County Meet Review

Well some things went per plan and some things didn't - both for the team and for the league.

The top of the Boys scoresheet did not play to form, as Mendon pulled off a surprising win, aided by R-H and HF-L both sitting key competitors, and Fairport and Irondequoit running well off their capabilities (with the exception of Josh Dyrland, who clearly went after the win).  But Mendon ran very well to earn the title, and beat a solid Thomas team, and demonstrating that in our competitive league, even backing off a little can move you down the results list quite easily.  It will be interesting to see how the three different strategies work out next weekend in the Class A and Class B races at Sectionals.

Overall, the Boys All-County team was generally as expected - 5 favorites sat out, and only 4 others missed the team.  The 5 favorites were replaced by 5 of the next 7 runners on the list.  The Girls All-County team also played to form: 3 girls sat out and just 4 missed the list.  The next 6 girls on the prediction list filled all but one of those slots.

The Girls team results were much closer to the predicted results than the Boys, as the computer and I collaborated to correctly call the top 9 teams, when considering the assumption that HF-L would sit their top runners.  But R-H did not win easily, with Siobhan clearly saving something for next week and giving up almost 10 points, and their pack starting out back in the field a bit, they came on strong to pull of the win.  There are still three teams with a legitimate shot to win the Class A title this weekend.

Our boys finished 12th as predicted, but the door was open to pick up additional places.  The girls beat the predicted 8th place finish by one, but that was due to the HF-L scratches.  Thomas was right there to be had!

Coming later this week - Sectional Previews...

Oops

Forgot to post the leading contenders for first-team All-County honors (note the times are totally a wild and conservative guess since this is the first time for this course as the County Meet course):

1	Lembo, Katie	Penfield	18:15
2	Tuttle, Georgia	Irondequoit	18:25
3	Jensen, Kennedy	Canandaigua	18:27
4	Palermo, Val	Schroeder	19:01
5	O'Neill, Karli	Churchville Chili	19:06
6	Quinn, Siobhan	Rush Henrietta	19:08
7	Tate, Tiffany	Irondequoit	19:11
8	Cole, Hannah	Honeoye Falls Lima	19:21
9	O'Hara, Eileen	Thomas	19:26
10	Paratore, Amanda	Schroeder	19:29
11	Douglas, Riley	Honeoye Falls Lima	19:34
12	Visca, Mary	Sutherland	19:41
13	Albrecht, Autumn	Brockport	19:44
14	Mevorach, Martha	Honeoye Falls Lima	19:48
15	Sedita, Megan	Penfield	19:52
16	Cooper, Alex	Rush Henrietta	19:52
17	MacDonald, Alana	Rush Henrietta	19:56
18	D'Amore, Kendall	Canandaigua	19:56
19	Yancey, Colleen	Mendon	20:01
20	Keene, Haley	Hilton	20:02
21	D'Amore, Lauren	Canandaigua	20:07
22	Dehm, Olivia	Victor	20:07
23	Garbinski, Dana	Canandaigua	20:10
24	Heyer, Lindsay	Penfield	20:12
25	Camillaci, Zoe	Hilton	20:14
26	Schnaufer, Ilana	Penfield	20:22
27	Pieper, Maddy	Mendon	20:30
28	Kunigan, Mary	Hilton	20:30
29	Cok, Sarah	Penfield	20:32
30	Adams, Laura	Thomas	20:32
31	Jones, Emma	Rush Henrietta	20:33
32	Miller, Hayley	Canandaigua	20:34
33	Watson, Sammy	Rush Henrietta	20:36
34	Wagner, Clara	Irondequoit	20:36

Monroe County Preview - Girls

So, in the better late than never category, here are the computer predictions for the Girls Varsity race tomorrow.  Again I'll just spit out the numbers, blindly, before making some comments.

