McQuaid Invitational

Yesterday I posted the link to the McQuaid Invitational site. This is the 47th edition of this storied invitational, meaning it was first run in 1965. I was actually a competitor in 1979 and 1980, and have attended over 25 of the editions. I still get excited as the day approaches.

Our race times are as follows:
1:03pm - Sophomore Boys (this race includes all of our 9th graders as well)
2:26pm - Varsity "B" GIrls
(2:50pm - the Spry Boys)
(3:26pm - the Spry Girls)
3:38pm - Varsity Boys
3:58pm - Varsity Girls
4:45pm - Varsity "B" Boys


Also, do not miss the race at 4:22pm - it is the large school seeded Varsity Boys race and will feature a battle between Shaker (ranked #3 in the state) and R-H (ranked #4 in the state). They were ranked 1-2 in the state in the preseason, but an injury set Shaker back and R-H seems to be biding their time for now, and not putting their best feet forward, so F-M and Arlington have slipped by. It will be interesting to see what kind of statement the teams make this weekend.

With the rain we've had, and more to come, the course will not be as blazing fast as usual, but in XC times don't really matter. So, this just makes it more of a test of who is toughest!

I haven't had time to do detailed analyses of the races, but I will mention a few facts, starting with the girls varsity race. The very top teams in the state are not making the trip, or are in the AA (medium school race) - #4 Burnt Hills, #6 East Aurora, #15 Mendon. But, of the 18 teams in the "seeded" girls race, 9 were mentioned in the Tullyrunners preseason rankings, including:
#5 Canandaigua (solid lineup)
#13 HF-L (3 elite runners)
#14 Penfield (Katie / Leila is one of the best combos in the state)
#19 Fairport (defending champs, but Ashton Hughes not her former self, so far this year)
#23 Ithaca (3rd in this race last year)
#24 Rush-Henrietta (seriously under-ranked, especially in invitational scoring)
#26 Warwick Valley
#33 Clarence (ranked #1 in Section VI - Buffalo area - large schools, again)
#38 Elmira


The 9 not mentioned include:
Hilton (#7 in Section V)
Frontier (#3 in Section VI)
Orchard Park (#5 in Section VI)
Williamsville North (#7 in Section VI)
Corning - frequent state meet attendee from Section IV (Binghamton area)
Union-Endicott
Liverpool (4th last year) frequent runner-up to F-M in Section III (Syracuse area)
West Genesee (8th in this race last year)
Webster Schroeder


Can we prove ourselves top 10 material in a field this deep?

Our boys will be in the "unseeded" race with 21 teams. Clarence, ranked #12 in the state for Class A, is dropping down to win in the small pond. In fact, it seems that all of Section 6 is afraid of the large seeded race. Here is what we have for their large schools: #1 Starpoint - seeded Medium race; #2 Clarence; #3 Lockport, #4 Canisius and #5 Lancaster, #7 Frontier - all in our race. And the "ranked" local teams in our race include #7 Hilton, #9 Fairport and HM Irondequoit (punished for "loafing" the Cougar Invite) and Penfield.

It will be interesting to see how we rate against this field. Many of the teams in the race will be right at our level.

Our other races will be very large (3 of the 4 largest races of the day), with the following numbers entered:
Sophomore Boys - 452
Varsity B GIrls - 454
Varsity B Boys - 479

Week 3 Recap

But first a quick link to the McQuaid Invitational website, which includes the race schedule. I'll write more about McQuaid later this week.

Mendon East
In the boys race, Brighton's Will Ronchetti spent a lot of time looking over his shoulder as he led much of the race. Sure enough, he was overtaken by Mendon's Will Burton and Jack Wesley and Mendon came away with a 26-29 win. Irondequoit was out quickly, but faded badly and lost to Mendon, 19-38 and Brighton, 20-35. Schroeder won the mano-a-mano battles with Penfield's first and second runners, but lost the other three and the meet, 27-28.

Mendon's depth overcame Penfield's outstanding front-runners. Katie Lembo and Leila Mantilla ran about 25 seconds faster than a week ago to win easily and post the third and fourth fastest League Meet times on Mendon East behind Shaylyn Tuite and ... Shaylyn Tuite. Val and Amanda missed the top 25 listing by just 3 and 5 seconds, respectively. The biggest surprise was the Schroeder girls forcing Mendon to score 27 points and only falling 25-30 to Penfield.

Black Creek
Perhaps the slowest boys race of the year - only 7 or 8 runners broke 20 minutes. Last week 9 girls broke 20 at Webster Park! Olympia went 1-2 for the win. Brockport, with their 5th man running 22:21, even lost to East Rochester.

