Following Week of Saturday, October 1
So much of the action revolved around the races at the McQuaid Invite last week in Rochester. The biggest matchup was in the Premier race as Bethlehem and Cicero-North Syracuse squared off, and a pack of Eagles lifted their team into the #2 spot in the state rankings behind Saratoga. East Aurora finished 4th overall in the McQuaid merge as it pulled farther away at the top of Class C, and Class D top team Voorheesville battled the Blue Devils in the same A1 race to solidify control in the smallest class. Burnt Hills had a breakout performance with a full team to assume Class B's 2nd spot behind Cornwall. CNS's Kate Putman and Allegany-Limestone's Angelina Napoleon won the Premier and A1 races respectively and had the top two times on the day.
If you weren't running in McQuaid's heated action, there is a good chance that you slid back in the rankings even if you had a decent day back home in an invite to the east. There were a number of winners who had speed ratings well below their normal running level, and we are assuming that they were just gearing up for the gigantic Manhattan Invite this weekend. But just when you thought that the day would be a bit sleepy in the east, one of the best battles so far this year broke out in the Brewster Invite's race 2 as Pleasantville inserted itself in Class C's 2nd spot behind East Aurora after a tremendous tussle with James O'Neill. Shaker also had a very good day up at the Grout in Schenectady's Central Park.
Teams are listed with the average speed ratings numbers supplied by Tully Runners, and the number in parentheses shows the difference between the 1-5 runners, each point equaling 3 seconds on a 5K course, and smaller compression numbers are generally better.
This weekend the focus will be back east as the 40+ races of the Manhattan Invitational in the Bronx's Van Cortlandt Park kick off. Many of the smaller teams in the area will head to the Byram Hills Bobcat meet, and beginning on Thursday and Friday the slate of meets include the Bob Greene - Newark Valley, All Hallows, and Chittenango and a Saturday assortment of Saratoga, Penfield-Irondequoit, Southern Tier, Rome Coughlin, Maple Hill - Glover, Tartan, Suffolk Official and Saugerties meets.