Penfield	95
Canandaigua	97
Rush Henrietta	103
Honeoye Falls Lima	128
Mendon	166
Hilton	186
Thomas	205
Schroeder	206
Fairport	234
Irondequoit	246
Victor	281
Sutherland	293
Churchville Chili	400
Brighton	407
Batavia	448
East Irondequoit	450
Athena	466
Brockport	511
Gates Chili	556
Spencerport	613
Odyssey	628
Arcadia	656
East Rochester	736
Olympia	inc

As with the boys, it looks like the R-H selective racing has hidden the most likely outcome, but it highlights just how close the top of this race should be.  It will be interesting to see how the top three teams approach this race, given the fact that they go head-to-head again next weekend, with a trip to the state meet on the line.  Will they try to make a statement at the County Meet, and perhaps gain some momentum and a psychological edge over the other teams, or will they play down the importance of this meet and leave it all for next weekend.

I give the slight edge to R-H.  Their youngest girls held up well on the hills of Mendon East to secure the dual meet win over Penfield in the last week of the season, and younger girls tend to be more negatively impacted by that kind of course.  HF-L may abdicate the 4th place spot, in favor of saving it for Sectionals, which may make for an interesting battle for the next spots, with Mendon only slightly ahead of Hilton, who is only slightly ahead of both Webster schools.  Fairport comes in very close together and may place high enough to challenge as well.

Monroe County Champs - Boys Preview

Well, the computer has crunched the numbers and spit out a few surprises.  I'll just slap in the output, and then make some comments.

Boys Varsity	Total
Fairport	84
Rush Henrietta	108
Thomas	123
Irondequoit	137
Mendon	148
Brighton	178
Victor	207
Honeoye Falls Lima	211
Hilton	219
Athena	260
Sutherland	266
Schroeder	301
Arcadia	318
Penfield	373
Canandaigua	423
Batavia	517
Spencerport	561
Churchville Chili	567
Olympia	602
East Rochester	615
Gates Chili	621
Brockport	627
Odyssey	673
East Irondequoit	705

The computer thinks that Rush-Henrietta will score too many points with their 4th and, especially, 5th men to win, but last year, R-H scored 30 when the computer predicted 54, so I still think they are the team to beat. Irondequoit also had a big meet at Counties last year, so they are in contention with Fairport.  Thomas hasn't raced much, so we'll see if they also have a surprise for the competition this weekend.  HF-L tends to sit their varsity, so I think Mendon is a good bet for 5th, or higher if anyone falters.

Although our boys beat both Athena and Sutherland head-to-head, the computer gives them each a sizable advantage in this invitational scoring.  And Arcadia has been improving rapidly, and sits right behind us.

Here are the computer's picks for first-team all-county favorites:

Burke, Mickey	Rush Henrietta
Root, Brennan	Rush Henrietta
Scott, Jack	Fairport
Ronchetti, Will	Brighton
Pease, Keith	Athena
Dyrland, Josh	Irondequoit
Ranke, Tyler	Hilton
Phelan, Will	Sutherland
Mertens, George	Victor
Yost, Nathan	Victor
Wesley, Jack	Mendon
Shanahan, Luke	Victor
Schantz, Mike	Rush Henrietta
White, Jimmy	Fairport
Johnson, Keith	Thomas
VanVleck, Matt	Mendon
Mullen, Andrew	Brighton
Andrievsky, Sasha	Thomas
Paganelli, JT	Honeoye Falls Lima
Penner, Andy	Fairport
Goldstein, Josh	Thomas
Wolf, Josh	Fairport
Cove, Zach	Sutherland
Green, Connor	Mendon
Hatta, Olivier	Fairport
Northrup, Brian	Arcadia
Neamtu, Nick	Thomas
Demmer, Ty	Batavia
Paige, Aaron	Irondequoit
Muzdakis, Zachary	Irondequoit
Lawlor, John	Honeoye Falls Lima
Moran, Mitch	Penfield
Pirnie, Ross	Hilton
Wilczewski, James	Irondequoit

Monroe County Championships

Just four days until the final race of the season for most Cross Country athletes in Monroe County, Section V and across New York State.  I still have a fair amount of work to do, to prepare my annual predictions, but the work of the athletes is essentially over.  While several sections around the state allow ten runners at Sectionals, only seven are allowed here.  So, while we have seen over 1000 athletes compete in Monroe County XC this fall, no more than 336 will continue on to Sectionals.

