By Rob Potter
BEAR MOUNTAIN — October 28, 2003 – A bid for a three-peat fell a bit short on Friday at the OCIAA Cross Country Championships at Bear Mountain State Park.
Tri-Valley senior Heather Iatauro, who had won the girls’ OCIAA championship race on the 3.1-mile Bear Mountain course in 2002 and 2001, finished second in Friday’s race. Iatauro finished with a time of 17:43, which was a lifetime best.
But Aislinn Ryan of Warwick won the race in 16:59.
“She’s had an awesome season,” Iatauro said of Ryan.
While a bit disappointed with the second place finish, Iatuaro was pleased with her time since she has been battling a case of the flu for the past four weeks.
“I’m not going to complain,” she said. “I just want to run faster next week.”
By saying “next week,” Iatauro was referring to the the Section IX Cross Country Championship Meet. That event is scheduled to be held this Friday, Oct. 31 at Bear Mountain.
Iatauro will be one of several Sullivan County runners competing at the sectional meet.
Another runner will be fellow T-V athlete Travis Wolfe, who finished sixth in the OCIAA boys’ race. Wolfe, a junior, ran the course in 16:00.
“I was hoping to finish under 16 [minutes], but this is still pretty good,” Wolfe said. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to improve next week.”
Wolfe noted that he liked running when its colder and thus enjoyed Friday’s cool weather conditions.
In addition to Iatauro, two other Lady Bear runners placed in the top 30. Courtney Roosa was 24th with a time of 19:42 and Erin Beach was 30th with a time of 20:03.
“I was really happy about that,” said T-V Girls Cross Country Coach Missy Iatauro. “All of the girls had a great race today.”
Other Lady Bear finishers included Tracy Taylor (69th, 22:03), Samantha Vernooy (71st, 22:07), Melissa Fancher (82nd, 23:10) and Danielle Huppke (90th, 23:52).
The Sullivan West girls placed fifth in the team standings with 145 points. Leading the Lady Bulldogs to that finish were Jamie Clifford, April Ackermann and Jessica Wagner, all of whom placed in the top 30. Clifford ran the course in 19:19 to place 18th, Ackermann posted a time of 19:34 to place 23rd and Wagner was 28th in 19:51.
Their teammates Michelle Manzi and Amanda Ward weren’t far behind. Manzi finished 36th in 20:24 and Ward was 40th with a time of 20:39.
Other SW finishers were Moselle DiPane (58th, 21:33) and Ashley Relyea (84th, 23:31).
“Anytime you have three girls finish under 20 minutes, it’s excellent,” SW Coach George Shakelton said. “They all did a great job and stayed close together as a pack.”
On the boys’ side, two SW runners achieved lifetime bests as Michael VanWagenen placed 19th in 16:33 and Rob Ward placed 30th in 16:54.
“They did a great job and improved their times,” SW Coach George Rose said. “That’s what you hope for.”
In the final boys’ team standings, T-V placed 10th with 269 points, while SW was 12th with 293 points. Eldred was 17th (543 points) and Liberty was 18th (591 points).
In the final girls’ team standings, SW, as noted earlier, was fifth. T-V was seventh with 196 points.
Results for runners from other county high schools are as follows:
Boys: 31. Jeremy Mathsen, T-V, 16:55; 55. Trevor Kreznar, SW, 17:35; 60. Adam Wilson, T-V, 17:49; 74. Kieran Pierce, Eldred, 18:04; 75. Corey Price, Monticello, 18:06; 81. Derek Smith, T-V, 18:32; 83. Matthew Gain, SW, 18:34; 87. Max Gunther, Eldred, 18:47; 89. Kyle Schulman, Monticello, 18:50; 91. Justin Tompkins, T-V, 18:55; 97. Jacob Schwartz, Liberty, 19:11; 106. Adam Nebzydoski, SW, 19:34; 108. Cono Cirone, Monticello, 19:38; 113. Jon Huppke, T-V, 20:00; 115. Justin Tate, Liberty, 20:08; 120. Coyote Anderson, Eldred, 20:38; 121. Chris Goldsmith, Liberty, 20:40; 124. Kevin McGuire, Liberty, 20:58; 128. Eric Cina, SW, 21:12; 130. James Jennings, Eldred, 21:20; 132. John Genninger, Eldred, 21:28; 134. Mike Barry, Liberty, 21:55; 137. Matthew MacArthur, SW, 22:30.
Girls: 44. Kim McKay, Liberty, 20:47; 52. Rachel Bowens, Monticello, 21:16; 72. Maggie Snyder, Eldred, 22:14; 93. Sara Belfiore, Liberty, 24:19; 102. Ann Castellano, Liberty, 25:04; 116. Megan Shafer, Eldred, 27:21; 120. Katie Hanson, Eldred, 27:53.