By Christopher Hunt
KINGS PARK – It never takes much to give a team ammunition when their looking to prove themselves. Nothing provides that better than team rankings. And when St. Anthony’s saw that they weren’t even ranked by their local paper and Calhoun was, that’s all it took to neatly place a chip on their shoulders.
“We came into this wanting to beat them pretty bad,” St. Anthony’s senior Patrick Murphy. “We did kind of feel like we had something to prove.”
Well, the Friars certainly make their point with a win in the Varsity A-1 race at the St. Anthony’s Invitational at Sunken Meadow Park with 33 points. Calhoun finished second in what turned out to be a two-team race with 44. Kenneth Walshak placed second on the 2.5-mile course in 13:01.25 followed by Murphy in third in 13:17.96. Ward Melville senior Quinn Raseman turned in the fastest time of the day, winning in 12:53.97.
Murphy and Walshak both said the race went out fast while they chased Raseman through the first half of the course. Murphy latched on to Raseman’s shoulder until Cardiac Hill, the hardest part of the course, where Murphy started to falter and Raseman pulled away and Walshak gave chase. And while they chased Raseman, their 2-3 finish put a dent in the scoring that Calhoun couldn’t close even with Bobby MGetrick and Tim Campbell placing fourth and fifth respectively.
St. Anthony’s coach Tim Dearie said he was curious to see how his team would react to a hard workout two days before the meet, which may have accounted for some tired legs over the last mile. Even if the effort so far didn’t translate into fast times, he was pleased with his team, that says they are looking to get on the podium at the state federation meet in November.
“The people who have been around the program for a long time, they’re always talking about how good St. Anthony’s and we do have a great tradition,” said Dearie, who also coached St. Anthony’s from 1984-93 before taking over again four years ago. “But it’s been a really long time since we’re been at that level. But I tell the guys we’re starting from scratch.
“We’re got to get a plaque (at federations). When I came here I said in four years we should start to really see results. This season is the first year when I can say that I can see it there. They do want to prove that they’re as good as the other teams.”
Byram Hills had something to prove to themselves in the Varsity A-2 race. The Bobcats bombed last fall when the state championships were held at Sunken Meadow Park, where they finished a disappointing ninth in Class B.
“We came here to exorcise the demons so to speak,” head coach Greg Govan said.
Byram Hills won with 63 points, ahead of Monroe-Woodbury, which finished with 89 while Wantagh was third with 94. Senior Joe Violone led the Bobcats in second in 13:20.67. Teammate Chris Cioffoletti , who has battled a quadriceps injury in the early part of the season , finished seventh in 13:50.27.
“I think we ran really well,” Violone said. “We’re getting it together. We’re definitely becoming the team that we hope to be later in the season. … We really wanted to come here and run well on this course to kind of put that race at states behind us. We can definitely say that we came here and did what we came to do.”
Wantagh’s Nick Filippazzo won the race in 13:09.22. Manhasset won the Small Schools race with 58 points, 20 ahead of Harborfields. Irvington’s Julian Saliani won 13:10.69 and was most pleased that the race was 2.5 miles instead of the 5K it was last year.
“The 5K is so much different than this,” he said. “It makes Cardiac so much easier. … At the time it doesn’t feel great but looking back it was like the perfect race for me. Today was perfect for me.”
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.