EAST SYRACUSE, N.Y. This weekend kicked off the official start to the 2011 cross country season here in New York State. We saw meets going off from Cohoes, N.Y. to Washingtonville, N.Y. MileSplit's own Kyle Brazeil was on location at the 20th Annual East Syracuse Minoa Cross Country Invitational in East Syracuse, Ny.
Several Section 3 powerhouses attended, such as Baldwinsville, CBA Syracuse, Marcellus, and South Lewis. Speaking with Meet Director and ESM Head Coach Jim Gorney before the meet, we asked how the rain had affected the course when most of the surrounding area has been severely flooded.
"The course is pretty flat, so we have quite a few minor lakes on the course," said Gorney. "I think it adds to the appeal of the course."
What makes the Invitational so unique is a self-proclaimed "Interesting, European style 5K."
"The course is all grass, and for the most part is flat, " said Gorney of his course. "There is some rough terrain through the woods, we've left it as complete as we could, save for cutting out a few roots. We also have quite a few sharp turns in there. We've had to cut it down to 4903 meters this year because of the rain, but that may change for the Freedom Championships in October."
Going into the meet, Baldwinsville was projected to win on both the boys' and the girls' side of the race using MileSplit's Virtual Meet feature. The formula predicted that, on the Boys side, Baldwinsville would come out on top by a significant lead, followed by Marcellus then ESM. Speaking with Baldwinsville Boys Coach Jason Glashauser before the meet, he let us know how he felt about his team's prospects at Sectionals this year:
"It's going to be tough, but we have a solid team. What I'm looking for right now is a fifth runner to solidify our top guys. There are about four or five guys gunning for that fifth spot, I'm hoping that'll make us tough to beat."
The race played out in Baldwinsville's favor, finishing four runners in the top 10. East Syracuse Minoa finished second, with brothers Mike and Joe Coogan finishing 5th and 8th respectively. Coming in third was Marcellus, led by junior standout Ryan Manahan. Winning the race in 16 minutes 23 seconds, Ryan looked strong in the early season, something he mentioned he was shooting for in his previous interview as Athlete of the Week.
"It was a good race, a little muddy, not too bad," Manahan said after the race concluded. "I felt like there wasn't enough hills, I enjoy catching people as I power up the hills."
On the Girls side, the Virtual meet predicted a much closer race for Baldwinsville than on the Boys' side. They were predicted to finish 3 points ahead of Class B school Marcellus.
"(I was) excited, really,” said Baldwinsville girls coach Mike Scuderi. “It's good to have some tough competition. We have a really young team; in fact, one-third of our team are 9th graders. Some girls in my top 7 have never run varsity before."
That didn't stop the B-Ville Bees as they finished strong in the top 20. They finished much better than predicted, with 23 points separating them from second place finisher Cazenovia and third place Marcellus.
The girls' varsity race was highlighted by a tight finish, with South Lewis' Victoria Campanian edging out Marcellus' Rachel Garn for a finish of 20 minutes 7 seconds. Campanian was less impressed with all the mud.
"I felt (the mud) hurt my race, I think it slowed me down a bit,” Campanian said. “I felt I did pretty well, considering it's still early in the season. I just wish there were more hills in the course, it was too flat for me."
Campanian charged down the 100-meter straightaway towards the finish line, trailed closely by Rachel Garn. Garn's efforts earned her a finish of 20 minutes 9 seconds, only 2 seconds behind the winner.
