| It's a ballet on cleats. Standing at the top of Freshman Hill for the Manhattan Invitational is one of two places to get a true sense of the scope and magnitude of this 10,000+ athlete event. (the other is between the start and finish).
Looking down the hill, the assembled fans, coaches, parents and teammates know the pack approaches when people begin to scurry toward us in an attempt to make it to the top before being swallowed by the throng. Fans push forward, barely giving the athletes swinging wide a path to negotiate. And just as soon as the runners appear, they're gone. But it's only moments before the race ahead of this one reappears out of the back woods and heads for home. They began just 12 minutes prior and are crossing the bridge for the sharp right and left turns that will take them to the line.
And on this Saturday in October, the weather and the competition cooperate to help some great records fall. It began cool and cloudy, but never became hot on the course, even with the afternoon sun. By the numbers, it was a record day - 356 schools. 10,750 athletes. By the results, it was even more impressive.
The fastest time by a girl ever for the 2.5 mile course.
Nicole Blood, the Saratoga Springs ace, entered the back woods with Warwick Valley's Aislinn Ryan on her heels. She emerged with a 25 meter lead, and extended it to the finish to become the first high school girl to break
14 minutes, being timed in 13:57. The mark breaks the 18-year-old record set by Langley Virginia's Erin Keogh in 1986. Ryan was 17 seconds back.
Saratoga dominated the team finish as well, scoring just 39, 100 better than NE#2 Bay Shore, which was paced by Laura Cummings, 4th in 14:40. Saratoga had their top five in the top fifteen when they crossed the bridge the first time, and had all five in the top fifteen at the finish with a scoring compression of 1:08. Ryan had beaten Blood at the Great American a week earlier, but then missed a dual meet last week with a toe infection that flared up after her NC run.
Pennsylvania's Unionville girls finished a strong 3rd with 182 points, beating NE#3 Bethlehem Central NY. Unionville was led by senior Katie Thaeder, 20th in 15:22.
the masterpiece race
Then there is the masterpiece race by one of the best teams in the US this year, Fayetteville-Manlius NY. On consecutive October Saturdays, they simply dismantled the competition, and with it, two team average records. The first, 10/2 at McQuaid. The second, an unprecedented sweep of the first five places at the Manhattan Invitational in the Varsity Boys C race, with a meet record 12:48.82 average, nearly ten seconds better than the one set by Shenendehowa in 2003.
Not to be lost in the excitement over this performance is the fact that they beat two other ranked teams, NE#3 Christian Brothers Academy NJ, and NE#9 LaSalle PA. CBA finished 2nd with 54 points, while LaSalle was 4th with 104, ten behind Guilford CT. CBA had six runners in before Fayetteville's 6th, but they were in 6th, 8th, 10, 12th, 18th and 23rd. All you can say is Wow! That was the Varsity C race.
good performances in other races
In the other varsity races with ranked teams, NE#4 Lockport NY, who had felt the sting of Fayetteville-Manlius at McQuaid, soundly dispatched NE#10 Monsignor Farrell NY 36-111 in the Boys A race. Lockport went one-two, with Mark Russell in at 12:56 for the win. They placed five in the top 16.
In the Varsity B race, formerly ranked Warwick Valley NY was beaten by Old Bridge NJ, 93-105.
In the Varsity D race, NE#6 Shenendehowa NY was upset by Saratoga Springs NY, 75-83. Dan McManomon of Shen won in 12:44.
In the Varsity E race, NE#7 Morris Hills NJ won easily, with their top four nearly matching CBA's times from the C race.
In the Varsity F race, formerly ranked Chaminade NY and Bishop Hendricken RI were separated by 18 points, with the NY team taking the win. Each had their scoring five in the top 30, but Chaminade's 2nd and 6th place difference matched Hendricken's #1, and Chaminade's #5 was seven places better than his counterpart. The individual matchup of the day was in Varsity Race G, as Newton North's Chris Barnicle missed the meet record of Victor Gras by less than a second, going 12:18 to beat Northport's Kevin Tschirhart by 21 seconds.
Oh, and 23 boys broke 13. That's a record, too, by one.
This is one dance I want to see again.
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