By Christopher Hunt
WAPPINGERS FALLS – Covered in mud and drenched by rain, Amanda Moreland held on to her teammate and stayed in her ear about all the things she could have done better in her race. Not like a coach. Not like disgruntled teammate. But like a big sister that simply wanted to help understand why things happen in a race and how she can learn from them.
Honeoye Falls-Lima said after the race that they are a tight team and they we’re just talking about their compression, which was impressive, but looking at them showed they were more like a bunch of friends running in the rain than teammates who shared identical jerseys.
“It was fun,” said Moreland who won the Varsity 2 race for NYS #9-ranked HFL, in 19:35.94. “This was our kind of course because it was so muddy. When we saw the mud we all just got excited.”
HFL won the Varsity 2 race with 40 points at the Section 1 Coaches Invitational. Arlington finished second with 52 led by Hayley MacMahon in second in 19:45.17 and Rachel Sorna third in 19:459.30.
“Today ends the regular season,” HFL coach Bernie Gardner said. “Now it’s the playoffs. It’s like you have to win one race to advance to the next. (After this race) we’re like the Yankees trying to advance to the next round.”
Gardner had to be encouraged watching his team place all seven runners in the top 14 places. Behind Moreland, Jessie Brunett, Katie Engle and Hannah Cole finished 8-9-10 with Allison Hoh and Ruth Steinke 13th and 14th respectively. Like many of the top teams, the Cougars mostly wanted to get preview of the course at Bowdoin Park, the same course the state federation meet will be held on Nov. 21. Four of HFL’s seven hadn’t seen the course before.
“I learned once you get to the big hill if you can push there you’ll be able to do so much more than you think in the second half because it’s all downhill then,” Steinke said.
NYS #3-ranked Monroe Woodbury won the Varsity 3 race with even worse course conditions, being the last of the six varsity races. Elizabeth O’Donnell led the team’s victory (39 points) in third in 19:55.21 followed by Megan Patrigenelli fourth (20:14.50) and Meagan Venterola fifth (20:17.25). Freshman Kelsey Esselman was 11th in 21:08.98 and sophomore Christina Clarkin 16th in 21:35.71.
A couple things hurt the team’s overall performance. Sabrina Brooks, normally the team’s fourth runner, fell running downhill and did not finish. Venterola was the team’s lead runner at the Manhattan Invitational two weeks ago. But coach Chris Goodwin said that the race was mostly about surviving through the week and sampling the course plus he saw that Esselman could contribute to the team.
“What we’re supposed to be doing is keeping our top five together,” said Jennifer Boyle, who finished 18th for the team. “I think we did as good a job as we could today.”
Pearl River, which won the Varsity 1 race, didn’t feel the same. The Pirates finished with 48 points with Bronxville second with 60. Pearl River coach Dan Doherty said he was disappointed with his team’s lack of aggressiveness, especially in the first half of the race.
“We didn’t get out hard enough,” said junior Kerry Guerin, who finished seventh, followed by Maria Kohlbrenner and twin sister Erica, in eighth and ninth respectively. “It’s more of a mental thing. At the top of the hill I didn’t see anyone and I knew I had to pick it up.”
Freshman Ursula Svoboda of Suffern won the race in 19:20.17. Kerry finished in 20:12.52. Last year at the same meet, four Pearl River girls broke 20 minutes. Kerry Guerin said she knows the team has a lot more in their legs. They have an opportunity to show it next Saturday at the Rockland County championships.
“We could be a totally different team,” she said.