The Colonie and Shaker cross country teams are heading for the Big Apple again.
The two public school teams along with Christian Brothers Academy will be in Van Cortlandt Park Saturday for the annual Manhattan Invitational.
Though they will both be there, Shaker and Colonie are not running in the same divisions. Colonie is in the C division for both the boys and girls varsity races, while Shaker’s teams are in the A divisions.
Colonie girls coach Frank Myers is optimistic his team can bring home a divisional title.
`We finally have everybody,` Myers said. `When we have everybody, we’re pretty strong.`
Colonie showed how strong it is when it is at full strength by winning the Division III title at last Saturday’s Grout Run in Schenectady’s Central Park. The Lady Raiders placed four runners in the top 10 to pull away from the pack with 30 points. Columbia was second in the seven-team division with 57 points.
Shannon Finnegan led the Lady Raiders with a second-place finish in a time of 16:32. Mikala Anson (third, 16:39), Kaitlin Mock (fifth, 16:40), Jessica Sherry (ninth, 17:07) and Katelyn Choiniere (11th, 17:16) rounded out Colonie’s top five.
The Shaker boys and girls teams also prepared for Manhattan by running in the Grout Run.
Shaker’s boys team placed second to Queensbury in Division II. The Spartans took the team title with 27 points, while the Blue Bison finished with 35 points.
R.J. Sniffen paced Shaker with a second-place performance in a time of 13:37. Matt Bogdan was third in a time of 13:45, Craig Weiss finished seventh in a time of 14:09 and Nick Webster took 10th place with a time of 14:18.
The Shaker girls finished second to New Rochelle in Division I. New Rochelle won with 56 points, while Shaker had 58 points.
Sara Ochs (sixth, 16:39), Emma Risler (seventh, 16:50) and Seri Gordon (eighth, 16:52) placed in the top 10 to lead the Lady Bison.
Saturday’s varsity races at the Manhattan Invitational begin at 1:16 p.m.“