The new course at Parma Park should provide for some fast times.  Our visit there yesterday confirmed that the course is very flat and should be in excellent shape on Saturday.  Speaking of Saturday, here is the schedule of events:

• 11:15 Modified Boys
• 11:45 Modified Girls
• 1:00 JV Boys
• 1:30 JV Girls
• 2:00 Varsity Boys
• 2:30 Varsity Girls [we have finish card duty for this race - we'll be looking for a couple of volunteers]
• 3:00 Varsity “B” Boys
• 3:30 Varsity “B” Girls
• 4:15 Awards in shelter past finish line

Please note that the northern lot, of off Route 18 is reserved for buses, since the runners cross that driveway twice during the race.  Loyal readers of this blog will be rewarded with this special insider's tip: enter at the south entrance on Route 259, and follow the road all the way through two smaller parking lots to the large parking lot in back.  It is right behind the starting line, and was almost completely empty, both at last year's County meet, and at this year's Parma Invitational.  I hate to give away my secrets, but anything for those that read this far!

Directions from Schroeder (you can stay on 104 all the way to Rt 259, but I prefer to avoid the Saturday mall traffic...):

 
View Larger Map

Parma Park

Originally, today was the day we were scheduled to visit Parma Park, and view the new Monroe County XC Championship course.  This has been rescheduled for Monday, to accommodate some of our many musically-inclined team members.

Instead, we can at least get a bit of a preview of the course, in armchair mode.  First, here is the link to the current course map.  As you can see, the "two loop" format of the standard Parma Park course has been replaced by a single, long loop, that is somewhat "out-and-back" in nature, but the "out" and "back" are mostly separated by some space.  The finish line remains in the same location, but the starting line has been relocated to give a very long straightaway to open the race.

I was able to jog the course after the Parma Invitational in September, and here are some of my recollections:

• The standard course is relatively flat, with three "mini hills" on each of the two loops; the County course hits similar mini hills, but just once each, so it is even flatter.
• The early (and late) part of the course is grass, but not manicured; there is some roughness to the terrain.
• There are many long straightaways on the course, but several sections contain the quick twists and turns of the old course.  It is important not to get lulled into a lack of focus when making the transition.
• The mini hills follow the same downhill-bridge-uphill pattern of the old course.
• The course is nice for some spectators - the mile mark and two-mile mark are just a stone's throw apart; however, it is nasty for the spectator (or coach) that likes to catch the race in six or seven locations.  It's tough enough that the course is "stretched out", but there are also too many barriers that prevent running parallel to the course.
• The course is great for cross country runners: varied terrain, generally flat and fast, and almost no pavement (perhaps just the two driveway crossings?).

League Meet Finale

Tomorrow we wrap up the Monroe County League schedule, and what a finale we have!  This will be a rare  occasion where four teams that are ranked in Class A in New York State get together for joint dual meets.  The girls match-up involves Rush-Henrietta (#3), Penfield (#4), Hilton (#15) and Schroeder (#25), plus Brockport.  This should be a big showdown between R-H and Penfield, with the Division title on the line.  R-H made the long journey to New York City for the Manhattan Invitational, where they put on a very strong showing.  Can they come back and run well three days later?  The computer scores the meet 26-29, in favor of Penfield, but R-H has some upside possibility with their 2-3 runners just behind Penfield's second.  The meet could easily come down to the fifth runners.

Our head-to-head scoring with Hilton also looks to be very tight - and could be a meet that is decided by the fifth runners.

The boys races aren't as tight, but feature the strong teams from R-H and Hilton, and us chasing.

