By Christopher Hunt
WAPPINGERS FALLS –The weather seemed like the weather might have shown its worst already. Maybe for a second they might have thought that the rain would hold off. The course had already been thrashed by all the precipitation and the previous races.
But as soon as North Rockland took the starting line, the water started to fall from the sky again and the Red Raiders wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“We came to the line and it was raining and we all got fired up for some reason,” said junior James Naglieri, who finished fourth for North Rockland as the Red Raiders took the Varsity 3 race at the Section 1 Coaches Invitational with 47 points.
The rain gave way briefly after the starter’s pistol sounded but poured down again while North Rockland’s Nick Hughes blitzed the last half mile to finish win in 16:34.93, almost 30 seconds ahead of the next finisher. Naglieri finished in 17:04.07. Brett Bernard, Conor Mallon and Charlie Lagos placed 14th, 15th and 16th respectively.
“We enjoyed the race a lot,” coach Barry Baloga said. “It’s the first bad weather race of the season. We were excited.”
The team had a bunch of reasons to be excited. The end of the race marked the official start of the championship portion of the Red Raiders’ dream season where, for the first time, they’ve begun to gain recognition nationally. All season North Rockland waited for the big stage and starting next week at the Rockland County Championships, they can start to accomplish the things they talked about since June. Baloga called this team the most disciplined he’s coached and the runner have been antsy to prove the things they’ve only been able to talk about so far.
“We can’t wait,” Naglieri said. Every since (the league championships) we’ve been ready for the championship part of the season. We just look forward to every single race.”
Honeoye Falls-Lima had every reason to be excited about its team performance as well. The Cougars mostly showed to sample the course at Bowdoin Park, where the state federation meet will be held Nov. 21. HFL won the Varsity 1 race with 52 points led by a 1-2 finish by Alex Dier and Steve Mangan. Dier finished in 16:21.72, the fastest time of the day, followed by Mangan in 16:22.92. Kevin Hoose trailed in fourth in 16:57.92.
“As a team this was maybe one of our best races,” Dier said. “A lot of guys stepped up. “
HFL ran without junior Tom Ramsdell, normally the fourth man who sat out with a minor injury. But sophomore Cooper Roach filled the hole in 15th place, finishing in 17:38.79.
“The big three, those guys were outstanding, coach Bernie Gardner said. “The main thing here was just for us to get a look at the course. Everybody now knows what to expect and we can hopefully come back here and race well.”
Packer Collegiate’s Eddie Owens continued to make a name from himself in the Varsity 2 race, going unchallenged after he surged up the first hill. The junior finished in 16:47.64 while Arlington took the team race with 45 points. Owens said he wanted to be aggressive early and make most of his move on the uphills.
“I knew that if I don’t bury them in the hills that there might not be any coming back,” Owens said. “The real reason I ran this is to get to know the Bowdoin Park course. I definitely feel like I can run well here later in the season. … Right now this is a real confidence booster. I feel like I really got into my routine today.”
Arlington’s compression carried them to the win led by Justin Decker, who finished seventh in 17:21.33, Mike Lotocky in ninth in 17:28.37, Sebatin Hanson 11th in 17:30.64, Brian Wylock 13th in 17:35.68 and Eddie Merenda 16th in 17:44.56.
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.