Around the League

Tuesday was opening day for Monroe County XC. Were there any surprises? Yep! Let's look at some of the big and little surprises.

Black Creek

Girls:
Thomas (without Christina?) edged Sutherland 26-29 and it was closer than the score indicates; Shavonna was 2 and 3 seconds ahead of Sutherland’s 2 and 3 girls and Crocetti was 3 and 6 seconds ahead of 4 and 5.

Boys:
Sutherland even better than expected (4 within 17 seconds of Jared, 1-8 gap 74 seconds)
Thomas upset Victor, but no MJ Erb and Reid was 2 minutes slower than at Midlakes

Basil Marella

Girls:
HF-L had a very solid top 3, but needs help to contend in the very tough Class A race. Griffin, an 8th grader from RH almost took the race, but didn't have the last 400m in her.

Boys:
R-H even stronger with the addition of Nick Watson and Mickey Burke (but no Colby yet); Schroeder upset HF-L, 19-36. AJ ran away from Kozyra late, for the win.


Harris Whalen

Girls:
Early chance to see Canandaigua vs Mendon (Preseason #1 & #2 in Monroe County, #10 and #12 in NY State) plus Hilton

Shaylyn Tuite ran 1:15 faster than any girl at Harris Whalen since at least 2005 and led Mendon to a convincing 21-40 win. Hilton didn't bother running 4 of the top 5 expected returnees (ducking the top teams early?) and Athena upended them, 26-29

Boys:
Mendon beat Hilton (but they were missing Zach Eustance and Campbell). Batavia was supposed to be respectable, but did not have 3 of their top 4 potential returnees

Mendon East

Girls:
Fairport easily – picking up a 9th grader to add to their 4 fast returnees; Gates missing Farmer again is very weak

Boys:
Not much expected here, but Irondequoit looked good – 4 in 30 seconds; 5 in 51.

Mendon West

Girls:
Penfield easily as expected, but the surprise was just how fast Mantilla ran, tying the best time on the course since 2005, held by Tuite.

Boys:

Brighton looked awfully good, led by Smolensky making a strong bid for top Monroe County runner and 4 others within 1:10. Brockport has two outstanding runners, but their 5th man was a shocking 3:24 back.