Saturday's Meet

We are heading to the Seneca Invitational at Seneca Park this weekend.  Complete details are available here, but here is some quick info about race times:

• 11:00am 5k Open Race (Unlimited Participants)
• 12:00pm 2-mile Girls Modified Race (unlimited #’s)
• 12:30pm 2-mile Boys Modified Race (unlimited #’s)
• 1:00pm 5k Girls Varsity B Race (unlimited #’s)
• 1:30pm 5k Boys Varsity B Race (unlimited #’s)
• 2:00pm 5k Girls Varsity A Race (7 runners per team)
• 2:30pm 5k Boys Varsity A Race (7 runners per team)

Teams that may be in attendance include:

• Pittsford Sutherland - 
• Penfield - 
• Fairport - 
• Webster Thomas - 
• W. Irondequoit
• Greece Athena
• Greece Olympia - 
• West Seneca West
• Spencerport - 
• Gates-Chili
• Churchville-Chili - 
• Brighton - 
• Aquinas - 
• Midlakes - 
• Campbell Savona
• Webster Schroeder
• Waterloo
• Bishop Kearney
• SOTA
• Wayne

Tuesday Results

The boys and girls each went 2-1 on Tuesday, with the Girls losing to Canandaigua, ranked #5 in the state among large schools, and the Boys losing to Brighton, ranked #7 in the state for Class B schools.

This brings the Boys record to 12-7, which means they've equaled the win total from last year with one week remaining.  Six of the seven losses have been to state-ranked teams, with the seventh to Victor, who is a strong dual meet team with their 1-2-3 punch that knocked us out.  On the other hand, we also managed to knock off two state-ranked teams: Sutherland and Arcadia!

Both teams were victorious over Greece Odyssey, who once again won "host of the year" honors by supplying the team with some fantastic cookies!  This was our last dual meet against Coach Joe Howlett, at least for a while, as he will be taking a hiatus with his third child on the way.  He has done a very nice job at a small school competing against very large schools, in arguably one of the top leagues in the country.

The Girls story is also good, now with a 15-4 record, which means they will come close to matching the record 18 wins the Girls posted last year.  The four losses have included currently ranked teams from Canandaigua, HF-L and Mendon, plus the 27-28 loss to Thomas, who has appeared in the rankings as well.  The win column does include a victory over Sutherland, who is ranked in Class B.  Next Tuesday is a big finale for the Girls, facing #3 Rush-Henrietta, #4 Penfield, and #19 Hilton, as well as Brockport.

Friday's Meet

Friday we make a short trip across town to Harris-Whalen Park, to compete in the Penfield-Irondequoit Invitational.  This is our only Friday afternoon meet.  The modified races go first, then our race schedule is:

• 4:45: Girls Varsity
• 5:15: Boys Varsity
• 5:44: Boys JV
• 5:46: Girls JV

No, the last two times are not a typo.  Because this meet usually runs behind, and darkness can start to become a factor, the JV Boys get just a two minute head-start over the Girls.

Our girls now have a State Ranking to defend.  The NYS Sportswriters ranking currently shows our girls in 25th.  You can see the ranking here.  Also, the folks at MileSplit have ranked the girls 23rd.  Their rankings appear here.  The girls' excellent performance at McQuaid earned these spots.  Now it's time to go to work for the second half of the season.

Speaking of MileSplit and Penfield, Katie Lembo "made the cover" this week, as the Harrier of the Week for New York State.  Congrats to Katie for her amazing run to victory at McQuaid and for the recognition!

Sorry!

Lots to talk about, but so little time, so just a bit now, and more later.

McQuaid went very well!  Our times were incredible, and the boys and girls each earned hardware.  The boys were third in a very competitive Large School unseeded race, and the girls won the unseeded portion of the Large School mixed race, led by top 10 finishes by Val and Amanda!

Complete McQuaid results are available here.  The boys demonstrated their incredible depth by taking 5th (behind only Mendon from Section V) in the Sophomore Boys race and 8th (behind only Fairport and Thomas, locally) in the Large School Varsity B race.

Some stats from McQuaid: 11 boys cracked the top 40 times by Schroeder runners and 17 guys broke 18 minutes.  Val and Amanda posted the top two Schroeder girls times and eight girls cracked the top 40.  The girls averaged 1:07 improvement over last year, and the boys improved an average of 1:55.

Finally, congratulations to all of the Schroeder parents that completed the Open race!  Our parents showed plenty of depth as well.