It's been a whirlwind past few days, as much of the State must now reassess their late-season XC plans with the cancellation of the Federation Championships. We have rounded up some of the main storylines to come out of the news.
Katelyn Tuohy Looking Towards NXN-NY
The junior standout was the favorite to defend her Federation Individual Title on Saturday, alongside her teammates. Some were thinking that may be the last time she runs with her team this season, as there had been rampant speculation she would go to Foot Locker Regionals this year. The Journal News caught up with Coach Diglio, head coach of North Rockland, to catch up on Tuohy's recent injury, as well as her future plans.
You can catch the whole story here.
Excerpt:
During a trip last summer to California, where she was honored as Gatorade's high school female athlete of the year, Tuohy had run and walked the Foot Locker course.
Part of Foot Locker's appeal was a new challenge and part was the potential for nicer weather.
But Diglio said Tuohy has been happy with the NIKE race and had been leaning toward staying with it.
He indicated the deciding factor was her unselfishness.
"Katelyn's always a team-first kid," he said. "This year, I was going to ask her not to be a team-first kid. I wanted her to end the (cross-country) year, her junior season, and be a little selfish as far as where she wanted to go ... But always in the back of her head was that she'd be able to race Nike regionals with her teammates."
Saratoga Looks Ahead
The Saratoga Girls were the favorites in search of their 24th Federation Championship title, but were once again sidelined by weather. It seems to be a current trend for the Blue Streaks. The Suburban Council Championships were cancelled as well this year, alongside a muddy and wet Sectional Championship. A few years ago, we detailed how the Suburban Council may have the hardest schedule in the country to get to NXN, with 6 hard weeks of competing. This year, the path has been reduced down to four meets in the same time period, which will lead to fresher legs.
Smithtown Sitting Out
The Federation Championship didn't effect every team. As noted in Newsday, Smithtown Boys had planned to take the weekend off to prep for Regionals. In fact, the Top 6 teams in the NYSPHSAA Merge did much the same, indicating a growing shift towards Regionals as the end point. As Newsday notes, many of the Catholic Schools describe Feds as "the Real State Meet," as it provides the schools from all Federations to compete in a single race. After all the declined invites, and an unpredictable CHSAA Intersectional, it's hard to predict who would have won the boys competition.
Fed Meet Precedent
Over at NYSSWA.org, John Moriello caught up with some athletes who remember another time the Fed meet saw a cancellation. Back in 1987, one runner recalled the scene,
"By that point, the medics were treating as many as 50 runners simultaneously, with six shipped off to area hospitals to be treated for hypothermia or frostbite. One Tottenville girl remained hospitalized for two days with frostbite in both hands."
You can catch the full story here.
Signing Day Success
We'll detail this more in-depth later in the week, but you can check out all the NLI's signed this weekend by heading over to our College Commitment page. You can find that here, and you can add your name to the list by emailing kbrazeil@milesplit.com.