Doug Smith 12:32, DyeStat NY#6 Smithtown NY 71 New Jersey stars Brandon Jarrett and Doug Smith, ranked US#6 and 13 in steveu's Foot Locker Favorites, matched up here and the victory went to Smith (left) in 12:32. Jarrett dropped out at the mile mark after going aggressively for the lead. photo by John Nepolitan Boys Varsity A Report - by Matt Soja What was supposed to be the biggest individual duel of the day quickly fizzled out in a matter of minutes. Although Brandon Jarrett (St. Benedict’s Academy, NJ), ranked #6 in the nation by Dyestat, sprinted out to the early lead and held it until the bridge about 1200m into the race, he succumbed to his groin injury and immediately stepped off the course. With his biggest challenger gone, Jarrett’s nemesis Doug Smith (Gill St. Bernard’s NJ) took the lead, quickly pulled away from the field, and ran the rest of the race alone. Smith, ranked #13 in the nation, finished in 12:31.9, slightly slower than expected, but he won by almost 12 seconds over Giovanni Signoretti (Smithtown NY). The Jersey harrier said he was disappointed with Jarrett’s misfortune because he had “put so much thought and preparation into this race, only to be let down” by the lack of a head-to-head contest all the way to the finish. Since Jarrett’s school is not a part of the New Jersey association, he cannot run in state competition, so the only other time the two best runners in the Garden State will face each other will be at Footlocker Regionals, provided of course Jarrett is healthy by then. As expected, the team competition turned out to be a very tight three-way battle between three regionally ranked teams, Shaker NY, Smithtown NY, and Merrimack NH. But it was the lowest-ranked of the three, Smithtown, which pulled the surprise win with 71 points over Merrimack’s 78 and Shaker’s 83. Smithtown won thanks to its strong front runners, with Signoretti finishing 2nd, Brendan Connell 8th, and August Oetting 12th. They averaged 13:18.7. That will vault them over Shaker in this week’s New York rankings as the latter team remains without a major invitational victory this season. Merrimack’s performance was especially impressive because it was the only team in the race to have their entire top five under 13:40, but this depth was just a few points short of defeating Smithtown. However, their regional 6th place ranking is in jeopardy because CBA and Morris Hills ran slightly better times later in the afternoon.

Team Score		
	1	Smithtown	71	
	2	Merrimack	78	
	3	Shaker	83	
	4	Niskayuna	169	
	5	Lincoln Sudbury	171	
	6	Hunterdon Central	216	
	7	Cicero-North Syracuse	239	
	8	El Modena, CA	271	
	9	Fordham Prep	276	
	10	Bernards	279


	Runner		Team	Time
1	Doug	Smith	Bernards	12:31.86
2	Giovanni	Signoretti	Smithtown	12:43.66
3	Brian	Riley	South Side	12:54.15
4	RJ	Sniffen	Shaker	13:02.10
5	Craig	Weiss	Shaker	13:03.22
6	Louis	Serafini	Niskayuna	13:05.15
7	Chris	Manico	Shaker	13:08.72
8	Brendan	Connell	Smithtown	13:13.96
9	William	Godfrey	Merrimack NH	13:15.51
10	Kevin	Carter	Valley Stream Central	13:15.76
11	Alex	Beaulieu	Merrimack NH	13:19.59
12	August	Oetting	Smithtown	13:20.57
13	Brian	Aukshunas	El Modena	13:21.07
14	Brenden	Repack	Merrimack	13:23.28
15	Nathan	MacNablo	CNS	13:24.10
16	Jake	Shobmakee	Lincoln Sudbury	13:24.67
17	Chris	Buchanan	CNS	13:25.67
18	JImmy	Tyrrell	Lincoln Sudbury	13:28.12
19	Nick	Roertoen	Smithtown	13:30.71
20	Seth	Hafferkamp	Merrimack	13:31.30
21	Jorge	Marques	St. Benedict's	13:36.04
22	Michael	Linder	Hunterdon	13:36.91
23	Jeff 	Corelli	Shaker	13:38.88
24	Brian	Paison	Merrimack NH	13:39.58
25	Alec	Barnes	Lincoln Sudbury	13:40.08
26	Augie	Stadtmueller	Bernards	13:41.36
27	Mike	Girocco	Mahopac	13:42.25
28	Michael	Saparito	Hunterdon	13:42.85
29	Brandon	Cowles	Newark NY	13:43.35
30	Matt	Knott	Smithtown	13:44.43