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October 4, 2009 Edition - No. 7
The Eagle Harrier
Marvelous at McQuaid!
Prestigious Meet Honors Eagles
Rochester, N.Y. – The 45th annual McQuaid Invitational is the second largest high school cross country race in the nation. The only race more attended is the Manhattan College Invite in which the Eagles will compete during the Columbus Day weekend. Suffice to say, the competition is fierce, and winning a team award is rare. The 2009 version of Jordan-Elbridge Cross Country is making award winning a routine thing. The Eagles took home the 2nd place plaque to hang in the school’s trophy case, and beat three state ranked opponents in the effort.
The Boys Seeded Varsity ‘A’ race was won by N.Y. State’s number four club from Windor H.S. The ‘Trojans’ out legged the Eagles by a mere three points (105 to 108). J-E’s ‘close-but-no-cigar’ mantra was once again in effect. Essentially, the Eagles could have three invitational wins instead of one with just a little luck or four fewer points. Behind J-E was state ranked Pawling, Newark Valley and East Aurora. “We’re close, but no where near where we should or could be” said J-E Coach Roman, “we are still waiting for it to click and have all pistons firing together”. “This week was a tough one having to race CBA on Wednesday and running against the quality that McQuaid has the morning after Homecoming”. ”How many dances or late nights does it take to zap your energy”? Senior Cody Stanton had his win streak snapped at four on Saturday, finishing in 3rd place overall in a time of 15.35. Pawling’s Brandon Freyer (15.14) lived up to his billing as a potential state champion by destroying the field and winning by twenty seconds over Gowanda’s Cliff Nielson (15.34). Stanton was outkicked by Nielson down the close of the race. “It’s nice that Cody was selected as the King of the Homecoming Court”, “I hope he remembers this weekend forever, including the McQuaid race” said Roman, “he really never was in contention”.
Mike Marrero was just nine seconds off of Stanton’s pace, finishing in fourth place (15.44). “It was great to see Mike hold on to his place down the close of a race” said Roman, “lately, he’s been getting outkicked”. Marrero distanced himself from his closest competitors and was seven seconds ahead of the fifth place finisher.
Greg Bader was 21st overall (16.35) and not happy with his race. “I should have been in the top ten” said Bader, “I can’t put my finger on why I’m not racing better”. Clearly Bader is being tough on himself as he was faster than his 2008 race time on a very sloppy course. In fact, the 2009 squad was one minute and 10 seconds faster than the 2008 squad. “The course ran at least ten seconds slower today than it could have” said Bader.
Steve Slonosky sloshed himself to a 37th place finish (17.03) a twenty-five second improvement from 2008. “I was hoping to have Stevie back in the 16’s today as he was at B’ville last Saturday, but there’s no doubt that his effort was sound”. “Furthermore, after watching the video it was clear that his sprinting form has improved in one just week”.
Mitch Alpha scored as J-E’s fifth man for the third race out of the last four finishing in the top 50, finishing in 47th place in a time of 17.26. “I felt good today, no I felt great” said Alpha.
Tom Poppe was J-E’s sixth man finishing just out of the top 50 (52nd) in 17.40. “I got a ribbon instead of a medal” said Poppe. “I don’t know why I’m twenty-five seconds slower this year than last year” added Poppe, “I’m not happy with my race”.
Carlin Coomey suffered once again from his pulled quad muscle and finished 105th (18.57). “We’re going to shut Carlin down for a few days to give his quad a chance to heal” said Coach Roman.
The J-E Junior Varsity team was 8th out of twenty-five squads with Jack Gugel leading the way in 5th place (18.00), followed by Derrick Cheney (7th/18.09), Robby Patterson (77th/20.09), Billy Direnzo (128th/21.11), and Jared Bard (164th/21.52). This was Bard’s first race of the season returning after missing a few weeks due to sore knees. There were 261 runners in the race. “This was our first complete JV squad of the season, and we’re competitive on this level too, just like the varsity” said Roman. “We’re getting so fast, that our goals are intact”.
