Rosa brothers run the #1 & #3 times ever for 2.5 miles at VCP
Christian Brothers Academy takes Eastern States Title
Joe Rosa (photo below left by John Nepolitan) became the fastest runner in the long and storied history of venerable Van Cortlandt Park with a mind-blowing 12:03.8 at today's 37th Manhattan Invitational.
While that fact is indisputable, whether it should be counted as the new 2.5-mile course record is the subject of some debate.
 Because of construction on the parade grounds in the park, the usual starting line was moved up 120 yards and the finish line was shifted to where the 5-K course ends. So basically, runners traveled 120 yards less on the grass at the start and an extra 120 yards on the cinders on the final straightaway.
Rosa, a junior at West Windsor-Plainsboro North NJ who ran his 12:03.8 in the F Division race, ran nearly three seconds faster than the course record breaking mark of 12:06.7 run by Solomon Haile of Maryland on the traditional layout last year.
Jim Rosa, (photo below right by John Nepolitan) Joe’s twin, wasn’t far behind as he crossed second in 12:08.8, a time that would be No. 3 on the usual course.
Most officials, fans, runners, and coaches felt Rosa should be given the record. But a very important voice doesn’t see it that way,
``It can’t be counted as a record because it’s a different course,’’ said meet director Ed Bowes. ``It was an amazing race by a fantastic runner and it will be listed as the fastest time ever run here, but all times run today will be listed with an asterik that it was run on a different course.’’
While several of Bowes’ colleagues as well as press, fans, coaches and runners disagree with his decision, Bowes isn’t budging.
``I’m not going to be influenced by any of them,’’ said Bowes. ``I stand by my decision.’’
Rosa, arguably the top cross-country runner in the nation right now, took it in stride.
``I think with the matter of it being such a small margin, it’s tough to call it a course record,’’ said Rosa. ``I understand it’s different than the one Solomon ran on and it wouldn’t be fair to him. You don’t know if the course wasn’t different if I would have run that time. I do think that if the course was the same as it was last year, I would have had a shot at it.’’
All the runners that were asked if Rosa should be the new course record holder said yes.
``Absolutely he should be given the record,’’ said Jon Vitez of Haddonfield, who ran 12:25.6 to win the Eastern States race, the third fastest time of the day among the seven varsity races . ``He killed this course today and deserves it. The course is too similar to not give it to him. Give me a break, he broke the record!
Tyler Udland of Millburn, a Foot Locker finalist last year, shared Vitez’s sentiment. Udland was third in the Eastern States race in 12:28.2. Last year, Udland ran a near identical time of 12:28.1 on the traditional layout when he finished third in the same race as Haile.
``The meat of the course is the back hills and that is exactly the same and the race still starts and finishes on the flats, so I think it should be a new course record,’’ said Udland. ``I don't think the course is that different at all as far as time.''
Rosa, who set the Van Cortlandt Park sophomore class record last year when he won the Eastern States races in 12:20.0, has been torching up courses all season. In addition to what he did at Vanny,, Rosa broke course records at Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia (15:19.2 at the Briarwood Invitational last month), and at Holmdel Park NJ (15:04 at the Shore Coaches Invitational last week) as he vaulted to the No. 1 spot on DyeStat's national rankings list.
Rosa is hoping to get a crack at the traditional course next year. .
``Hopefully the course will be back to the way it was last year and I can try to break the actual record on the actual course,’’ said Rosa. ``I want to prove to myself that I can do it.''
But Bowes said the course probably wouldn’t return back to its customary layout until 2011.
As for the remarkable 1-2 finish by the Rosa’s, it started out like all their races as they took the lead right away and were never challenged, charging past two miles together in 9:51.
``When I heard the two-mile time I started to do the math,’’ said Joe Rosa. ``Last year I was at 10:07, so I knew we were on a good, fast pace.’’
But Joe was more concerned with winning the race than he was about the time he was running as he began his push over the last half mile with Jim breathing down his neck.
