By Christopher Hunt
All photos by Karen Ward
WAPPINGERS FALLS – Any runner that has compete at North Rockland with Barry Baloga as his coach would know, if nothing else, that Baloga is good for a solid speech. Baloga, an English teacher, started this one with a line from a poem by Robert Frost.
“Miles to go before I sleep,” he said.
“Miles to go before I sleep,” they said.
The miles are done. At least these ones are. And they’ll sleep well. At least for tonight.
North Rockland won the New York State Federation championship at Bowdoin Park Saturday, its first in school history. The Red Raiders scored 132 points to win, a week after a heartbreaking loss to Fayetteville-Manilus for the Class AA state title last week. Burnt Hills finished second with 169 and Warwick Valley third with 192.
“It doesn’t get any bigger than this,” Baloga said.
Senior Nick Hughes led North Rockland in fourth place in 16:08.9. Hughes was considered one favorites to win the race but the field squeezed him more than 20 places behind for the first mile of the race. Hughes worked his way back but could never challenge for the win and that sat on his shoulders when his team started jogging for a cooldown. Then Hughes saw Baloga flip out. That’s how the team learned they won.
Then they flipped out.
“This is our first in school history,” Hughes said. “Our names will never be forgotten. We’ve done something no one has ever done.”
Conor Mallon (16:52.4) and Charlie Lagos (16:52.7) had exceptional races, finishing 34th 
and 35th, respectively. James Naglieri was 56th in 17:07.4 and Brett Bernard 110th In 17:31.3. Baloga said the loss to Fayetteville-Manlius for the state championship humbled the team.
“I got angrier as the week went on,” Baloga said. “The speeches got a little angrier as the week went on. Then yesterday, in poker terms, it was an all-in speech.”
While victory at the federation meet was new to the boysNorth Rockland, the Saratoga Springs girls team was in familiar territory. Saratoga won its 17th state federation championship in school history, topping this time, 63-67. Queensbury placed third with 148.
Saratoga Springs, ranked third in the country, was swallowed by the field early in the race. But a strong second half and the team’s overpowering depth helped Saratoga come back after Shen finished its first three runners before Saratoga’s second finisher. Freshman Keelin Hollowood led Saratoga, finishing 11th overall in 18:49.2 after Shen’s Lizzie Predmore grabbed third in 18:21.2 and Nicole Irving eighth in 18:38.2. Madison Carr was 18th for Saratoga with Sydney King 20th in 19:07.9, Brianne Bellon 27th in 19:16.2 and Amanda Burroughs 40th in 19:35.4.
“They didn’t have a very good start,” Saratoga coach Linda Kranick said. “We’ll fix that. We weren’t where we wanted to be. I think they knew what they had to do after they didn’t get a great start and they did it.”
Bellon, a senior, said the team’s familiarity with the course kept their emotions in check after the subpar start, knowing that they could recover in the second half of the race, which is downhill and flat.
“I definitely think this is the toughest course we run on all year,” said senior Cassie Goutos (57th, 19:57.4). “But it’s my favorite course. I think it’s everyone else’s favorite too.”
Cornwall’s Aisling Cuffe carried the field through a punishing pace until she broke free during the second mile. She won by 40 seconds, finishing in 17:38.9. Shaylyn Tuite of Pittsford Mendon finished second in 18:18.9. Cuffe said she wanted to drop the field early and go after the course record of 17:37.0 but knew she was off pace after the second mile. Cuffe made an assault of a course record in almost every race this season.
“Every record is held by someone,” she said. “I don’t want to think that I can’t beat them.”
Cuffe hasn’t been challenged yet this year and missed out on races at the federation and at the state meet last week with Emily Lipari of Roslyn, who is out with an ankle injury. The Foot Locker Northeast Regional, next Saturday at Sunken Meadow Park, will be her first challenge and change at another title Cuffe has never won before.
“I’m starting to get more excited with each race,” she said. “I’ve been waiting for this for so long.”
Chenango Valley senior Max Straneva rebounded from a close loss at the state meet last week to win the boys race convincingly, in 15:59.7. Straneva loss the Class C title last week to Pawling’s Brandon Freyer by less than a second. Straneva said that race helped him Saturday. Burnt Hills junior Otis Ubriaco finished second 16:03.7.
“I don’t think I was race sharp going into states,” Straneva said. “A lot of races were just 
me jogging and then kicking at the end. Freyer won that race fair and square. I’m not taking anything away from him. I just didn’t feel like I could go fast. I couldn’t run the way I normally do, which is to go out hard and make the pace uncomfortable and whoever has the guts to go with me can go. I think that race against Freyer helped me here.”
Straneva raced in the lead pack behind West Genesee’s Steve Houghmaster and said he was “basically sprinting all out for the first 400 meters.”
“This is really important to me,” he said. “This was probably one of the biggest races of my life. It was rough being at home and having people say, ‘Congratulations. Oh, I’m sorry you lost at states.’ It just erases any doubts that I belong here.”
All photos by Karen Ward
By Christopher Hunt