If Nike ever decides to move its national high school cross country meet out of Portland, Ore., it might consider placing it at Saratoga Spa State Park.
After all, that’s the course that produced three of the six New York teams heading to this weekend’s Nike Team Nationals.
The Shenendehowa boys and Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake girls teams earned automatic berths after placing in the top two at last Saturday’s NTN regional at Bowdoin State Park in Wappingers Falls, while the Saratoga Springs girls team received an at-large berth after finishing third.
It’s kind of nice. You’re going to know a lot of people, said BH-BL girls coach Shaun Zepf. `New York is just solid.`
Shen enters Saturday’s boys race on a hot streak, having won both the NTN regional and the New York Federation meet in its past two races. Both victories were by at least 20 points.
`The kids have been great at staying focused and re-focusing every week,` said Shen coach Mark Thompson.
Running as Clifton Park Track Club, Shen placed four runners in the top 10, led by Dan Harris’ individual victory. Harris defeated Queensbury’s Matt Flint by two seconds to take first place in a time of 16:22.9.
Jamie Glover and William Danaher were the next two Shen runners across the finish line. Glover placed fifth in a time of 16:41.3, with Danaher following in sixth place with a time of 16:52.2. Brian Trainor was 10th in a time of 16:58.9, and Jon McDonald finished 15th in a time of 17:05.5 to round out Shen’s top five.
The strong grouping up front allowed Shen to best Warwick Valley for the team title. Shen finished with 37 points, while Warwick Valley ` which defeated the Plainsmen at the state public school meet three weeks ago ` settled for second place with 57 points.
`I think the Federation meet gave them a lot of confidence,` said Thompson about his team’s NTN regional performance. `The kids were very excited about (facing Warwick Valley). We beat Warwick Valley at the Manhattan Invitational pretty soundly, and then they beat us at states. So, the season series was tied at one going into the regional.`
The BH-BL girls team was coming off a two-week break after passing on the Federation meet to concentrate on the NTN regional. The strategy paid off, as the Lady Spartans fended off Saratoga Springs for second place. BH-BL finished with 72 points, while Saratoga ` running as Kinetic Racing Club ` finished with 83 points. State and Federation champion Fayetteville-Manlius won the regional with 40 points.
`The Federation meet is such an honor to get invited to, but we weren’t healthy at that point,` said Zepf.
BH-BL wasn’t completely healthy at the NTN regional, as Molly Pezzulo sat out the race. But Meaghan Gregory was back from her bout with mononucleosis, and her 15th-place performance spearheaded a Lady Spartan pack that was tight enough to keep Saratoga at bay.
Sam Roecker continued her strong season for BH-BL. The junior won the individual title with a time of 18:18.5 ` nearly 11 seconds ahead of Saratoga’s Hannah Davidson, who placed second in a time of 18:29.4.
`I’m sure she was happy with her race, but she knew what her role was for the team,` said Zepf.
Riley Wilk (16th place, 19:41.7), Alyssa Drapeau (17th, 19:46.2) and Rachel Stalker (23rd, 19:55.9) rounded out BH-BL’s top five.
Saratoga placed three runners in the top 15. Besides Davidson’s second-place finish, Sydney King finished eighth in a time of 19:14.7, and Cassie Goutos took 12th place in a time of 19:23.8. Amanda Borroughs (29th, 20:11.7) and Megan Conway (32nd, 20:20.5) were Saratoga’s fourth and fifth runners.
Saratoga was one of four girls teams nationally that received an at-large berth to Nike Team Nationals. The others were Warwick Valley, Hanover (N.H.) and Mountain Brook (Alabama). It will be Saratoga’s fourth trip to the Nike Team Nationals.“