``I thought the shorter distance (2.5 instead of 3.1) would help Jim and I was getting nervous because I could still hear him breathing,’’ said Joe. ``I just kept pushing and pushing to the line. He made me work every step of the way to the finish.’’
And it was a finish that will go down as the fastest of all-time at Van Cortlandt, regardless of where the start and finish lines were located!
CBA rebounds from setback to claim Easterns team title
After taking a tumble in the national rankings after a setback a couple weeks ago, Christian Brothers Academy NJ was eager for a shot to prove its loss was a fluke and that it belonged amongst the nation’s elite.
And that’s exactly what it did by shocking four teams ranked in the Top 25 nationally and capturing the prestigious Eastern States Championship race at the 37th Reebok Manhattan Invitational.
CBA, which came in ranked No. 26 in the US and No. 5 in the Northeast, finished with 120 points, 10 ahead of Fayetteville-Manilus NY, which came in ranked No. 2 in the country and No. 1 in NY. Haddonfield, NJ (NE#1/USA #7) was third with 141, Liverpool NY (NY#4) fourth with 196, Germantown Friends PA (NE#3/USA#25) was fifth with 197 and West Chester Henderson, PA (NE #2/ USA #17) was sixth with 202.
Two weeks ago, CBA finished third at the Bowdoin Park Classic, 13 points behind the winner, Haddonfield, and 10 points behind runner-up Germantown Friends.
CBA was trailing Fayetteville-Manlius 76-80 after four runners crossed for both, but CBA’s No. 5 man, senior Rich Bohny, finished 40th in 13:19.0 and beat FM’s No. 5, Alex Hatz, by 14 places to clinch CBA’s 12th Eastern State’s title and first since 2004.
While Bohny’s finish proved to be the difference maker, there were several factors that led to CBA’s title run.
A healthier Mike Mazzaccaro and Dan Mykityshyn was a huge boost, and smarter race execution. and the motivation to prove the rankings wrong were also instrumental.
 Mazzaccaro, (photo left by John Nepolitan) seventh in 12:42.3, was diagnosed with pneumonia just 10 days before the Bowdoin Classic and Mykityshyn was slowed by mono all summer.
CBA coach Tom Heath held those two out last week when CBA ran at the Shore Coaches Invitational at Holmdel Park.
``That definitley helped and we were feeling a lot stronger this week than we did at Bowdoin and Mike really stepped up for us,’’ said Mykityshyn, 36th in 13:14.4. ``We knew we could run better than we did at Bowdoin, and that if we ran our best we could run with anyone here and everything worked out for us''.
Mazzaccaro was CBA’s No. 1 man and Mykityshyn was No. 4 for his team at Vanny. At Bowdoin, Mazzaccaro was No. 2 and Mykityshyn No. 5 for CBA.
``They were both coming off being sick (at Bowdoin) and weren’t 100 percent,’’ said CBA coach Tom Heath. ``Those guys moving up plus the fact that we didn’t panic at the start today were big factors. We went out too fast at Bowdoin, but today they listened and ran a much smarter race.’’
As for the national rankings, CBA senior Mark Lee, 26th in 13:03.3, summed it up best.
``We’re No. 26 and we beat No. 2,’’ said Mark Lee. ``That makes us feel pretty good.’’
While CBA, which also received a strong 11th place finish from senior Dan Bailey in 12:50.7, had a sparkling five-man team averages of 13:01.9, it wasn’t the fastest of the day.
Riding the 1-2-3 finish of juniors Joe (12:03.8) and Jim Rosa (12:08.8), and senior Jon Squeri (12:53.1), US#42 West Windsor-Plainsboro North NJ posted an average of 12:58.3 as it won the F Division race with 81 points. West Windsor North’s No. 4 and No. 5 runners were juniors Casey Dalrymple, 17th in 13:23.5, and Pat O’Connell, 61st in 14:22.3.
Video of random boys races by Matt Chirico
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