Cross-country

Bulldog girls are Section 9 Class C champs

Bulldog boys VanWagenen and Ward head to states as well

By RICHARD A. ROSS

	Contributed photo by Lisa Rose Sullivan West girls Amanda Ward, back row left, Jamie Clifford, Jessica Wagner, Michelle Manzi, Ashley Relyea, April Ackermann and Moselle DiPane came in first at the Section IX meet and are heading to states. Five other runners also qualified, including Philipa Spencer, kneeling left, from John S. Burke Catholic, Taylor Drozenski and Maggie Howell from Marlboro, Siobhan Dwyer from Spackenkill and Jessica Lynch from James I. O’Neill. (Click for larger image)

BEAR MOUNTAIN, NY — All year long you could see it coming.

The Sullivan West girls cross country team beat team after team. After nailing down the Division IV title and blowing away all C schools at the OCIAA championships last week at Bear Mountain, the year’s main goal loomed ahead: win Section 9 and compete at the state meet at Marcus Whitman high school in Rushville, NY on November 8.

It was a warm day, and the 20-degree increase over last week’s OCIAA race temperature made Coach Shakelton feel that times might be slower. Two of his runners did experience racing difficulties. Top runners April Ackermann and Jamie Clifford didn’t have a good day, but the depth of the team picked up the slack as the Bulldogs took second, third, fourth and fifth places to win the Section 9 Class C title.

	TRR photo by Richard A. Ross The Sullivan West boys were runners up. Mike VanWagenen finished fourth and Rob Ward came in fifth. Shown in the photo during the race are Evan Sparling, left, of Spackenkill, Andrew Spanos of John S. Burke Catholic, Mike Van Wagenen and Rob Ward of Sullivan West and Kyle Drozenksi of Marlboro. James I. O’Neill won the team competiton. Ward, VanWagenen, Spanos, Sparling and Bryan Dwyer of Spackenkill are heading to states. (Click for larger image)

The overall winner of the race was Siobhan Dwyer of Spackenkill (19:37). Had Ackermann and Clifford run the times they put up on the same course a week ago (19:19 for Clifford and 19:34 for Ackermann), both would have beaten Dwyer.

Running behind Dwyer and coming in second was Sullivan West’s Amanda Ward (19:45), who beat her last week’s time on the same course by 36 seconds. Jessica Wagner (20:09) finished third and Michelle Manzi (20:11) finished fourth. Manzi bested last week’s time by 13 seconds. In fifth place was Jamie Clifford (20:44). April Ackermann (22:06) finished 12th, Moselle DiPane (22:18) finished 15th and Ashley Relyea (25:19) finished 25th.

Sullivan West lost the Section 9 meet last year to Rhinebeck, which moved down to Class D this year. Had Sullivan West run in the Class D meet, the Bulldogs would have defeated Rhinebeck anyway.

The Bulldogs won a beautiful Section 9 plaque, which will be on display at the Sullivan West athletic awards presentation on November 19 at the new high school at 6:30 p.m. The top five other runners in Class C will also be competing at states. In addition to Dwyer, they include Maggie Howell (21:01) of Marlboro, Philipa Spencer (21:07) of John S. Burke Catholic, Taylor Drozenski (21:10) of Marlboro and Jessica Lynch (21:14) of James I. O’Neill.

The Section 9 girls will compete against the twelve other sections. The field will be comprised of 156 runners. Coach Shakelton has high hopes for the Bulldog team to finish near the top.

Warwick won the Class A girls’ meet, Cornwall won the B and Millbrook won the D. Heather Iatauro of Tri-Valley (18:12) won her sixth consecutive Section 9 Class D cross-country title. She will attend Princeton University in the fall of 2004. Eldred’s Maggie Smyder (22:36) finished 18th and Megan Shafer (26:59) finished 30th.

	Contributed photo by Lisa Rose Amanda Ward led the Sullivan West team at the Section 9 meet with a time of 19:45. (Click for larger image)

James I. O’Neill captured the Class C boys’ title. David Weart (15:44) of James I. O’Neill blew away the competition. Mike Van Wagnenen (16:49) of Sullivan West will be heading to states along with teammate Rob Ward (16:55). VanWagenen placed fourth and Ward came in fifth. Other runners heading to states from class C include Evan Sparling (16:07) of Spackenkill, Andy Henshaw (18:31) of James I. O’Neill, Andrew Spanos (16:58) of John S. Burke Catholic, Brian Dwyer (17:03) of Spackenkill, Will Heiney (17:20) of James I. O’Neill and Kyle Drozenski (17:31) of Marlboro.

Warwick won the Class A meet, Cornwall Won the Class B meet and Rhinebeck won the Class D meet. Eldred’s Kieran Pierce (18:29) came in 19th.

Sullivan West coach George Shakelton was delighted that the girls’ team and VanWagenen and Ward made states. “I’m really proud of them. They’ve come a long way,” he said. Shakelton plans to keep up a rigorous training regimen in this last week. “They seem to do better when they train hard,” he said.