The Eastern States at Manhattan: "A
Perfect 10"
By Rich Gonzalez
DyeStat.com
We've already heard the talk. More than once it has been stated
this year's Manhattan Invitational could play host to "the
greatest girls field ever".
The criteria for such is vague. Are we talking the best few teams?
Or the deepest field? Or?
We won't go as far as to pre-rate Manhattan's Eastern
States Championship (Saturday, 2:38pm) as
the greatest girls field ever, but we will rate it a "Perfect
10". That's because there are
10 NTN-ranked teams scheduled to meet, including the marquee programs
from two separate NTN regions! The biggest question here is how
will the Southeast Region's "Fab Four" fare against the Northeast's
very powerful collection of top-end talent? The Northeast dominated
the girls scene last year with a 1-2-9 team finish at NTN, but
this year could be just as strong. The Southeast was a very respectable
11th and 14th with its two NTN berths last year, but appears on
a definite upswing and far stronger in 2006.
How will it all shake out? Time (and the times) will tell on Saturday,
but here's a first look at some of the main team players in the
Girls Eastern States Championship:
Time To Fly Again?: Hilton of New York (right)
rose to the occasion to defeat Saratoga Springs runners in
club competition at the 2005
Nike Team Nationals. Two close
calls already in 2006, but Hilton remains #1 so far. (photo
by Kirby Lee)
|
Hilton (NY) (right) leads the decorated
cast of teams by possessing the most gleaming credential in the
field: Defending
NTN champion. Five return from last year's historic
lineup, including four scorers headlined by Allison
Sawyer and Caroline
Schulz. They
are ranked #1 in the Northeast (and in the nation) and unbeaten
thus far in 2006, but have been hardly unchallenged. Recently,
there was a tough 9-point win over #2-ranked Radnor
of PA at the
Warwick Mania Invitational. Before that, there was a hard fought
10-point triumph over #3 Greenwich at the Baldwinsville
Invitational, a race in which Hilton was trailing heading into
the final mile.
Greenwich, a small school in New York, inherited a lineup of runners
that includes former Saratoga Springs standout Caitlin
Lane, her
freshman sister Brittany, and the Fung siblings, Emily
and Ashley.
Much like Hilton, they are comprised of a pair of frontrunners,
a solid third scorer, and the gaps to their final two scorers.
Each team can easily have a scoring gap of 2 minutes on a given
day.
2004 NTN winner Saratoga Springs (NY) has taught the skeptics a
lesson or two heading into this year, overcoming some key graduation
and transfer losses to quickly "remodel" itself into
a juggernaut running machine yet again. The Blue Streaks trounced
a talented Colts Neck (NJ) lineup by triple digits earlier this
fall and find themselves as the #3 team in the region as of "press" time.
Since then, Colts Neck (Northeast #5) has rebounded to defeat NTN-ranked
teams at its own meet two weekends ago and hopes to have star runner
Briana Jackucewicz returned from injury in time for this weekend's
action.
Eleanor Roosevelt HS (MD) was a big surprise on
the national scene a year ago, culminating that Cinderella episode
with an 11th-place finish at NTN. Everyone from that squad returns,
with the group now top ranked in the Southeast Region and fresh
from a win over Southeast #4 Tatnall (DE) at the big Maymont Invitational
in Virginia.
The additional impressive facet about the Southeast Region this
year is its top four girls teams are clear of their local rivals
and nearly interchangeable on most race days. Florida's Episcopal
HS (Southeast #2) and Virginia's Midlothian (Southeast #3) went
1-2, respectively, at the Great
American Cross-Country Festival in Alabama, with the teams separated by a mere 15 points in a 23-team
field. Episcopal relies on superb frontrunning to excel (with Katie
Traylor and Laura Steel leading the way) while Midlothian is also
fairly strong up front but has sensational depth. "Midlo" is
led by heralded frosh twins Kathleen and Leia
Lautzenheiser.
Other regionally ranked squads in the 30-team field include Northeast
#6 Fayetteville-Manlius (NY), paced by super 9th-grader Mackenzie
Carter, and Northeast #7 Bromfield
(MA), recent winners of the
Boston Invitational. Bronxville (NY) and South
Lake Tahoe (located
on the California border, but competing in the NTN Southwest Region)
have also been previously ranked in their NTN regions this fall,
with Central California power Clovis also in the mix.
The individual battle should be a dandy as well, with four FootLocker
finalists entered, although Jackucewicz's status is questionable.
Greenwich's Caitlin Lane (31st at FootLocker
in 2005) and Saratoga
Springs' Hannah Davidson (36th), who were both teammates a year
ago before the former transferred out, are joined by Jackucewicz
(37th) and Suffern's Shelby Greany (38th) as those with nationals
experience.
