VERONA - “In the midst of an ordinary training day, I try to remind myself that I am preparing for the extraordinary,” noted Shalane Flanagan, Olympic medalist and first American woman to win the NYC marathon since 1977. Ever since the Tri-Valley boys cross-country team garnered the state cross-country title last fall, their training all throughout the intervening seasons has been about repeating that remarkable feat or as Flanagan avers, “preparing for the extraordinary.” 

For senior Adam Furman, who came in just four seconds behind Class D champion then senior Colton Kempney of Beaver River, this year’s race preparation has been all about finishing first and capping off his high school cross-country career with a state crown. 

For T-V boys Coach Chip Furman and girls Co-Coaches Tyler Eckhoff and Skylar Musa, the preparation for achieving such milestones is not only in the day-to-day practice regimen, it centers too on taking their teams to invitationals where they can vie against the best competitors, regardless of Class. Thus, it was a no-brainer for the Bears to compete in the Pre-State Invitational on this year’s state meet course at Vernon Verona Sherill high school. The field was a mix of all class sizes and featured six races on the brutally hot day. The Bears were in the last race when the temperature was at its highest. For all the runners during the day, times were bound to be slower than on a cool day. 

Favored Class A Corning was coming in ranked first in the state in Class A and 18th in the nation, but it was Furman who won the race beating Corning’s top runner senior Ashton Bange by 25 seconds with a time of 16:24.80. The Bears finished second overall to Corning among the 14 teams in their race beating out such notables as Cornwall, Delhi, Jamesville DeWitt, Glens Falls and Fonda Fultonville. 

Furman’s performance preserved his preseason  No. 1 ranking in NYS Class D. The team is also ranked first in the state and is preparing for more challenging invitationals including this week at Bear Mountain, the following week at Bowdoin County Park in Wappingers Falls and then off to North Carolina for the Great American race. T-V sophomore Van Furman finished seventh in 17:13. Here are the Bears’ finishing places and times in the race:  

1st place - Adam Furman - 16:24.8; 7th place - Van Furman - 17:13.0; 15th place - Craig Costa - 17:45.0; 26th place - Vincent Mingo - 19:12.1; 27th place - Thomas Houghtaling - 19:14.0; 54th place - Connor Weyant - 20:51.8; 72nd place - Dayne Wall - 21:47.7; 89th place - Noah Edwards - 22:47.1. 

Coach Furman commented, “We were the last race of the day, so we didn’t get to see a lot of the early races. The first races were the fastest. It just got so hot. Adam did great, and the team did great in his first time running the course.” 

It’s early in the season and of course the coaches look to improve the fourth and fifth runners as the point gap matters in team placement in the coming meets. 

Tri-Valley girls finish sixth

Just up from Modified, Anna Furman has wasted no time in evincing the fastest times of the Lady Bears who, unlike a year ago, now have a full team to compete. At the Pre-State Invitational they finished sixth overall with Furman, an eighth grader, taking third place with an impressive time of 20.37.8. The rest of the team finished as follows: 

11th place - Amelia Mickelson - 22:55.3; 36th place - Brynn Poley - 26:04.6; 60th place - Lily Siciliano - 28:54.4. 79th place - Chrissy Wachter - 31:01.6; 112th place - Tabitha Mulholland - 42:41.9. 

Coach Eckhoff noted, “It was a great performance. We had girls returning who came in faster than their debuts last season and overall, as a team they were impressive. They’re building and the goal is to perform well at Sectionals and states. The girls ahead of Anna were both juniors so she is going to hone her craft in terms of racing and learn some strategy as it goes here.” The entire team will be returning next year as well. 

Coach Musa added, “It’s hard for people to understand the impact of heat. Professional runners adjust their pace by 15 seconds per mile. The biggest takeaway is learning how to race and not worrying too much about the time. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what your time is, you just want to beat people. They need to understand that when runners are within eyesight you’ve got to work to try and pass them.” This meet was a “rust buster,” she quipped. 

Bears vanquish Manor in dual meet

State aspirations notwithstanding, Tri-Vallley harriers take all meets seriously and that included the one against Livingston Manor in which both the T-V boys and girls won 15-50. With a host of onlookers eagerly awaiting the 22 boy racers and the 7 girls from the two schools took off on the first loop of the course. Several runners were not racing on this day including T-V’s Amelia Mickelson and Brooke Delaney, the latter still recovering from wrist surgery. Manor’s Neveah Jones was also not competing as she is still awaiting her sports physical. As expected, Tri-Valley led in both the boys and girls races. The results were as follows: 

Boys: 1. Adam Furman TV.  17:15; 2. Craig Costa TV.  18:37; 3. Van Furman TV.  18:49; 4. Vincent Mingo TV.  19:38; 5. Dayne Wall TV.  21:06; 6. Connor Weyant TV.  21:10; 7. Noah Edwards TV. 22:12; 8. Anthony Hicks LM.  22:13; 9. Boe Mueller TV.  22:23; 10. Daniel Aiello LM.  22:59; 11. Brody Day LM.  24:51; 12. Logan Ballard LM.  25:52; 13. Joseph Park LM.   26:28; 14. John Woods TV.  26:36;15. Sean Woods TV.  31:34.

Girls: 1.  Anna Furman. TV. 21:25; 2.  Brynn Poley TV. 25:17; 3.  Lily Siciliano TV. 29:20; 4.  Chrissy Wachter. TV. 29:51; 5.  Jordyn Jones.  LM. 31:216; 6.  Jaida Gould. LM. 35:57;7.  Tabitha Mulholland. TV. 36:43