Log in Subscribe

State of grace

Tri-Valley boys are 'D' champs again; 10 county kids head to states

Richard A. Ross
Posted 11/4/22

BEAR MOUNTAIN – High School Cross-Country is not only about the numbers including times, places in races, number of championships and records. More importantly, it’s about the young men …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

State of grace

Tri-Valley boys are 'D' champs again; 10 county kids head to states

Posted

BEAR MOUNTAIN – High School Cross-Country is not only about the numbers including times, places in races, number of championships and records. More importantly, it’s about the young men and women who strive with all they have to achieve such milestones.

To paraphrase the words of UCLA legendary coach, the late John Wooden, each runner sets out to beat his or her personal best and “to become all they are capable of becoming.” By the time the 2022 Section IX Cross-Country championships were over, a vast majority of the harriers had done just that. For all but a few of them, this was the last race of the fall and for the seniors among them, the last race in their careers. But for the talented few, including the winning teams plus the five fastest other runners to cross the finish line in each race, this banner day offered a chance to run in the state meet at Vernon Verona Sherill HS on November 12. 

In the annals of the Section IX Cross-Country championships dating back to 1950, there have been numerous outstanding performances by both individuals and teams. For its relatively small size, Tri-Valley holds an illustrious place in that historical archive, and this fall it added to it again as the T-V boys handily won the Class D championship for the 11th time in school history. The T-V girls have had an even more impressive showing over the years with 23 individual and team championships. They’ve had the most individual champions in Section IX history. 

The boys repeated their mastery from a year ago when they went on to win the NYSPHSAA state Class D title. On this gorgeous fall day, Senior Adam Furman led the way with a time of 15:56.40. There was some speculation as to whether the winner of Milesplit’s National Boy Player of the week (based on his momentous time of 14:57.50 at the OCIAA and the first to break 15 minutes in the past 20 years) would set out to break the Section IX Championship Class D race record. 

For the first time, runners were allowed to wear watches and one might have mused that Furman, who was not pushed in this race, would pace himself to break that mark of 15:47.3 set by Millbrook’s Bryce Wilk in 2003. Had it mattered to Furman, he could have easily done so, considering his time on the course at the OCIAA. But Adam wasn’t thinking about that. He was merely prepping for states with one overriding goal in mind, namely, to become the state champion. A year ago he was runner up. 

“I really wasn’t going out to break any records today. I used this as a training race. I was happy with my time last week. This week we are tapering down from nine or ten mile runs to five or six and our workouts will be short and fast. At the state meet there are a few runners from Section III who I’ll be watching out for.” 

This Tri-Valley team is extremely special. The Bears finished 1,2,3,4,6 with Van Furman (16:44.60), Craig Costa (17:05.30), Thomas Houghtaling (17:17.60) and Vincent Mingo 17:26.20 respectively. Dayne Wall and Connor Weyant rounded out the team effort in 15th and 18th place. Sullivan West’s Landon Volpe came in 14th and missed states by two places. His time was 18:28.50. 

The Tri-Valley girls knew from the outset of the season that Mount Academy would present a daunting challenge. When T-V’s second-best runner Amelia Mickelson suffered a stress fracture and was out of the running for sectionals, T-V could only hope to have runners place in the top five after Mount Academy won the team crown. Eighth grader Anna Furman won the race in 19:25.20 and was crowned Section IX Class D Champion. 

“In the beginning I knew I had some competition. I heard footsteps behind me the entire time. I pushed up the hill as fast as I could and just took that downhill and that did it.”  Brynn Poley, who came in ninth overall, ran a stellar 22.55.10 as the duo punched their ticket to states. 

Sullivan West eighth grader Layla Wilkin turned in her personal best with her 12th place time of 23:17. 

In Class C, Fallsburg’s Nataly Zempoaltecatl made it to states with her eighth-place finish of 21:56. 

Aside from the nine T-V runners (seven boys and two girls), she was the only Sullivan County runner to qualify this year. Monticello’s Diya Patel just missed out on a chance to run at states. The Class B harrier missed it by one place and seven seconds. Patel came in 11th in 22:15.3. Since there are no Class A cross-country teams from Sullivan County, it came down to six races on the day to determine this year’s Sullivan County Section IX state team array. 

