Results - Girls story - Photo Album

Smithtown NY boys 72 topple NE#1 Collegiate NY 128, with Glastonbury CT 87 second. N. Kingstown wins girls race.
Individual winners are Brandon Jarrett 15:12 and Emily Jones 17:49

by John Nepolitan

Brown Invite Championship winners Brandon Jarrett and Emily Jones.
Photos by John Nepolitan

Boys Championship

While the girls race would bring together only one currently ranked NTN Northeast team, the boys race would bring together current #1, Collegiate(NY), one of the regions hottest teams #5 Smithtown(NY) and #9 Glastonbury(Ct).  Right from the gun the three regional powers would place themselves at the front of the field with both New York schools having the most bodies packed up front early.  While some of the course's standing water had dried out during the day, it was still the best to get out hard and be able to pick your path.  That is just what Glastonbury’s Dan Cabral did building a 20 meter lead by the 800 meter point. 

Behind Cabral, St. Benedict Prep(NJ) junior Brandon Jarrett was slowly working his way through the field and would be at the front of the chase pack along with the #1 men from both Collegiate, Chris Williams, and Smithtown, Brendan Martin.  Between the 800 point and the 2 mile point Jarrett would slowly move up to Cabral while Williams and Martin would engage in a battle that would mirror the team battle building.  Returning to the waiting fans with 1000 meters to go Cabral and Jarrett were now side by side and surging on each other each trying to gain an edge.  The two would battle until Jarrett would launch one last attack with 100 meters to go which would carry him to the #6 equal clocking of 15:15 on the Goddard course and a 5 second victory. 

“It was at the 2 mile point where I caught him (Cabral) and we were just back and forth the whole time, said Jarrett about his battle with the early leader the added “I made my move with maybe 100 meter to go, I was trying to make during the entire race, I made a surge he made a surge until we hit the final straightway when I went all out”.  As for the mud on the course Jarrett commented “It was not as bad as I thought, sometimes you could get around it”. 

Once the individual title was determined, the attention of those assembled turned to the team battle.  While the top two were battling so were Williams and Martin whose race would also come down to the final strides.  Over the last 800 meters Martin would gain a slight advantage, but still would have to dig down to hold off a fast charging Williams, who last spring had run a 4:15 1600 meters, and start the ball rolling for the Long Island school for an upset. 

The three teams doing battle would dominate the top places with 9 runners from these schools all occupying places in the top 19 overall.  Through three finishers Smithtown was holding onto an 18 – 28(Glastonbury) – 29(Collegiate) lead.  After four runners Collegiate had closed within 7 points of their in state rival, but a final scorer in 81st place the fate was sealed for the team that had sat atop the Northeast NTN rankings since winning the Nike Race of Champs at the Great American Cross Country Festival. 

As a result of finishing 3rd Collegiate is sure to drop in the regions rankings, but the opportunity to earn a trip to Portland is not over yet as early season #2 man Dylan Trotzuk, who has not raced since Great America due to a hip pointer problem, is due back in the teams line up by the time the New York Federation meet rolls around on November 18th.  

No matter who was or was not on the starting line, the day belonged to Smithtown, a team that has raced and gotten better with each weekend and is building for a showdown at the New York State Public High School Class Championships on November 11th with Shenendehowa (currently NTN Northeast #3) and then the following with Collegiate added to the mix at the Federation Meet.  Smithtown’s Coach Carolan had nothing but praise for his team, “All seven boys ran real strong they kicked hard at the finish to keep their spots or pick up a couple of spots.  They have been training real hard and have progressed each week.” 

With the invitational season over in the Northeast all attention now will shift to county and then to state competition as teams will make their final drive to earn a spot on the starting line in Portland.

	Championship race champions: The Smithtown NY boys (above) and the North Kingstown RI girls. Photos by John Nepolitan

Girls Championship

Most of the Northeast’s ranked teams faced off one week ago at the Manhattan Invitational, but the two teams from New England who had recently been in the regions top 10 were set to face off here.  Both North Kingstown(RI) currently NTN Northeast #9 and Bromfield(Ma), who had recently been ranked #7 in the region, would come to the muddy Rhode Island course looking to move up. 

When the scores were tallied North Kingstown would come away with a 13 point victory over another team which had been previously ranked Bay Shore(NY) 56-69.  Bay Shore currently #8 in the strong New York Class AA(same class as NTN #1 Saratoga and #2 Hilton)  was 2 points in front of  3rd place Bromfield.  North Kingstown would place all 5 of its scorers within the top 17 of the race in a textbook case of pack running with its #2 – #5 runners placing 14th -15th -16th -17th  all within 7 seconds of each other. 

North Kingstown coach Keven O’Neil believed his team had stepped up when it mattered most, “Our top 5 girls ran out of their minds today.  We were looking at Bromfield this week they are one of the best teams in New England we knew we had to nail them to establish a good ranking and that is what the girls did.”  O’Niel had a special mention for the team’s top runner Caitlin Crawford who ran 1:00 faster than she had a 2 weeks before.  “Our big thing is pack running and try to get girls as close together and work with each other”, said O’Neil about is teams solid grouping.  The total team time for the Rhode Island school is the 6th fastest ever recorded at the Brown Invitational, one place faster than the 2005 NTN runner-up Saratoga Springs.

While three teams were up front battling, the individual race would come down to two runners, Emily Jones(Bromfield) and Callie Hogan(Bay Shore) with the Bromfield sophomore pulling away over the final 800 meters for a 17:49 – 17:56 victory.  Jones’s time is the 13th fastest time ever recorded on the Goddard Park course.  From the gun Hogan went to the lead pulling Jones, North Shore(NY) frosh Brianna Welch and Keely Maguire(Triton Regional, NJ) away from the field.  By the time the race returned to the assembled crowd with 1000 meters to go, it was down to just Jones and Hogan as both runners did all the could to avoid running through the mud and standing water on the course from two days of rain.  Looping around the starting field Jones began to inch away for the victory.