For Shen, it's time to make a point: With six Northeast
Region ranked teams converging at Van Cortlandt Park, here's
an ideal opportunity for #3-ranked Shenendehowa to make a definitive
statement as the postseason quickly approaches. Shen took 2nd
to #1 Collegiate (NY) at Great American. Neither Collegiate
nor #2 Coatesville (PA) are in attendance this weekend. (photo
by Rich Gonzalez) |
BOYS OVERVIEW:
The Northeast Region's two heavy hitters to date - Coatesville of
Pennsylvania and Collegiate of New York - are
sitting on the bench for this one, with such teams as Shendehowa,
Fayetteville-Manlius and Warwick
Valley of New York joining Danbury of
Connecticut and others in stepping up to the plate and aiming
for a home run. Only six of the region's Top 10 teams are participating
here this weekend (as of this preview's writing), a mild surprise
considering the size and prestige of this mid-season invitational.
Teams competing here put themselves in advantageous position
of facing other quality teams/runners head-on along a well chronicled
course in seeking to improve their NTN standing.
As is customary here, meet management has decided to spread the
talent across the seven varsity heats, depriving spectators and
supporters alike of some great matchups. Regardless, the meet still
offers plenty of solid action with talent aplenty. Here's our race-by-race
take on the seven varsity sessions:
BOYS VARSITY "A" - 1:16pm
The first varsity boys race of the afternoon features the defending
Nike Team Nationals champion, but with a vastly different look.
Saratoga Springs (NY) is ranked neither nationally,
regionally, nor even locally in 2006 as a massive rebuilding
task follows that improbable fulfilled dream in Portland in December
of 2005.
A new chapter of the venerable meet opens on the famed "Vanny" layout,
with a trio of fine squads helping carry this 40-team heat drawing
representation from six states -- Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
New York, New Jersey, Delaware and New Hampshire. Chaminade
(NY) is considered the race favorite over Shaker
(NY) here, being fresh
off a dominant 17-point trumph in its race at the Grout Run last
weekend. Ryan McDermott led the way for Chaminade, gunning it from
the start en route to a wire-to-wire win in a meet-leading 13:15
for 2.75 miles. Shaker lost by eight points to in-state foe Queensbury in its race at Grout. Chaminade averaged 13 seconds faster per
man at the Grout Run than Shaker did, and it wasn't just because
of Dermott. The 'Nade run quicker at most of the team positions
at Grout.
Bishop Hendricken, the defending Rhode Island state champion and
atop the state polls once again, is another formidable entry here,
with its fine frontrunning duo of Andrew Palumbo and Steve
Wood setting the table. BH will be competing in New York for the second
consecutive weekend after being fourth by just six points to eventual
winner Arlington (NY) in a jogjam team finish at last week's showdown
at Sunken Meadow for the St. Anthony's Invitational.
BOYS VARSITY "B" - 1:28pm
St. Anthony's (NY) heads up this 41-team assortment hailing from
eight states, including leading teams from New Jersey and Florida.
St. Anthony's, ranked 11th in the new state Class AA poll, was
sharp last weekend at its own invitational, taking third overall
but only four points behind race winner Arlington (ranked eighth
in Class AA), a team on the NTN regional radar.
Winter Park (FL), a program some may recall
advanced to the inaugural NTN championships two years ago, is
making the journey up the East Coast for this one. Senior Peter
Posada leads the unit, which is
ranked third in the state 4A poll. Perennial New Jersey power Don
Bosco was involved in an ambush at the Stanford
Invitational in California two weekends ago, finishing 21st among 23 teams in
a monster field of teams. Seniors Conor Sullivan and Coliun
McCullough are among the leaders for their proud tradition in 2006 as the
squad aims to right the ship at Van Cortlandt Park on its paths
to a hoped-for state podium finish.
BOYS VARSITY "C" - 1:40pm
A fine duel between NY powers Smithtown and Queensbury is projected
to emerge from this 39-team clash, which also includes one of
America's finest traditions in Christian
Brothers Academy. Smithtown
rocked the house at the St. Anthony's meet last weekend, with
its top three touring the 2.5-mile Sunken Meadow layout in a
sparkling 13-minute average to go 2-3-4 in that race, roughly
a half minute behind speedburner Charles
White of Garden City.
Smithtown is projected to climb into the NTN Northeast Region
rankings this week based on that showing.
Queensbury upset Shaker at last weekend's Grout Run, with race
winner Matt Flint (13:28 for 2.75 miles) igniting a 45-second scoring
gap for the Q-men, a group that has been at or on the fringe of
the NTN regional rankings for each of the last three years.
CBA is patiently rounding into form, with some growing pains along
the way. The team took third in its flight of the Shore Coaches
meet last weekend, 19 points behind 2006 state pacesetter Jackson
Memorial and within 11 points of runenr-up Old
Bridge. The good
news for Christian Brothers is that it packs well in races, with
a nice 33-second scoring cushion in its last outing. Just a little
improvement for that pack goes a long way in the scoring column.
