I was over at the West Point Invitational yesterday and there were some pretty good performances. Make sure you check out the article in today’s paper about the meet. Also, the girls’ power rankings and notebooks came out today. The Westchester/Putnam notebook has Ursuline in the top spot, followed by a strong Mount Vernon team. In Rockland, the top two teams should be of no surprise with Suffern and North Rockland 1-2.

I will be back a little later tonight with some thoughts on the meet yesterday. I’m actually moving today from one small one bedroom apartment to an even smaller one. We’ve been waiting to move for over a month, and of course we pick the day when there’s supposed to be six inches of snow. Enjoy your New Years, thanks for reading the blog all year and make sure you check out the greatest New Years tradition – the 24 hour Twilight Zone marathon on the SciFi channel. Again, thanks for reading the blog, and enjoy the holiday.

Before I head up to West Point, I’ll let you knew of another area athlete and their college choice. Jourdan White of Fordham Prep has decided to attend Cornell next season. He is such an important part of that team because of all the events he competes in. From the long jump to the 300, the high jump to the 55. He can compete in so many events and he can do pretty well in them. So, congratulations to him, and I will be making the long trek up to West Point in a little bit.

Unfortunately this past weekend, I was away and we could only cover one of the meets on the weekend – Pearl River. However, down at the armory there was some definite things to take note of.

The first and probably most important is Aki Bajulaiye of New Rochelle. Granted the 800 isn’t run that much over the winter, but the senior still finished second in 1:54.96 at Marine Corps. He finished behind Terrence Livingston of Great Neck who won in 1:53.36. Now, I didn’t see the meet, but from what I remember, Livingston is very fast and for Bajulaiye to finish behind him in less than a second is pretty good.I would definitely watch out for Bajulaiye as the season progresses.

Even though I wasn’t there, the Pearl River Holiday Invitational still went off yesterday. Eric Lebowitz covered the event and wrote an article on it that focused on the Ramapo team and how far the team has come.

That whole realingment thing gave me an idea for a new poll. Again, be sure to read Harold’s article on the topic. But before we move on to a new poll let’s take a quick look back at the old poll. Again thanks to everyone for voting and oddly enough we ended in a tie between the North Rockland and Suffern boys teams. Both teams received 15 percent of the vote. Pearl River was the top girls finisher on the poll taking nine percent of all votes. After that the teams get a little grouped together with New Rochelle taking six percent of the vote and surprisingly I finished tied with them. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing finishing fourth on the poll, but thanks for voting on the poll and for me nonetheless.

As for the new poll – very simple – Do you think realignment is a good idea? Are you in favor of it? Voice your opinion on the poll or write a comment telling me what you think.

My colleague, Harold Gutmann, has a story in today’s paper about the possibility of realignment. This is something that would affect all sports and, if you read the blog regularly, you know I am completely in favor of this proposal.

You should definitely check out the article. It basically proposes that leagues will be formualted based on geography and location and not – how it seems now – being plucked out of a hat, which is how it seemed the cross country leagues were picked. There will be four regions, basically splitting the north, central, south and Rockland.

Another senior has decided on where to run next year. This time it’s Katie Sullivan of Ursuline. After a very impressive cross country season where she won most of the meets she entered, Sullivan will continue running at Dartmouth College. Dartmouth also happens to be the smallest of the Ivy League Schools. Congratulations to Katie and she should be able to continue her success at the next level.

The first round of notebooks came out in today’s paper. Like we did last winter, we will be alternating boys and girls. So, next week the girls notebooks will come out. You may also notice a little change in the format of the notebooks where we focus more on the power rankings.

For Westchester, the first batch of power rankings has Fordham Prep on top with its plethora of athletes. In Rockland, Suffern got off to a fast start this season.

Sorry for the post being a little late, but my car got stuck in the snow and that was a whole process trying to get it out.

Unfortunately, the Jim Mitchell Invitational was canceled due to the snow, which was disappointing because I really enjoyed that meet. But now let’s take a look back at Loughlin on Saturday:

I must say, the Mount Vernon girls look very impressive. As I wrote before, Breanda Crump set the section record in the 600 as she took third in 1:33.36. Her senior season could not have gotten off to a better start. She only lost by two seconds and for someone who hasn’t really run that much in the past year and a half that’s pretty impressive.

She then went out and joined with Kenina Bonner, Shamika Mindingall and Tanaya Yarde to win the 800 relay in 1:43.83. Crump – running the second leg – looked real strong in the 200. But what made this win even more impressive was the leg that Yarde ran. She’s only a freshman and ran the anchor. I would say she trailed the anchor from Camden by maybe three or four meters at the halfway mark, but then exploded to the finish line and win by six hundredths of a second. The team looked real fast, watch out for this group.

