2009 Harrier Number 11

Liverpool, N.Y. - It was obvious from Saturday's performances at the Liverpool Invitational, that there was little or no let down from the emotional league championship victory from Wednesday.  The Eagles, holding true to their own, won the C/D portion of Saturday's racing with a low score of 59 points.  Marcellus, the recently de-throned league champ, won the A/B portion of the scoring with 44 points.  There were a surprisingly large turnout at Liverpool as 20 teams sent varsity squads to the meet. 

     It was clear from the onset of the varsity one race that the meet was going to be between Class B Marcellus and Class C Jordan-Elbridge.  State-ranked teams such as AA power Hilton, Class A power Canisius, and state ranked Beaver River, Tully and CBA really never played a factor in Saturday's race.  They were all racing for third place.  For a good portion of the race Saturday, it also looked like J-E teammates Stanton and Marrero may pull off the rare 1 - 2.  "I felt really good for the first time in a while" said race champion Cody Stanton, "I've been sick and running like crap for a couple of weeks".  "This definitely feels good to win again and to beat Jess Garn".  Marrero fell off the pace slightly in the second loop of Long Branch's 3.1 mile course, but made a huge play for second place.  League nemesis Jesse Garn, who had just beaten Stanton and Marrero in the previous race, was running in third place.  "He got me, but I gave him a good race" said an exhausted Marrero.  Both Stanton and Marrero's times of 16.22 and 16.37 were very fast for the Liverpool course and much faster than their 2008 times.  "Mike took thirty seconds off of his time from last year" said J-E Coach Roman, "and Cody took 21 seconds off".

     The Liverpool Invitational uses an unconventional brand of scoring as they split squads into two separate races and they score six runners instead of the usual five.  "It's nice, because your team's normal four-man is now the team's lead runner in the varsity ‘2' race.  "It's tougher because you do have to score your sixth man, and if you don't have the depth, you can get a bad score" added Roman. 

     So with PSAT's taking the services of normal three-man Greg Bader, Steve Slonosky had to step up and "run with the big boys".  Slonosky responded with a strong performance, finishing in 21^st place with a time of 17.43, thirty-six seconds faster than 2008.  "Steve ran hard again today" said Roman, and he had almost a perfect race going until the very end".  "He moved up steadily throughout the entire race".  Slonosky was disappointed, though, for getting edged out at the finish line by Norwood's Jon Eng.  "I had him" said Slonosky, "I don't know how he beat me"?

   In the second race which was designated for each team's 4 - 5- 6 and 7 runners, Greg Bader got out quick and went for the win.  "I figured that I was the race's best runner so I got out a little quicker than normal" said Bader, "I was real excited".  What Bader had not planned on was the toll taken on his mind and body from taking the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test at school for 2 ½ hours.  "I am frazzled man, "I'm going to go home and sleep eleven hours".  Bader held the lead for over half the race, but a fresher Mike Quercia of Marcellus, charged past Bader and Hilton's Brad Cuddeback just past the second hill and sprinted off with the victory.  "Man, I beat Quercia by over thirty seconds on Wednesday" exclaimed Bader.  Bader's time was 17.42, only one-second off of Slonosky's time, and 17 seconds behind Quercia.  Quercia said after the race that his legs were really bothering him on Wednesday, and that Saturday he really felt good.

     The next two J-E runners would play a huge part in the team victory as was earlier noted, the Liverpool meet would score six runners.  J-E's tandem team of Mitch Alpha and Tom Poppe ran together for a good portion of the race, and finished in 14^th and 17^th places respectively (18.09 and 18.19).  "These guys ran so hard" said an excited Coach Roman, "they battled a very tough field to finish where they did".  "Mitch is 1.12 faster than last year" added Roman, "he was coming off a three-meet absence in racing in 08 due to injury, if you remember".  Poppe was nine seconds faster than in 2008.

     Derrick Cheney, also a PSAT partaker, was J-E's seventh-man finishing in 50^th place (19.36). 

     On the Junior Varsity front, junior Carlin Coomey led all Eagle runners with a 19.25 timing, good for 14^th in the race.  Trailing Coomey were sophomore Robbie Patterson (28^th place/20.36), Jared Bard (40^th place/22.35), and Billy Direnzo (60^th place/22.33).

     So far in 2009, the Eagles have won four team awards at invitationals with two first place finishes and two second places. 

     The next race for the Eagles will be some team members last race.  The OHSL Meet is next Saturday (Oct. 24) to be held at Cato-Meridian H.S. There, all four divisions of the OHSL League will race in the annual ‘League Meet'.  J-E looks to be one of the favorites along with Marcellus and Jamesville-Dewitt.  The only other race guaranteed for J-E is the Section III Meet on November 7^th.  At sectionals, each team may run only ten runners, so with a 13-man roster, three Eagles will be relegated to the support and cheer crew.  There, J-E will look to advance as a team to the state meet - a coveted opportunity to win the state title.  "Whichever team wins Section III Class C will win the state meet" said Coach Roman, "it's going to be either us or Holland Patent".  "The way we're running, there's no stopping us".