The 27th race of the day, after the finish chute turned to shoe-sucking mud (one runner actually lost both shoes), was the fastest. In Varsity G, Pearl River NY sr Brendan Fennell 12:30.2 ran the 13th fastest boys time in the 30 years of this meet. Old time Manhattan observors thought it was a top 10 or top 5 performance on a dry day. Fennell was 5 seconds faster than his 2001 time on a perfect autumn day. It all augurs well for Fennell to move up in the Foot Locker Northeast region at Van Cortlandt November 30. He finished 11th last year, 3 spots away from qualifying for the Foot Locker national finals.

Although good teams are spread across the 7 varsity races, the meet tallies average team times to determine the best team of the day. US#11 and Northeast #1 Shenendehowa NY came out on top with an average of 13:15.8 for its first five runners. Next were Northeast #2 Northport NY 13:22.7, Christian Brothers Academy NJ 13:23.1, Hunterdon Central NJ 13:28.8, and Bishop Hendricken RI 13:29.9.

Fennell tells The Harrier's Marc Bloom about his race

Shenendehowa had the best team average

Varsity D: Ahmed Haji, Conard CT 12:46.5 :	Varsity E: Daniel Naughton, Kellenberg 13:00.8
Varsity C: Justin Scheid, Pope John 13:02.3	Varsity F: Victor Gras, Belmont 12:42.7 (left) won one of the closest races of the day.

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