By Rob Potter
SULLIVAN COUNTY — November 7, 2003 – For many local cross country runners, last Friday’s Section IX championship meet was very memorable.
By quickly running the 3.1-mile course at Bear Mountain State Park, those runners qualified for the upcoming state cross country meet. The state meet is scheduled to be held tomorrow at Marcus Whitman High School, which is in Section V (Rochester area).
Leading the way was Tri-Valley senior Heather Iatauro. She won the Class D girls’ race in a time of 18:12. This is the sixth consecutive year that Iatauro, who recently decided to attend Princeton University next fall, has won the Section IX Class D event.
Teammates Courtney Roosa and Erin Beach were not far behind. Roosa finished third in 20:09 and Beach was seventh with a time of 20:47. Both Roosa and Beach also qualified for the state meet.
As a team, the Lady Bears placed third with 54 points, behind Millbrook (40 points) and Rhinebeck (41).
In the girls’ Class C race, the entire Sullivan West team earned a trip to the state meet with a first place finish. SW scored 26 points, well ahead of second place John S. Burke Catholic, which had 75 points.
Pacing the Lady Bulldogs were Amanda Ward, Jessica Wagner, Michelle Manzi and Jamie Clifford, who finished second, third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Ward ran the course in 19:45, just eight seconds behind the winner, Siobhan Dwyer of Spackenkill. Wagner crossed the finish line in 20:09, followed closely by Manzi (20:11) and Clifford (20:44).
Three other SW runners finished in the top 35. April Ackermann was 12th with a time of 22:06, Moselle DiPane was 15th in 22:18 and Ashley Relyea placed 31st in 25:19.
Among the other county runners who participated in the sectional meet but did not earn a spot in the state meet were Monticello’s Rachel Bowens, Eldred’s Maggie Snyder and Megan Shafer and T-V’s Melissa Fancher and Jenny Watson. Bowens placed 22nd in the Class B race with a time of 21:46. In the Class D race, Snyder was 18th (22:36), Fancher finished 21st (23:41), Watson placed 24th (24:19) and Shafer was 30th (26:59).
In the boys’ races, two SW athletes and two T-V athletes qualified for the state meet.
Bulldogs Michael VanWagenen and Rob Ward finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the Class C event. VanWagenen ran the course in 16:49 and Ward finished in 16:55. Bears Travis Wolfe and Jeremy Mathsen placed third and ninth, respectively, in the Class D race. Wolfe posted a time of 16:28 and Mathsen crossed the finish line in 17:11.
As a team, the Bulldogs finished second to James I. O’Neill in the Class C race. O’Neill had 43 points to SW’s 67.
Liberty scored 185 points to finish seventh in the Class C team standings.
In Class D, T-V finished third with 60 points. Rhinebeck (29 points) and Millbrook (40) placed ahead of the Bears.
There were a few local runners who just missed qualifying for the state meet.
In Class B, Monticello’s Corey Price finished 17th with a time of 18:12.
In Class C, SW’s Trevor Kreznar (17:43) placed 11th and Matthew Gain (18:05) was 14th. Liberty’s Jacob Schwartz was 29th in a time of 19:42.
In Class D, T-V’s Derek Smith was 12th in 17:58, Adam Wilson placed 20th in 18:54, Justin Tompkins finished 23rd in 20:10 and Jon Huppke was 30th in 21:06. Eldred teammates Max Gunther and Kieran Pierce were 18th and 19th, respectively. Gunther ran the course in 18:28 and Pierce finished in 18:29.