Result Boys Class B: Teams: 1. Goshen 67; 2. Cornwall 72; 3. Mount Academy 78; 4. New Paltz 86; 5. Our Lady of Lourdes 90; 6. Beacon 104; 7. Monticello 144; 7. Saugerties 226. 

Individual results (All Monticello): 20. Bobby Pape-Laucella 18;20.90; 23. Dominic Giorgianni 18:30.20; 24. Frankie Giorgianni 18:31.80; 39. William Burns 19:51.00; 40. Sean McAssey 19:56.50; 44. Daniel Seminario 20:22.40.

Results: Boy Class C: Teams 1. James I. O’Neill 25; 2. Red Hook 45; 3. Onteora 97; 4. Ellenville 97; 5. Highland 157; 6. Dover 107; 7. Falllsburg 173; 8. Spackenkill 183. 

Individual results (All Fallsburg) 25. Isiash Heshewsky 19:13.50; 40. Ryan Zempoaltecatl 21:36.40; 41. Justice Laurel 21:57.60; 43. Yaniel Hernandez 22:13.70; 46. Kailan Odell Schreier 23:13.40; 49. Jacob Fernandez 24:12.00; 53. Adam Mednick 25:46.40

Results Class D. Teams: 1. Tri-Valley 16; 2. Pine Plains 54; 3. Rhinebeck 74; 4. Millbrook 99.

Individual results: 1. Adam Furman (T-V) 15:56.40; 2. Van Furman (T-V) 16:44.60; 3. Craig Costa (T-V) 17:05.30; 4. Thomas Houghtaling (T-V) 17:17.60. 6. Vincent Mingo (T-V) 17:26.20; 14. Landon Volpe (SW) 18:28.50; 19. Andrew Hicks (LM) 18:48.10; 32. Chase Ferber (SW) 21:15.10; 33. Brody Day (LM) 21:29.00; 34. Wesley Kinne (LM) 21:32.20; 35. Jeff Morgan (Eld) 21:28.60; 37. Ethan Kavarnos (SW) 23:45.50; 38. Park Joey (LM) 24:21.20; 45. Giovanathon Fein (Eld) 30:54.00

Girls Class B: Teams: 1. Cornwall 23; 2. Our Lady of Lourdes 72; 3. Monticello 77; 4. Goshen 82; 5. New Paltz 110; 6. Saugerties 180. 

Individual results (Monticello only) 11. Diya Patel 22:15.30; 15. Adisyn Somers 23:21.10; 11. Taina DeJesus 23:27.30; 17. Abby Morse 23:30.10; 25. Hannah Titus 24:05.50; 31. Kaitlyn Morse 24:46.30; 32. Megan Bastone 26.10.7

Girls Class C: Teams: 1. James I. O’Neill 15. 2.Onteora 72; 3. Highland 103; 4. Rondout Valley 109; 5. Fallsburg 118; 6. Red Hook 120.

Individual results (Fallsburg only) 8. Nataly Zempoltecatl 21:56.10; 21. Gisella King 24:11.20; 28. Joslyn Odell Schreier 26:21.70; 30. Meredith Anderman 26:29.40. 38. Angelina Levner 29:15.00; 41. Jally Sebastian 29:34.40; 45. Arianna Gonzalez 32:15.00.

Girls Class D: Teams: 1. Mount Academy 21. 2. Tri-Valley 38. 

Individual results: 1. Anna Furman (T-V) 19:25.20; 9. Brynn Poley (T-V)  22:55.10; 12. Layla Wilkin (SW) 23:17.40; 18. Delanie Hoffman (T-V) 24:41.60; 19. Lily Siciliano (T-V) 24:42.30; 20. Regan Kizer (Eld) 25:08.60; 23. Nevaeha Jones (LM) 25:42.90; 26. Jones Jordyn (LM) 26:07.10; 28. Chrissy Wachter (T-V) 26:13.50; 33. Jaida Gould (LM) 29:08.00; 34. Emma Sullivan (LM) 29:15.60; 25. Cheyenne Decker (SW) 29:19.40; 37. Tabitha Mulholland (T-V) 37:57.00.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here