Running shorts

Gressler invitational

September

Some quick points on the meet I’ll be back with more info later.

Clarkstown North beat Fox Lane in the Varsity II boys race. It was tied at 55 and North won the tiebreaker as Alex Wittenberg was the next runner in between the two schools as he took 27th in 20:11.12. This is North’s first invitational win since 2000. Cord Sgaglio won the race in 17:43.93. Russell Vignali of North took second in 17:54.99. There’ll be more on this in tomorrow’s paper and the notebook on Thursday. But this was a big win for Clarkstown. The team came to run.

“We knew it was going to be between us and Fox Lane,” North Coach Chris Conti said. “Today wasn’t about time it was about place.”

Give North credit the team ran well. Now this opens the door for a lot of teams in Class A. An already tight class got a little tighter. Fox Lane didn’t have its full compliment of runners, but as Fox Lane Coach Chris Dossena said, “You have to run with the guys you have.”

Molly Shine finished fourth for Pearl River in the Varsity I race in 20:37.58. The freshman finished the last 800 meters of the race without her right shoe, which fell off down the hill.

“I didn’t think about it a lot,” Shine said. “And it wasn’t really bothering me a lot. But that hill was steep enough that I was able to kick my shoe off and keep going.”

Some more evidence that runners are the most mentally tough athletes.

Mamaroneck’s Gina Talt looked strong as she finished 3rd in 20:36.75. Pearl River’s Chelsea Kushner (1st, 20:20.37) and Kerry Guerin (2nd, 20:29.63) passed her in the final mile.

White Plains girls had a strong showing as the team placed second behind Pearl River. It has a lot of quality runners.

Mike Hickey (1st, 16:41.64) is still the best runner in the section. He got to race against Manu Kumar (2nd, 17:25.79) of Yorktown and while Kumar ran well, Hickey proved to be too strong. Kumar’s definitely good, but he has a little ways to go before he catches Hickey.

Pearl River raced at White Plains because the meet at Sunken Meadow was rained out. I know, I know, tough to have a rain out when there’s no rain, but what are you going to do? Oh, by the way, I came fully prepared for the rain today – poncho, pants, extra clothes, jacket – and nothing. I just don’t get how they could be so off so often. It’s like these weatherman are professional fortune tellers. Nice work if you could get it.

I love the way Pleasantville’s Libby Lazare runs. She took first in the Varsity II race in 20:50.55. She’s such a tough runner. She crossed the finish line and was spent. She goes all out every race. She is such a fun runner to watch.

I’ll be back with some more info a little later on today or tomorrow morning, be sure to check back.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 27th, 2008 at 12:34 pm by Dan Marra. Print This Post | Email This Post

2 Responses to “Gressler invitational”

runalongnow September 27th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Interesting, whacky day at the Gressler. Saw a couple of kids running with missing shoes! Things were very wet and a bit sloppy, so perhaps the shoes just slid off . By the time they got to the Varsity II races—which took place 4 hours after the Varsity I races—things were even sloppier. This is what’s great about XC. Great job by all the runners.
J. Johnson September 27th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Alot of fast times today (for being in the rain).
I was at the Ocean City Invite
notable preformances:
Boys
Somers top two ran great.
Brewster Boys took 4th overall

Girls
Brewster Girls took 2nd overall
Top 3 break 21 by alot, 4th at 2101 5th at 2147

Howd the other meets go?

It is a condition of your use of the comment features associated with the blogs that you do not: Use the site to post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane or indecent information of any kind, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law. You alone are responsible for the material you post or send. Refer to the Terms of Service.