It didn’t. Hatz never let anyone in the race. Chenango Valley senior Max Straneva chased the whole way but never got close enough to press Hatz. He finished second in 16:00.2. Hatz had no idea what had gone on behind him until the race was over.
“It’s unbelievable what we did,” he said.
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.