Shenendehowa’s Steve Murdock knows the right time to peak is at the end of the season.
At the end of the cross country season in November, Murdock won the individual title at the Nike Team Nationals in Portland, Ore.
Last weekend in New York City, Murdock capped his indoor track season by winning the 5,000-meter race and anchoring Shen’s first-place 4-by-1-mile relay team at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships.
Murdock set a New York City Armory record in the 5,000-meter race with his time of 14:36.57.
He ran a smart race, said Shen distance event coach Matt Jones. `He ran (faster) splits the whole race.`
Murdock came back the next day to help Shen’s 4-by-1-mile relay win a national title in a time of 17:26.12 ` less than two-tenths of a second off the national record held by the 2004 Plainsmen team of Dan McManamon, Ryan Gaedje, Scott Mindel and Phil Roach. Adam Quinn, Zach Pred-more and Zac Suriano ran the first three legs.
`The kids did a great job out there,` said Jones.
Shen’s sprint medley relay team also had a strong perfor-mance at nationals. The team of Chris Campoli, Tyler Fogarty, Seth Whitaker and Suriano placed fourth with a time of 3:31.06.
`The sprint medley was a huge surprise,` said Jones. `They ran the fastest time in the state.`
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake added a fourth-place finish in the boys 3,200 relay with a time of 7:55.43. Shen took eighth place in the event with a time of 7:58.06.
On the girls’ side, BH-BL had two runner-up relay teams. The 4-by-1-mile team of Meaghan Gregory, Molly Pezzulo, Sam Roecker and Rachael Cyrus placed second with a time of 20:49.52, and the distance medley relay team of Gregory, Pezzulo, Roecker and Kendra Adams finished second with a time of 11:51.74.
Shen’s 4-by-1-mile relay team of Chelsea Babcock, Christine Sloat, Meredith Peabody and Cara Janeczko was fourth with a time of 21:14.51. Janeczko also placed ninth with a time of 11:05.06. Only Hilton’s Allison Sawyer (fourth place) was faster among New York runners.“