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NY and Northeast teams and individuals headed to Portland

A look at the those representing the New York and Northeast Regions

Saturday, December 6, 2008 - Portland Meadows, Portland, Or

John Nepolitan

 This morning teams from the dyestatmetro area took off for Oregon and the NXN National Championships to be run at the Portland Meadows Racetrack on Saturday.   In the first four editions of the championships, teams and individuals from New York and the Northeast regions have walked away with every girl’s team title, one boys crown and  one each boys and girls individual champions.  2008 looks to be more of the same.  Below is a fast look at the teams and individuals that will be representing New York and the Northeast regions this weekend.

Girls teams

Mercury (Lincoln Sudbury, Ma) – USA #15 -  2nd at the State meet they came back at the Regional to beat Newton Centre to earn a return trip to the National meet.  At the Eastern States Championship race at the Manhattan Invitational, Lincoln Sudbury placed 5th 11 points ahead of New York power Saratoga and just 5 points behind Burnt Hills.  The next week Lincoln Sudbury woupld roll to an easy win at the Brown Invitational before heading into state competition.












Newtown Centre(Newton South, Ma)
– USA #7 - State champions had beaten Mercury a number of times this season leading up to the Regional meet, but slipped back to 2nd to earn a trip west.
















Manlius (Fayetteville, Manlius, NY)
– USA #1 – What can be said about the 2 time defending champions that has not already been said?  Every time that they stepped to the line this season they won, many times in very convincing fashion.  Starting the season off with a win over Burnt Hills at the McQuaid Invitational, it was then onto the Eastern States for a 3rd straight win almost taking down the team average record in the process.  In state competition Fay – Man not only had a perfect score of 15 at the sectional championships, but took the top 7 places.  At the NYSPHSAA Championships it would be an individual title for Courtney Chapman along with the team crown in a low score of 22.  A week later Coach Bill Airs thought best to pass up the
New York Federation meet to prep for the Regional and the Nationals.  Rested and ready to go at the NXN New York Regional Aris’s troops responded with a 3-4-5-6-7 placing to earn a return trip to Portland and a chance at third straight championship.





Kinetic(Saratoga Springs, NY)
– USA #17 – The former champions had been behind Burnt Hills or Fayetteville this whole season and looked like they were going to need one of the at-large selections to advance to Portland, but with a 2nd place at the NXN New York Regional, they were able to sneak into the automatic qualifying place.














Burnt Hills (Burnt Hills, NY)
– USA #11 – A win at the difficult Suburban Council Championships and a NYSPHSAA Class “A” was backed up with a win at an Fay-Man-less New York Federation.  At both the Suburban Council and Federation meets Burnt Hills was able to beat Saratoga.  A 4th place at the Eastern States race would also see the Albany area school place ahead of automatic qualifiers Lincoln Sudbury and Saratoga.  These finishes would be more than enough to earn an at large selection and a return trip to Portland.











Adirondack (Queensbury, NY)
– USA # 20 – Unfortunately for Queensbury they are in the same section and class as Burnt Hills, so a lose at the Section 3 Championships would mean no trip to the NYSPHSAA Championships as a team.  A 3rd place finish at the New York Federation meet would be followed up with a 4th place finish at the NXN New York Regional race behind individual race winner Danielle Winslow.  Key to the at large selection for Queensbury was a 3rd place finish at the Eastern States race ahead of Burnt Hills, Lincoln Sudbury and Saratoga.

Girl’s Individual qualifiers
Elizabeth Shinski (NY)
Roxanne Hennigson (NY)
Amanda Moreland (NY)
Elizabeth Premore (NY)
Danika Simonson (NY)
Heidi Caldwell (NH)
Lindsey Graybill(Pa)
Abigal Levene (Ma)
Kristen Malloy(Ct)
Sarah Pagano(NJ)

Boys Teams

Knight (West Windsor Plainsboro North, NJ) – USA #4 – The lone lose for West Windsor was at the Eastern States Championships where they placed 5th, but they were not a full strength as #2 man Jim Rosa was just returning from an early season injury.  The remaining of the season was one win after another including a New Jersey Group III Championship, a New Jersey Meet of Champs title and first at the NXN Northeast Regional.  Led by super soph Joe Rosa, West Windsor is looking to continue its roll of having all 5 of its scoring athletes run perfect races.











Bergen (Don Bosco Prep, NJ)
– USA #8 – A win at the Eastern States race in October just about locked up at least an at large selection for the north New Jersey team which spent most of the year at the top of the regional rankings.  With very few races Don Bosco went into the championship portion of the season well rested and responded with a 3rd straight New Jersey Non-Public “A” Championship and a 2nd at the New Jersey Meet of Champs following a collision at the start which resulted in 3 of its scorers going down and being in the back half of the field as late as the mile post.  A 2nd place finish at the NXN Northeast Regional locked up a return trip to Portland Meadows where Bosco will look to improve upon its 10th place finish form 2007.









Clifton Park (Shenendehowa, NY)
– USA #11 – The only lose for Shen would be at the hands of Don Bosco at the Eastern States Championships where they placed 3rd.  From there the New York capitol region team would take the powerful Suburban Council, NYSPHSAA Class “AA” and Federation Championships before repeating at NXN New York Regional Champions.  Behind front runner Alex Leuchanka, Shen will look to improve upon their 14th placing of a year ago.













Manlius (Fayetteville Manlius, NY
) – USA # 18 – While the Fay Man girls team seems to get most of the attention, the boys team has quietly gotten better and better.  A 2nd place finish at the McQuaid Invitational and 9th at the Eastern States Championship was not a true indication of the strength of this team.  Led by individual champion Alex Hatz, Fay Man got 2nd at the NYSPHSAA Class “AA” race just 17 points behind Shenendehowa.  At the NXN New York Regional the team had its best race of the season placing 2nd just 8 points behind Shen with Hatz once again taking the individual crown.  












Wexford Flats (North Allegheny, Pa)
– No National Ranking – A disappointing finish at the state meet was not the way the western Pennsylvania team wanted to end the season.  A trip to the NXN Northeast Regional was to be nothing more than to prove to themselves that they were a better team than they showed at the State meet.  A shocking 3rd place finish would put them in a position to receive an at large birth to the Nationals, but the team had ZERO at large points.  The rules for advancing worked to their favor as Danbury, who had finished 4th at the Regional, had built up enough during the season to push North Allegheny onto the starting line in Portland.












Danbury, Danbury, Ct)
– USA #23 – A 2nd place finish at the Eastern States race was just about all Danbury needed to do this season to lock plane tickets to Oregon.  Beating National automatic qualifiers Shenendehowa, Jamestown, West Windsor, and Fayetteville would give the 2 time NTN qualifiers all the points they would need to make it to the starting line this weekend.  A State and New England Championship would finish out the season for Danbury before a 4th place finish at the NXN Northeast Regional.










Boy’s Individual qualifiers

Scott Anderson (NY)
Robert Andrews (NY)
Alex Deir (NY)
John Muller (NY)
Max Straneva (NY)
Francis Hernandez (NH)
Bradley Miles (Pa)
Sean Pohorence (NJ)
Taro Shigenobu (NJ)
Aaron Watanabe (VT)

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