Over the years there have been a few times when we have had the the pleasure of sending out a shout-out to a single NY alumni who was on an NCAA D1 championship team, but this year at Thanksgiving we have a celebratory trifecta. NC State defeated reigning champ BYU for the women's NCAA D1 XC title last Saturday in Tallahassee FL, and the Wolfpack's top three all had a storied past in NY.
Leading the Pack with a 6th place finish was red shirt sophomore Kelsey Chmiel, whose huge resume while at Saratoga included not only three state XC and track championships, a Federation titles, and four top-5 finishes at NXN, but also a world junior XC title in 2017. Red shirt freshman Katelyn Tuohy placed 15th in her first fall NCAA nationals and she piled up 10 state titles and seven national titles while running for North Rockland. Finishing in 22nd was red shirt senior Alexandra Hays who among other achievements teamed with Katherine Lee to lead Shoreham-Wading River to the 2016 Class B XC title.
NC State has seven NY alumni on the women's XC team roster, also including Brooke Rauber, Jenna Schulz, Claire Walters, and Julia Zachgo, along with a number of other top performers from the northeast region including Maine's Hannah Steelman (24th on Saturday) and Pennsyvania's Marlee Starliper. The Wolfpack appear well set to contend for more titles in the years ahead.
Another team doing very well on Saturday was the SUNY Geneseo Blue Knights who took 3rd in the women's D3 championship in Louisville KY. Naturally, all the runners were from NY, and included Kathleen McCarey, Windsor Ardner, Penelope Greene, Marcie Hogan, Rachel Hirschkind, Greta Flanagan, and Kaitlyn Grossman. The guys Blue Knights were 8th, while NY schools RPI was 14th and Vassar 21st. Aidan Ryan of Williams had the top place of any NY alumni in the NCAA D1-D2-D3 meets with a 4th.
Pulling out the names of all the NY runners at Nationals is a challenge, but the following is at least a start. Note that NY usually has very few runners at the D2 championship, which mainly includes colleges from the West and South.
Women's D1
Kelsey Chmiel (Saratoga, NC State) 6th, Katelyn Tuohy (North Rockland, NC State) 15th, Aleaxandra Hays (Shoreham-Wading River, NC State) 22nd, Abigail Spiers (Niskayuna, Syracuse) 170th, Sydney Nowicki (Lockport, Syracuse) 204th, Justus Holden-Betts (Baldwinsville, Syracuse) 240th
Men's D1
Aidan Tooker (Saratoga, Syracuse) 90th, Parker Stokes (Maine-Endwell, Georgetown) 169th, Tyler Berg (Burnt Hills, Columbia) 182nd, Quinn Nicholson (Corning, Georgetown) 210th
Men's D2
Jack Lacina (Hamburg, Edinboro) 241st
Women's D3
Helen McCarey (Minisink Valley, SUNY Geneseo) 14th, Windsor Ardner (Liverpool, SUNY Geneseo) 23rd, Penelope Greene (Pierson, SUNY Geneseo) 44th, Marcie Hogan (Eastport-South Manor, SUNY Geneseo) 55th, Rachel Hirschkind (Monroe-Woodbury, SUNY Geneseo) 59th, Katherine Kenny (Poly Prep, Middlebury) 114th, Phoebe Ward (Dobbs Ferry, Carleton) 152nd, Greta Flanagan (Oyster Bay, SUNY Geneseo) 168th, Kerry Flower (Schalmont, Brockport) 216th, Kaitlyn Grossman (Bethlehem, SUNY Geneseo) 231st, Alice Cutter (Poly Prep, Carleton) 269th, Charlotte Kokernak (Niskayuna, WPI) 287th
Men's D3
Aidan Ryan (Trinity, Williams) 4th, Ryan Cory (Beacon, Cortland State) 40th, Ezra Ruggles (Saratoga, Cortland State) 43rd, Brad Farnham (Penfield, SUNY Geneseo) 47th, Ethan Carey (Queensbury, Brockport State) 100th, Vince Simonetti (Massapequa, RPI) 114th, Nate Lentz (Bronx Science, Williams) 126th, Ben Timmons (Baldwinsville, SUNY Geneseo) 137th, Riley Grossman (Bethlehem, SUNY Geneseo) 186th, Seth Bywater (Cornwall, SUNY Geneseo) 191st, Jason Gibbons (Northport, RPI) 209th, Steven Spreizer (Smithtown, RPI) 234th