Saratoga Springs New York, Nation's Top Girls Distance Program

Nicole Blood (Saratoga leader) Victor Sailer shot of Foot Locker Northeast Regional winner

Year in and year out on the top teams in the national rankings in Cross-Country each Fall is the Saratoga Springs, New York squad coached by the husband and wife team of Art and Linda Kranik. The school in upper state New York is from a very competitive area, with the success of the squad amazing over the last couple of decades. This year, once again, they were ranked the top team in the United States for Cross-Country - they scored 42 points in an "all-group" one level state federation championship in Cross-Country with 5 in the top 18 of the individual scoring in a very strong distance state (they scored 25 in their division when broken down by level the week before!). The state of New York does have one advantage, as students within a school district can start their running career at the high school level while middle schoolers if they wish, but there is far more than that to the Kranik's team successes. The depth and quality of performances from their young ladies amaze each season, with the team's indoor track effort at the December 30th Brown Invitational by the crew another unreal day of running!

The squad ran the #5 Distance Medley time ever, with their 11:52.60 fueled by Ruby Solomon's 3:39.7 1200, Alysha McElroy's 62.1 400, Lindsay Ferguson's 2:14.8 800, and Nicole Blood's 4:56.0 1600 leg (splits from John Dye and Larry Byrne). John Dye reports that they will be soon be going for the 11:49.34 National Record set by the Red Bank (New Jersey) group led by the Trotter twins, who ran at the Arcadia Invite the last two years. The Saratoga day at Brown did not stop at the distance medley, with the same foursome as the distance medley racing a 9:18.50 3200m Relay (a 2:19 average). Ferguson, a soph who was a the Foot Locker Nationals in Cross-Country, raced a 4:56.96 mile, the nation's fastest indoors for the season, with Solomon a 5:00.22 effort in third behind her. In the open 3000m event Catherine Rossi was 2nd at 10:47.40 (worth probably 11:35 for 3200m), with Cameron Vahanian 10:49.90 in 4th for Saratoga (probably worth 11:40 for 3200m). The Girls Frosh/Soph Distance Medley for Saratoga raced 13:24.82, a very respectable Varsity time, with a squad of Alex Berenis, Kayla Ratigan, Ashley Campbell, and Jess Bellon. The squad was not finished for the day, with the Varsity 1600 medley team from Saratoga (400-200-200-800) racinig 4:16.11 to narrowly lose to the 4:15.98 of Westerly, Rhode Island. The 4:16.11 works out to about 64-27-27-2:28 splits for the event.

What an amazing day! I guess that is how you become the best team in the nation. Some from California will say, "wow, these people are racing very hard for the winter indoor season," but that is how it is done back east, with cross-country running into the indoor season, and then straight into the outdoor season.

If you think Saratoga has some magical indoor facilities to compete in (Monday 1/5/04 weather for Saratoga predicted high of 39 degrees, low of 13, with 70% chance of precipitation and icy conditions in the morning) you are wrong. We have become good friends with the Kraniks over the years, with Art and Linda describing a typical winter week including at least one day a purchase of some good rock salt like they put on the frozen roads, spreading it out in the school parking lot, and running a constant course around the lot with corners marked with trash cans--real exciting! A few years back when we used to do the indoor lists for the nation for track and field news I noticed that a girl who had not run for their state championship cross-country squad suddenly showed up at like 5:08 for a mile indoors. I asked about her, and Art replied, "Yeah, she had a lot of family activities that kept her out of cross-country, but we talked her into indoor track and she has improved quite a bit,"--geez, like a sub 5:10 mile after eight weeks of working out!

Sounds like an impressive formula of hard work and intelligent planning in what is not the mildest of weather climates have brought some impressive results.

The Kraniks have indicated that this is the year they will bring their team to Arcadia, with the squad appearing to have the ability to race under 20:00 for a 4x1600 relay, an under 5:00 average--worth looking forward to come April!!

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