Published November 17, 1992

SUNKEN MEADOW - The Tri-Valley Lady Bears dispelled any doubts as to who is the best small-school cross country team in the state, as the Section IX champions won the New York State Class C-D title Saturday at sunken Meadow State Park on Long Island.

Running in an 11-team field, T-V scored just 49 points to easily outdistance Pearl River (70) and Tully (116).

For coach Missy Iatauro, it was the third state championship her teams have won in the last six years.

“Our thing was to go to the states and do what we had been doing - picking our places, moving up through the field, and racing as a team,” said Iatauro, who felt that her team approached the meet with the confidence to win after beating defending state champ Eldred the week before at sectionals.

The team in T-V was on display from the start Saturday. Running over a challenging 5000-meter course of grass and dirt trails, the Red Wave broke out quickly over the fast first mile. Kate Landau held a 50-meter lead on Eldred's Keara Brady, while T-V's #2-4 packsters - Nancy Landau, Tara Priebe, and Sarah Nadeau - were all bopping along in the top 15-20.

By the time the runners had begun to make their way up a long gradual uphill that began shortly after the halfway point, T-V had four runners in the top 17 of this 120 runner race and were clearly well ahead of runner-up Pearl River.

Little changed over the mostly downhill final mile, as T-V became only the fourth girls' team since the start of girls state meet competition in 1975 to put three runners in the top 10 of any class race.

Kate Landau (1st overall, 1st team 19:10.5), through racing for only the second time this season, defended her state championship. Nancy Landau (9th, 7th 20:10), Nadeau (10th, 8th 20:11), and soph Tara Priebe (20th, 11th 20:19) worked together and fed off each other's strength the whole way.

T-V's #5-7 runners also ran extremely well, as Maria Conjura (46th, 22nd 21:08), Julie Ehrets (58th, 28th 21:29), and Audra Kleiman (72nd, 32nd 21:52) ran respectively 1:28, 2:24, and 0:39 faster than they had a month earlier in the St. Anthony's Invite, held on the same course.

T-V's combined five-runner time of 101 minutes was third best on the day and earned them a trip to the NYS All-Class Federation Championship this Saturday at Wappinger's Falls.

Though they weren't scored as a team, all five Eldred runners raced at the states and came away with a Federation berth as well. While Crady (2nd, 19:23) was 13 seconds closer to Landau than she was a week ago at sectionals. Laurie Occhipinti (3rd, 19:39) ran far and away the best race of her career. Wendy Vanderwiele (43rd, 21:05), Kristan Schorling (58th, 21:20), and Jen Radtke (65th, 21:39) helped Eldred to a combined time of 103:09, which trailed only six of the 32 teams at the states.

In the intersectional team competition, T-V's top five and Eldred's top four combined for 173 points to give Section IX the crown over Section I (208) and Section V (288).

Miller, Eldred Shine

Jeff-Youngsville senior Tom Miller set out for a top 10 placement in the boys C-D race and made it look easy, taking fourth in 16:47 (second-fastest on the day for Section IX). Miller reached the first mile in around 10th, moved up a few spots over the hilly second mile, and passed an earlier race leader in the stretch for the finish.

Eldred edged Section IV Walton 134-135 for fourth, the school's best boys' state meet placement ever. The first three teams were LaFayette (58), Beaver River (99), and Pearl River (123), all ranked #1 at one time or another by the New York State Sportswriters Association Poll.

Eldred's Pat Brady (14th, 6th 17:07) and Joe Miedreich (27th, 12th 17:30) ran steady races. Number-three man Jonathan Gill (42nd, 18th 17:50) was outstanding. Only an eighth-grader, Gill paced himself well for the tough hill in the second mile, where he picked off about a billion runners. Jad Doherty (94th, 48th 18:43) and Rich Walter (96th, 50th 18:45) closed out the scoring. Jason Wehr (128th, 76th 19:46) also ran for the Jackets.

T-V's Chris Ronkese finished 34th in 17:38 while Jeff-Y's Ted Knickerbocker ran 18 minutes flat for 58th place.