After one of the best high school running careers in Section 1, Mike Hickey has decided he will continue his running career at Iona College – the second-ranked cross country team in the country. After being persued by quite a number of schools, Hickey decided to stay close to home and run with what has become one of the best cross country programs in the country. I just like to throw this question out there for you – How many Section 1 athletes, from any sport, were recruited and signed by the second-best team in the country in that sport? Not bad.

As I wrote before, Breanda Crump set a section record in the 600. Makre sure you click here to check out the story. Fordham Prep, Suffern and Mount Vernon looked very impressive last night against some real tough competition. I’ll be back a little later to go into more detail about Bishop Loughlin. Take it easy watch some football, shovel some snow and come back a little later as I promised my wife we’d go Christmas shopping today. I actually may post a little earlier now as my TV seems to have stopped working and right in the middle of the Cowboy highlights. My luck.

After injuries halted her last two seasons, Mount Vernon’s Breanda Crump impressed at the Section 1 kickoff meet last weekend winning the 600 in 1:34.1. Today, at the Bishop Loughling Games, Crump continued her comeback as she took third in the 600 in 1:33.36, setting a Section 1 record. I’ll be back with more a little later.

It’s a little late, but I was pretty tired after back-to-back days at the armory. I’ll be there again this weekend, but now it’s time to take a look back at some of the results from Sunday’s events:

3,000/3,200

This was a little surprising. Freshman Nicki Nesi from Pelham ended up winning in 10:57.7. She was able to beat out two very good runners from North Rockland in Katherine Hekker

and Jackie Gamboli. She might be somebody to keep an eye on. It’s early in the season, but a freshma

n winning that race can only raise some eyebrows.

Max Robinson looked strong as he was able to hold off Chris Cioffoletti (9:59.8) of Byram Hills winning in 9:59.6. It was a good race. Robinson had the lead the whole way, Chris took it the last lap, but Max was able to beat him down the last 100 meters. Both looked pretty strong early in the season.

We have a new gameface that you can vote for. Be sure to click here so you can view it. Again, you should definitely check it out because Jen Clyaton and Manu Kumar are two athletes that are on the poll.

Be sure to check out the article in today’s paper from yesterday’s kickoff meet. It talks about the Bronxville senior girls and their success.

Yesterday I wrote an article on the Section 1 kickoff meet. It focused on Harrison’s Claudio Delli Carpini and his determination to have a successful season.

I have another article about Shelby Greany and how her cross country season ended with two of her best races she’s ever run in high school.

Well, it has finally arrived. The cross country season finally ended and the track season officially began. It was quite the busy night at the armory. I figure I’ll be posting on the meets from this weekend for a few days. I’ll talk about Section 1’s kickoff meet tonight and I’ll try and post some stuff on the CHSAA meet from earlier on Saturday. I’ll need to keep this a little short because I have the other kickoff meet in a few hours.

I have some more free time tonight since my wife is visiting with her family up in Boston for the weekend. I really have nothing to do. I’m watching TV – I saw Spiderman 3, which isn’t that bad of a movie, however, that dancing scene is a little ridiculous. And I also recommend if you have never seen Flight of the Conchords on HBO you have to see it, I think it’s hilarious. As for now, check below for some of my thoughts on some of the events from tonight.

The results are in. Shelby Greany took 7th at nationals finishing the Morley Field-Balboa Park course in San Diego, Ca. in 17:45. She was the top finisher from the Norteast as she edged out Chelsea Ley of Clarksboro who took 8th in 17:49. I’ll be back with more a little later. I’ll be at the armory later today and hopefully will have some more stuff posted by then. Again, congratulations to Shelby…just an incredible season.

Here are the complete results.

The all-star and all-county sections are finally out. If you haven’t seen it already be sure to check it out. The Westchester/Putnam story is written on Katie Sullivan and her work ethic. In Rockland, Shelby Greany was the athlete of the season, capping one of the best four-year careers the area has ever seen.

For the boys, Sean Halpin won the Westchester/Putnam athlete of the season. He is someone that just loves the sport of running. No surprise in Rockland, Mike Hickey won the award again. He was a little different than Halpin – Hickey wasn’t crazy about running and really had to be forced into the sport. It looks like that was a good move.

Also, be sure to check out the Rockland first-team and the Westchester/Putnam first-team.

