By Rob Potter
QUEENSBURY — November 15, 2005 – The Sullivan West boys’ and girls’ cross country teams each recorded a top-five finish as several Sullivan County runners competed in Saturday’s state meet at Queensbury High School, which is near Glens Falls.
The SW Bulldogs scored 109 points to place fifth in the boys’ Class C team standings. Fonda-Fultonville, the Section II champion, won the Class C team title with 55 points.
Leading the Bulldogs to the stellar finish on the 3.1-mile course were Mike VanWagenen, Matthew Gain and Trevor Kreznar. VanWagenen was 25th in a time of 17 minutes, 2.6 seconds, Gain placed 26th in 17:09.9 and Kreznar finished 34th in 17:23.8.
Teammates Matthew Layman and Adam Nebzydoski and Leland Peterman were 60th, 87th and 108th, respectively. Layman’s time was 17:54.7, Nebzydoski finished in 18:41.9 and Peterman’s time was 19:27.9
SW’s Brett Cucci competed in the event, but did not finish.
Derek Smith of Tri-Valley recorded the best individual time among the county runners in the Class C race. He finished in 16:49.4 to place 15th.
T-V’s Michael Kaplan and Nicholas Denman placed 57th and 77th, respectively. Kaplan’s time was 17:50.3 and Denman’s time was 18:24.6.
Monticello’s Brendan Devine was the only county runner to qualify for the boys’ Class A race. He placed 12th in a time of 16:22.6.
Eldred teammates Max Gunther and Kyle Anthony ran in the boys’ Class D race. Gunther finished 31st (17:41.3) and Anthony was 81st (18:58.8).
The SW Lady Bulldogs recorded 99 points to place third in the girls’ Class C team standings. Section I champion Bronxville won the Class C title with 29 points.
Pacing the Lady Bulldogs to their excellent finish were seniors Jessica Wagner and April Ackermann. Wagner placed 15th in a time of 19:51.8, while Ackermann was 27th in 20:15.2.
They were joined in the top 70 competitors by five teammates: Amanda Ward (52nd, 21:21.1), Chelsie Schadt (54th, 21:22.1), Rianne Erlwein (62nd, 21:35.9), Charlotte Peters (66th, 21:46.3) and Kendra Barker (68th, 21:51.0).
Also representing the county in the Class C girls’ race were three T-V Lady Bears. Courtney Roosa finished 18th in a time of 20:00.4, Rachel Sanborn placed 26th in 20:12.2 and Erin Beach was 63rd in 21:38.7.
A trio of Eldred Lady Yellowjackets competed in the girls’ Class D race. Ashley Vicari was 74th in 22:40.5, Kristina Brown placed 75th in 22:55.3 and Grace Babula was 99th in 25:07.4.
Local Runners Excel at
Section IX Championships
All of the Sullivan County runners who ran at the state meet qualified for it by recording stellar times and finishes at the Section IX championship meet.
That sectional title competition was held on November 4 at Bear Mountain.
The SW Bulldogs won the boys’ Class C title by scoring 28 points to second-place Tri-Valley’s 43 and the SW Lady Bulldogs earned the girls’ Class C title by edging out T-V by a single point, 35-36.
In addition, T-V runners Smith and Roosa won the boys’ and girls’ Class C individual titles, respectively.
Runners who placed in the top five of their race or were members of the winning team automatically qualified for the state meet. In some of the races, individual athletes who finished outside of the top five qualified for states because several of the runners ahead of them were members of the winning team and therefore were already going to the state competition.
Smith won the boys’ Class C race in a time of 16:35.76. He was followed by three SW runners – VanWagenen, who finished second in 16:49.74, Kreznar (third, 17:25.45) and Gain (fourth, 17:28.89).
The other Bulldog finishers were as follows: Cucci (ninth, 18:18.95), Layman (10th, 18:21.61), Nebzydoski (12th, 18:41.49) and Peterman (16th, 19:57.63).
In addition to Smith, two other Bear runners qualified for states. Denman finished seventh in a time of 17:45.61, and Kaplan placed eighth in 18:11.77.
The Lady Bulldog finishers in the girls’ Class C race at Bear Mountain were: Ackermann, (third, 20:01.21), Wagner (fourth, 20:07.00), Ward (seventh, 21:00.98), Erlwein (10th, 21:14.85), Peters (11th, 21:22.92), Schadt (16th, 21:58.53) and Barker (17th, 22:03.26).
The following is a list of the other county runners who qualified for states, along with their times and places:
Boys’ Class A: Devine, second place, 16:20.25.
Boys’ Class D: Gunther, second, 17:30.51; Anthony, third, 18:39.17.
Girls’ Class D: Brown, sixth, 22:33.11; Vicari, seventh, 22:46.72; Babula, eighth, 23:00.18.