By Christopher Hunt
PORTLAND, Ore. – It’s not uncommon for it to get rough at the start of an elite cross country race. Shoving happens. Elbows. Some tripping. But rarely does an entire team bite it the opening meters of a national race. Let alone, get up and finish fourth.
Saratoga Springs, running under Kinetic XC Club, looked like they had gone to battle after their race at the Nike Cross Nationals – literally. Six of the seven team members tripped and fell just beyond the starting line at Portland Meadows Racetrack in Portland, Ore., most of whom barely avoided being trampled and all of which had the cuts from being stepped on to prove it.
Eighth-grader Keelin Hollowood was spiked in the ribs. Brianne Bellon needed stitches in her leg. Madison Carr ran the last four kilometers through the mud with one shoe. But everyone got up and finished the race. Even more impressive is that they finished fourth in the nation with 147 points.
“We all look like savages,” senior Cassie Goutos said.
Whether it was adrenaline or simply guts that kept them in the race, the young Saratoga squad finished just nine points from third-place Wilmington XC Club (Tatnall, Del.).
“It’s a learning situation,” coach Art Kranick said. “You don’t know if they learn anything from it. But in a race like this with so many people and the competition, things like this can happen.”
Saratoga was led by Hollowood who finished 40th overall in 18:38.3 followed by Amanda Borroughs in 47th in 18:41.0. Sydney King finished 80th in 18:59.3 with Goutos 82nd in 19”02.6 and Carr 91st in 19:07.2.
One of the most courageous performances came from Burnt Hills’ Alyssa Drapeau. Coach Shaun Zepf said the Drapeau’s body completely seized up early in the race and she went down. She managed to make it back to her feet and finish the race despite urgings from onlookers imploring Drapeau, normally the team’s #5 runner, to drop out. Drapeau couldn’t explain what happened but she said she was fine after the race.
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, running as Burnt Hills XC Club, finished eighth with 251 points. Sam Roecker, headed to Providence in the fall, finished ninth in 17:58.2. Even with the disappointing finish, Roecker and the team remained upbeat.
“I said last year that this was the best experience ever but I’ll say this year that this was the best experience ever,” Roecker said. “I’m so jealous that the rest of the girls can come back here and do this again.”
Queensbury sophomore Danielle Winslow led the race through three-kilometers until the eventual winner, Chelsey Sveinsson of Addison XC Club in Texas, led a small group that challenged Winslow for the lead. Winslow couldn’t keep pace but finished fourth in 17:48.4 while Sveinsson broke the course record by nearly 30 seconds in 17:26.9.
The boys race was just as hectic at the start. The team race was buried behind the individual competition early on but Reed Connor of The Woodlands XC won the race in a course record 15:13.6 to lead his team to a fourth-place finish with 197 points. North Spokane XC Club (North Central, Wash.) won the team title with 134 points.
Shenendehowa, running as Clifton Park XC Club, finished seventh. Alex Leuchanka led his squad in 19th in 15:40.5. He said he felt great during the race but that the jostling at the start certainly took some wind out of him.
“It was like a wrestling match out there,” he said.
Shen also lost Jamie Glover to an Achilles heel injury. Glover normally runs as the team’s #3 but finished as their fifth man in 145th place.
“We’re a little disappointed,” Leuchanka said. “Coach (Mark Thompson) kept telling us that this isn’t the goal. But in the back of our minds we knew this was the goal for us. We all ran and did our best though.”
Fayetteville-Manilus junior Alex Hatz finished sixth and was close with the lead pack with just over a 1,000 meters to go but couldn’t hold on in the stretch.
“The pace was hard from the start,” Hatz said. “I just didn’t have it today. Just around the 2-mile mark they made a move and I couldn’t cover it.”
FM finished 16th with 314 points. New Jersey team’s Plainsboro XC Club (West Winsor Plainsboro North), the NXN Northeast champ, finished fifth and Bergen XC Club (Don Bosco Prep) was sixth. Both finished with 216 points with Plansboro winning on the sixth-man tie-breaker.
Chenango Valley's Max Straneva placed 11th in 15:32.7 to cap a brilliant season which included winning the Class B state title.
Joe Rosa of WWP North finished fourth overall in 15:19.0, as the top 18 runners finished fastest than the previous course record. Connor dropped a huge kick in the last 800 and Rosa lost a battle with Jakub Zivec of Grand Rapids XC (second) and Joash Osoro of Bismarck XC Club (third) in the stretch.
“I just didn’t have enough to make a move in the last 100 like I wanted to,” he said.
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.