The final cross country rankings of the season have been released. Click here to take a look. Overall it’s not that surprising. Pearl River was the highest ranked girls team finishing 8th overall in the state and 3rd in Class B. Arlington took 9th in the state and 4th in Class AA. North Rockland took 7th in Class AA. Ursuline finished 6th in Class A, while Bronxville finished tops in Class C.

For the boys, Arlington was the highest ranked team in Section 1 taking 7th in the state. North Rockland was right behind them in 8th. The teams finished 3-4 in Class AA with Suffern taking 7th. Fox Lane ended the season 8th in Class A, while Byram Hills and Pearl River finished 14-15 in Class B. Irvington ended its season with a fifth place ranking in Class C.

Don’t forget – tomorrow the all-star sections will be in the paper. Be sure to check it out. And come Saturday we have our last cross country meet of the season mixed with the first track meet I’ll be attending. See you all soon.

It’s been long enough and with the final cross country meet this weekend and all-stars coming out on Dec. 12, it’s time to look ahead to the track season. As for the last poll, Shelby Greany received the most votes. I can’t say I’m too surprised since she is the only Section 1 cross country runner still competing.  Making nationals four straight years is an incredible accomplishment. Emily Singer of Harrison took second, which is also very deserving. She came out and had an incredible season. For the boys, we finished in a tie. Mike Hickey and Manu Kumar finished tied. Both of them are completely deserving of the award. Hickey just finished one of the best careers of any high school runner from Section 1 in awhile and Kumar is set up for a big year next season. I am a little surprised Nick Hughes didn’t get more votes, but what are you going to do.

The indoor track season has finally begun. I’ll be at the kickoff meet next weekend, but some teams participated over at the Armory in the Nassau Coaches Invitational, while others ran in the freezing cold at the Yorktown Big Chill meet.

Here’s what we had called in to the paper last night:

The Suffern girls had three teams win their respective events: triple jump, shot put and pole vault. Suffern’s Jen Clayton (36-5) and Jen Keorasmey (31-5) combined for a mark of 67 feet and 10 inches to win the triple jump. Sisters Bryana (34-1) and Desiree Roberts (33-1) won the shot put relay. Kaitlynn Cross won the pole vault, clearing a height of 9 feet. The long jump relay of Clayton (16-8) and Keorasmey (14-1) took second. The 1,600-meter relay of Meg McNally, Jackie Berks, Liz Borczyk, Brittany Cocchieri was third overall, 4:25.1.

Read more of this entry »

While I’m sure you’re all anxiously awaiting The Journal News cross country all-star sections, you will have to wait just one more week for that masterpiece. But what I have for you is the all-section team as voted on by the coaches. Check it out, tell me what you think…We’re running out of cross country time, so make your opinion worthwhile. Click below to view the coaches’ selections.

I know, I know, the track previews are out and and you’re all getting ready for the beginning of the season. But I’ll try to post some info on the upcoming season, what I think is going to happen and maybe, just maybe…if you’re lucky I’ll post a new poll.

I’ll also try and post some college signings as we have a lot of talented seniors that will be looking to transfer their high school success to college. However, I don’t have any of that on me right now.

But to wet your appetite how about this: Last year, Stepinac’s Maurice Easterling, burst onto the scene as a long jumper. The football star immediately became one of the top jumpers in the section last spring and the best in Westchester. He did it all with only a few weeks of practice. After a successful football season for the senior, I have just learned that he apparently has decided to forego  basketball and participate in winter track. He is one of the most impressive athletes in Section 1 and with some more practice should only get better in the event.

To give you an idea….he jumped a season-best 22-2 1/4 at the state meet and he won the Westchester County meet with a leap of 21-10 1/2. Not bad for someone who just picked it up. I’ll be back with more stuff later. Be good and I’ll see you soon.

After a hectic few weeks, the winter track previews have finally made it out. Be sure to take a look at them.

Eric wrote about the Woodlands’ girls team that you should definitely check out. In Rockland, his story focuses on  Clarkstown South and its lack of a track.

You can also read his three questions about the season, his season at a glance and his athletes to watch.

On the boys’ side, I wrote an article on how North Rockland is looking to rebound this season. My other story focuses on Fordham Prep’s potentially big season.

You can also take a look at my athletes to watch, season at a glance and my three questions about the season.

I hope you enjoy, I’ll be back later with some more stuff. Also, the all-star section will be coming out Dec. 12. Be on the look out.

This is the last gameface of the fall season, so be sure to click here and vote.

Again, you should definitely vote because Suffern’s Shelby Greany is one of the athletes that you can vote for.