2005 FootLocker finalist Brian Rhodes-Devey, who just very recently
committed to the University of Texas, is the Manhattan Invitational's
top returnee from a year ago off his 12:44 race-winning effort
in flight "B". Alex Willis of Colonial
HS in Florida
figures to be among the harriers positioned in the lead pack.
BOYS VARSITY "D" - 1:52pm
Where's the love for Xavier?? For a Connecticut
team wishing to prove its worth and crash the Northeast Region
rankings, the seeding committee did this group no favors. This
race appears to be the lightest of the seven heats, meaning Xavier
team members must dig down and run against themselves and the clock
in seeking to boost its stock. The X-factor is among a good group
of Connecticut teams compared to recent years, with two squads
recognized in the top 10 in last week's regional rankings! Senior Adam
Vess,
seventh at his single-division state meet last year, is the team's
frontrunner. Germantown (PA) and Pope
John XIII (NJ) are among
a string of state-ranked teams also in the mix.
BOYS VARSITY "E" - 2:04pm
If you're looking for the race of the day, this should be it. With
the region's top two teams sitting this meet out, Shenendehowa
(NY) is the meet's highest-ranked team (#3 in the NTN Northeast
Region) and Danbury (CT) is the meet's third-highest (#5 in NTN
NE). They'll get plenty of aid while striving to run fast for
the sake of post-meet team-time comparisons as Colts Neck's (NJ) Craig Forys, Clovis' (CA) Mikel
Thomas and Crested Butte Academy's
(CO) Adam Lenz are all national-class performers among those
undoubtedly setting a torrid pace.
"Shen" is seeking a breakthrough showing here
to vault past the region's top two ranked teams -- Collegiate of
New York and Coatesville of Pennsylvania, neither of which are
in attendance this weekend.. A big key will be how close the Shen
pack is to its frontrunner, senior Stephen
Murdock, who will battle
the aforementioned trio for lead individual honors.
Murdock and Lenz chased down a fast-starting New Yorker Rhodes-Devey
at last month's Great
American Cross-Country Festival, finishing
2nd and 3rd, respectively, on the moderately challenging 5k layout
at Alabama's Spain Park. Thomas finished seven seconds behind two-time
defending California state 3200m champion Michael
Cybulski on the
state meet cross-country course at the Clovis
Invitational last
weekend, signaling his very fine fitness for this outing. Forys,
the defending state cross-country champion and a sub-9:00 eight
lapper in track, is another expected to carry the race pace to
superb levels. Shenendehowa indeed has the opportunity to boost
its stock here, but that's the benefit for choosing to attend the
region's most prominent invitational of the season. The payout
could be grand!
BOYS VARSITY "F" - 2:16pm
Yes, Fay-Man still can! There were plenty of skeptics choosing
to discount Fayetteville-Manlius' returnees
on both the varsity and lower levels entering this year, but
the program's faithful were rewarded with good times in
a convincing 31-point triumph over regionally ranked Liverpool at
the recent McQuaid Invitational. F-M has an outstanding frontrunner
in Tommy Gruenewald while Luke
Fitzgibbons provides quality back-up.
It was F-M, as many of you may recall, that threw down a historic
showing here in 2005, scoring a perfect 15 points and averaing
14:48 for its top five. This team seemingly is not that good, but
it is better than most of you probably think.
Ridgewood (NJ) is one of the better New Jersey teams this year
although it lost a great deal of talent to graduation this past
summer. Although F-M is the clear favorite in this one, the runner-up
spot is wide open.
BOYS VARSITY "G" - 2:28pm
The final varsity joust of the day could be a very competitive
one, with a pair of current NTN-ranked teams and a third vying
to crack into the next Top 10 poll, which is released the day
before the big Manhattan meet. Warwick Valley has enjoyed multiple
strong performances thus far this fall, includind dominating
wins at the Edgewater Invitational in Florida and at its own
meet two weekends back. In between was a steady - but not stunning
- during a bit of an off team showing at the Great
American Cross-Country Festival. Individually, Terrence
Prial and Zack Price are part
of a very potent attack!
Liverpool (NY), still smarting from a head-on
setback to Fay-Man at McQuaid, seeks a dose of redemption in
this one and will be afforded that chance against Warwick's "Purple
Wave." Although
it has been an uncharacteristic down-year for New Jersey so far,
Jackson Memorial has picked up the flag, so to speak, to emerge
as that state's top team. La Salle College, the #6 team from PA,
also checks in here. The race up front could be between Warwick
Valley's Prial and Mark Amirault, the reigning Massachusetts state
champion from Xaverian High.
