The only thing that’s changed about Steve Murdock is the jersey he wears.
After helping Saratoga win last year’s state class A cross country title, Murdock donned Shenen-dehowa’s black-and-green jersey for the first time since transferring to the Clifton Park school during the summer and helped the Plainsmen win last Saturday’s Shaker Invitational by 16 points over Queensbury.
I think they’re all really nice kids. We’re all buddies, said Murdock of his new teammates.
Murdock highlighted a strong Shen performance by winning the boys varsity race with a time of 15:33. Adam Quinn took third place with a time of 16:09.82, and Zach Predmore followed closely in fourth place with a time of 16:10.44. Zac Suriano ` who switched from soccer to cross country this season ` placed seventh with a time of 16:22.97.
`Suriano’s effort may have been the biggest breakthrough here,` said Shen coach Matt Jones. `It’s the first time he’s run a varsity race, and he placed seventh. He did well.`
Murdock demonstrated the strong finishing kick that helped him win last year’s Section II, Class A title and place second at the state meet to Guilderland’s Brian Rhodes-Devey. Murdock trailed Queensbury’s Matt Flint by several seconds as the runners headed toward the two-mile mark of the 3.04-mile race. But by the time they re-emerged from the woods at Colonie Town Park, Murdock had a comfortable lead on Flint.
`Coach (Jones) wants me to be a little conservative at the beginning and slowly build up speed,` said Murdock.
With Murdock and the addition of sophomore Mike Danaher ` who was Christian Brothers Academy’s lead runner before transferring to his hometown school this summer ` Shen has emerged as the pre-season favorite to win the Section II championship.
`We’ve got to find a fifth man if we’re going to live up to all the hype, but I’m very pleased with the first four (today),` said Jones.
`I think as along as we do what coach Jones asks us to do and we keep improving, then it’s going to be very hard to beat us,` added Murdock.
The Shen girls team also had a strong showing at the Shaker Invitational. Even with two of their lead runners missing the varsity race, the Plainswomen finished fourth in the team standings with 96 points, 14 points out of placing second. Academy of Holy Names won the team title with 61 points, while Colonie edged Queensbury 82-84 for second place.
`I think we have a little work to do,` said Shen girls coach Lynn Lindquist. `This was a solid field today.`
Cara Janeczko ` one of Shen’s lead runners last year ` focused her energy on trying to break the freshman race record. Janeczko won the 1.5-mile race, but her time of 8:48.74 fell short of the mark set by Scotia-Glenville’s Jillian King last year.
`Cara wanted to break Jillian King’s record, but she’s also dealing with a little injury. So, she was a little slower today, but she’s still No. 2 on the (record) board,` said Lindquist.
Without Janeczko and junior Lindsay Bonk, the Plainswomen stayed competitive in the varsity race by placing four of their runners in the top 25. Katie Rusch led Shen with a 12th-place finish in a time of 19:54.50. Tricia Wardwell was 15th in a time of 20:06.50, Christine Sloat placed 21st in a time of 20:22.79 and Meredith Peabody finished 22nd in a time of 20:25.88.“
