31st Manhattan Invitational
Oct 11, 2003 at Van Cortlandt Park, New York City
a DyeStat Featured Meet

Biggest 1-day meet in the country: 9,500 high school runners from 325 schools in 36 races. Deepest prize list anywhere -- medals to top 100 in every race. Doubles as the Eastern States Championships for girls. Multiple varsity flights for boys.

| Results | Preview | Entries and Pole Positions | Prior Years |

One of the most brilliant of the many Manhattans

Victor Gras - 12:17.1 breaks John Trautman's 18-year-old meet record
Nicole Blood - 14:17.8 leads Saratoga girls to first sub-15:00 average team time. Saratoga, ranked US#2 in the Sept 22 Harrier rankings, scored 56 points to beat US#19 Argyle 87 and US#17 Bay Shore 120.
Shenendehowa NY boys - 12:58.7 team average is a meet record for the US#5 ranked team.

Results and Pix - Complete results on ArmoryTrack.com

Nicole Blood - helped Saratoga break its 1996 record of 15:10.12 for best average team time.	Victor Gras leads Ahmed Haji to finish     photos by John Nepolitan
Shenendehowa NY boys, with meet director Ed Bowes (L)

Preview

The top three girls teams in the Race of Champions at the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary NC Sept 27 were all from New York, and they will run a rematch in the Girls Eastern States Championship as part of the Manhattan Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park, New York City this Saturday (10/11). The three teams are Saratoga NY (ranked 2nd in the US by The Harrier), US#19 Argyle, and US#17 Bay Shore. Saratoga's Nicole Blood won the Great American ROC, Bay Shore's Laura Cummings was third, Saratoga's Lindsay Ferguson was fourth, and Argyle's Emily Fung and Caitlin Lane were 5th and 7th.

Boys varsity races are balanced, with strong teams spread across the seven races between 1:12 pm and 2:24 pm. Some leading boys teams are US#5 Shenendehowa (Varsity A race), Northeast #10 Warwick Valley (A), Cherokee NJ (B), University City CA (C), Northeast #7 Northport NY (D), US#24 Brookwood GA (D), St. John's Prep MA (E), Midlothian VA (E), Bishop Hendricken RI (E), US#8 Mainland NJ (F), NYC #1 Monsignor Farrell NY (F), LaSalle PA (F - winner of small school race at Great American)

Prior Years

• 2002 - the mud was the story of the day, but it didn't stop Nicole Blood and Brendan Fennell from turning in stellar performances. Blood leads Saratoga girls 24 to 89-point margin in Eastern States Girls Championship. Shenendehowa NY boys 13:15.8 had fastest average boys time. (top boys teams are spread across seven varsity races, so there is no head to head team winner).
  
  

  Jim Patchin, after tripping and belly flopping in the stretch, got an honorary medal from meet director Ed Bowes.

  Nicole Blood

  Brendan Fennell

  
  
• 2001 - Meet is an emotional affirmation of New York and American spirit, just one month after the September 11 World Trade Center attack. Brian Dalpiaz and Tracy Brauksiek are the fastest runners of the day. Saratoga NY girls win Eastern States. Old Bridge NJ is a split second winner of fastest boys team time over Bishop Hendricken RI and St. John's MA.
  
  
• 2000 - Julia Pudlin's "one last burst" catches Erin Donohue at the finish (below). Saratoga's deep squad wins varsity girls by 88 points and scores perfect 15 in both JV races. Charles Millieon NY and Austin Smith VA share fastest boys time of the day, 12:35. Danbury CT boys 13:19.3 have fastest team average.
  
  
• 1999 - Colonie NY girls edge Saratoga 59-61. Laurel Burdick NY and John Huber NY are fastest individuals of the day.

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