The Shenendehowa boys cross country team won’t need to go to the shopping mall for new watches any time soon.
The Plainsmen all received watches after compiling the fastest average time at last Saturday’s Manhattan Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.
It was a nice team performance, said Shen boys coach Matt Jones. `Specifically, I thought Steve Murdock did a great job.`
Murdock was eyeing an individual title and a course record until Craig Forys of Colts Neck, N.J., passed him in the final 600 meters. Forys won the title with a course record time of 12:10.7, while Murdock placed second in a time of 12:15.5.
`When I saw him with about 600 to go, he had the lead, but we knew that guy (Forys) was a talent,` Jones said.
Forys’ record lasted all of 20 minutes, as Fayetteville-Manlius’ Tommy Gruenewald broke the mark in the next race.
Meanwhile, Murdock’s Shen teammates weren’t far behind. Zack Predmore and Adam Quinn placed a respective 11th and 12th, and Mike Danaher added a 17th-place finish to help Shen win the varsity E division title with 65 points, 20 points ahead of Danbury, Conn.
`We had a very big challenge from Danbury,` said Jones.
In the girls’ division, Saratoga and Shen competed in the Eastern States Championships. Saratoga placed third with 190 points, while Shen finished 18th with 439 points.
Saratoga’s Hannah Davidson earned an individual title in the Eastern States race. Davidson covered the course in a time of 14;14.6 to defeat Colts Neck’s Ashley Higginson by 1.4 seconds. Greenwich’s Caitlin Lane, who ran for Saratoga last year, was the next-fastest Saratoga County runner with a fifth-place finish in a time of 14:28.0.
Midlothian, Va., took top team honors in the Eastern States divi-sion with 148 points. Eleanor Roosevelt High School from Maryland was second with 172 points, while Section V power Hilton finished fourth with 203 points.“