It’s fitting that a team like Shaker doesn’t have a leader.
Long before Saturday’s Manhattan Invitational, the Bison boys declined to vote for an official captain, deciding instead to practice the pack mentality that they preach in cross country races and operate as a communal unit.
Shaker executed the philosophy to perfection yesterday and shocked a field of favored teams in the Boys Eastern State Championships. In absence of a top ten finisher, the Bison made up for it with a tight one-to-five spread of less than 15 seconds, the shortest in the race's three-year history.
Michael Libruck (14th, 13:08.02), Jon Vallecorsa (16th, 13:11.28), Casey Gilboy (18th, 13:13.68), Christian Delago (22nd, 13:18.64), and Kyle Foster (32nd, 13:23.01) made up the five-headed monster that slipped under the front running radar and slayed a trio of goliaths.
Their 102 points bested second place Christian Brothers Academy (U.S. #16), Fayetteville-Manlius (U.S. #18), and Warwick Valley (NY #4), each of which placed its two runners in front of Shaker’s first.
“We run together,” said Delago. “To us, running as a team is more important than any one runner.”
C.B.A., F-M and Warwick, strong through three runners, were each felled by a lack of depth at the four and five positions.
“We’re a better team than that,” said Manlius coach Bill Aris. “Our fifth man killed us.”
And if Shaker hopes to sustain its pack mentality model into the championship season and repeat today’s performance against the same caliber of competition, it will likely have to do so with the same five runners: Based on yesterday's, in which Shaker's sixth and seventh runners were 51st and 101st, respectively, the team's depth is fragile.
First Time, Long Time
Racing without identical brother Joe Rosa for the first time in his varsity cross country career, West Windsor-Plainsboro North’s Jim Rosa finally won.
Rosa led for most of the race and won by a comfortable margin in 12:28.70. Within striking range for much of the race was fellow New Jersey statesman Ed Cheserek of St. Benedicts, who wasn’t able to narrow the gap and settled for second, in 12:34.41.
Amazingly, it was also the first ever XC victory for Rosa, who, despite owning one of the fastest times ever run on Van Cortlandt Park’s 2.5-mile course, has never won off road against Joe, the VCP record holder.
“I never wanted win like this,” said Rosa. “The only way I wanted to win was by beating my brother when he was healthy, the honorable way.”
Joe Rosa, a senior, developed a stress reaction in his foot earlier in the season and it was announced last week that he would miss the remainder of the cross country season. Jim said that Joe had surgery three days ago and is currently in a wheel chair for the next several days. His tentative plan is to start running in two months, his brother said.
Rosa also said that not having Joe with him in the race affected his tactics. He was lulled into a blistering start across the makeshift course that was rearranged because of park construction.
His time was 20 second slower than his 2009 mark in the same meet, which he said was in part due to the fast start. But he also attributed the slow times to a combination of the weather, which eclipsed 70 degrees, and the course layout, which replaced the hard-packed gravel cow path with stretches through the park’s thick lawn.
Coach Aris echoed the sentiment, in observing Rosa’s time. “They say it’s 2.5 miles,” he said. And I’m going to believe them, but something’s different.”