Girls Team Race
Breakdown: No other place in the country is there a streak quite like Saratoga's. In arguably the toughest Girls XC State in the Country, they had 22 of the last 28 Federation Championship Team Titles coming into 2017's meet. But this year, there was a stark difference. For the first time since 1999, they hadn't race at the State Meet the week before. At Sectionals this year, Shenendehowa over took the Blue Streaks by 33 points, with Niskayuna in between the pair as well. So while two individuals went to States and raced as such, the rest of the team stayed home, and trained.
Consider that a wise investment on their part. After being labeled as anything but the favorite, Saratoga saw Speed Rating improvements from 5 of their top 7 runners at the Federation Meet, to reclaim their title of Federation Champions. Their winning margin of ten points surely cut it close, but title 23 may be one of the sweetest. Only in 1994 and 1995 had they ever lost at Sectionals, then come back to win a Federation Title. Third time's a charm for the Blue Streaks.
Shenendehowa took second for the second year in a row, and eighth time as a program. They've only finished lower than that once, in 2008, when the only three teams ahead of them were also from Section 2. They are capable of coming back and placing Top 2 next week, as demonstrated by their strength at Sectionals and McQuaid, so they can never be counted out.
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