Rye High’s varsity Boys’ and Girls’ Cross-Country teams tuned up for their league schedules by racing as part of a field of nearly 2,000 runners from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania last Saturday.
By Mitch Silver
Rye High’s varsity Boys’ and Girls’ Cross-Country teams tuned up for their league schedules by racing as part of a field of nearly 2,000 runners from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania last Saturday. The Crusader Pre-State Invitational held at Monroe Woodbury High School saw 120 schools enter their best harriers in five boys’ and five girls’ varsity races, and the Rye coaches, Joe Brown and Blair Moynahan, came away pleased with the results.
Seniors Greg and Kevin McGinnis led Rye’s finishers, Greg in 58th place and Kevin in 80th. Marek Nowak was 86th, 16th best among all sophomores entered. Alessandro Cattaneo, Traian Reese, and Chris Karpovich finished within eight places of each other to round out the team.
In the girls’ race, also 3.05 miles long, Natalie Weiner led all freshman runners in her race and was second among all ninth-graders on the day in a time of 21.11.8, a top-20 result against girls of every grade. Seniors Julia Stern and Emilie Hasselmann finished within three places of each other and less than eight minutes behind the winner. Juniors Julia Stack and Clara Gasso-Soler weren’t far behind. Seniors Haley Ackert and Lauren Dempsey completed Rye’s entry.
Just 48 hours later, the squads opened their league schedules by sweeping a three-way meet with rivals Harrison and Pelham. Freshman sensation Natalie Weiner posted a 17:17 time to lead the girls’ team to a 25-32 win over Harrison and a shutout of Pelham, 15-50. Seniors Julia Stern and Emilie Hasslemann placed third and seventh overall with times of 19:41 and 21:19.
The boys team slipped by Harrison 26-33 and defeated Pelham 19-57 as senior Jack Ryan, held out of the Crusader Invitational two days earlier, finished the 2.74 mile course in the blazing time of 14:50.1. Greg McGinnis posted a personal best of 15:55.
