| The 32nd annual Manhattan College Invitational today (Oct. 90 at historic Van Cortlandt Park was a meet that will long be remembered by the more than 10,000 competing athletes and their supporters.
It produced course records in three of the four available categories and barely missed a clean sweep as Chris Barnicle of Newton North, Mass., came within less than three seconds of Brad Hudson's 21-year-old boys' course record., winning the G race by 100 yards in 12:18 from Kevin Tschirhart of Northport, N.Y.
Saratoga's No. 1 ranked girls' team accounted for two records. Nicole Blood avenged last week's Great American loss to Aislinn Ryan of Warwick Valley, NY, winning by some 90 yards and becoming the first young lady to break 14:00 on the 2.5M course. She finished in 13:57 as Saratoga defeated Bay Shore, N.Y., 39-139, and, in the process smashed its own team average record by some 20 seconds at 14:36. Caitlin Lane, who transferred into Saratoga from Argyle this year, finished third, matching Ryan's time at 14:14. The others were Hannah Davidson in 7th in 14:47, Karyn Delay in 13th in 14:57 and Lindsey Ferguson in 15th at 15:05.
The heralded matchup of Fayetteville-Manlius and Christian Brothers Academy of Lincrost, N.J., turned into a rout as the upsatte New York team swept the first five places and lowered the boys' team average record 10 seconds to 12:48. Tom Gruenewald led the parade in 12:42, followed by Own Kimple at 12:49, Jarred Kimple at 12:49, John Heron at 12:51 and Andy McCann at 12:54.
The second-fastest time for boys was 12:27 by Bobby Papazian of Gill-St. Bernard's, N.J., who won the B race by 30 yards from Ryan Sheridan of Walt Whitman, N.Y. This race was first announced as 12:20, but a check with several coaches revealed the sllight discrepancy. Sheridan ran 12:33.
Another controversy was resolved when a New Jersey court ordered a very willing meet director, Ed Bowes, to allow St. Benedict's Prep, an inner-city Newark, N.J., team to compete. In what appears to be a growing movement among verious state associations, New York's federation had sent a letter to Bowes, forcefully requesting that St. Benedict's, perhaps the oldest cross-country power in the nation, not be permitted to compete since the school is not a member of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association ---though the Gray Bees run regularly in meets within the state and, only a week earlier, their star, Bryan Scotland, had won for the second year in a row at the mammoth Shore Coaches Invitational in Holmdel, N.J.
Scotland finished third to Barnicle and Tschirhart in the G race at 12:55, the second fastest time of the day for a New Jersey runner.
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