The girls race was quite dull, with only 2 of the 5 schools fielding complete teams of 5 runners.

Center Park
MJ Erb ran 26 seconds faster than a week ago on the same course, to finish in a Course Record 16:30, and Victor used a 1-2 finish to sweep the meet, including 24-31 over Fairport. Fairport's top 5 were only 21 seconds apart.

Meghan McCormick coasted to the 3rd fastest time on the course, and was followed by sister Kate and Kennedy Jensen, to lead Canandaigua to four easy victories. Erin Sedita continued to be Fairport's best runner, ahead of Ashton Hughes (but over a minute behind the winner), and their 1-5 spread was only 1:37, to put them well ahead of Victor.

Harris Whalen
The D&C's ignorance was on full display this morning, playing up Sutherland's win over R-H, despite the fact that R-H clearly coasted through the meet, presumably maximizing their chances against Shaker at the McQuaid Invitational on Saturday. That should be a great race! The Thomas boys continue to look great for a bunch of youngsters - their top 7 included 5 sophomores, a frosh and a rookie - and they took care of Hilton, 25-32.

The R-H girls also backed off, allowing the O'Hara girls from Thomas to go 1-2, but R-H still prevailed, 26-32. Thomas had no trouble handling Hilton and Sutherland.

Mendon West
The HF-L boys had an easy day, with sizable wins over Athena, Churchville and Gates.

The HF-L girls also cruised, their top 3 allowing Churchville's Karli O'Neill to beat them by about a minute. No close scores to be seen here.

Scouting Report - Week 3

Here are our top opponents for tomorrow's meet...

Boys

Burton, Will Mendon 17:17
Wesley, Jack Mendon 17:36
 VanVleck, Matt Mendon 17:40
 Mullen, Andrew Brighton 17:46
 Stahl, Eric Brighton 17:56
 Tarduno, Matthew Brighton 17:56
 Ronchetti, Will Brighton 17:58
 Pavia, Corey Mendon 18:01
 Koss, Nick Irondequoit 18:03
 Bigenwald, Eric Irondequoit 18:03
 Moran, Mitch Penfield 18:04
 Green, Connor Mendon 18:13
 Wilczewski, James Irondequoit 18:18
 Dyrland, Josh Irondequoit 18:22
 Young, Robert Mendon 18:23
 Simpson, Zachary Brighton 18:26
 Kozlowski, Mike Penfield 18:30
 Paige, Aaron Irondequoit 18:39
 Muzdakis, Zachary Irondequoit 18:43
 Wagner, Ray Irondequoit 18:44
 Tassone, Brendan Penfield 18:44
 Coons, Sam Brighton 18:46
 Crandell, Alex Penfield 18:47
 Ryan, Neil Brighton 18:48


Girls

Mantilla, Leila Penfield 19:12
 Lembo, Katie Penfield 19:25
 Tate, Tiffany Irondequoit 20:28
 Roncone, Krista Mendon 20:32
 Hallock, Allison Mendon 20:35
 Tuttle, Georgia Irondequoit 20:51
 Wagner, Robin Brighton 21:09
 Schnaufer, Illana Penfield 21:27
 Heyer, Lindsay Penfield 21:28
 Ryan, Kylie Mendon 21:30
 Bourcy, Abby Penfield 21:45
 Yancey, Colleen Mendon 21:46
 Tuite, Kari Mendon 21:58
 Nitschke, Margot Mendon 22:11
 Pinker, Talia Brighton 22:14
 Nadeau, Sarah Irondequoit 22:21
 Wagner, Clara Irondequoit 22:23
 Pieper, Maddy Mendon 22:27
 Novak, Allie Mendon 22:27
 Olson, Tricia Brighton 22:28
 Swetman, Brenna Mendon 22:34
 Zeccola, Amanda Mendon 22:35
 Cok, Sarah Penfield 22:39
 Schildkraut, Melis Penfield 22:55
 Fahrenholz, Tori Penfield 22:57

How 'bout Them Bills!

Still savoring yesterday's win!

Results from the Cougar Invite are available here. Check the "groupI" and "var-b" files

Tomorrow's meet is at Mendon Ponds Park (East Course) against Brighton, Irondequoit, Mendon and Penfield, making for a very challenging meet.  The Boys race first, at 4:30, for the last time this season.  This week the modified teams run between the high school races, so the Girls are likely to run just a bit later than last week.

I do not have the Scouting Report available yet, but it should be posted later tonight.

For anyone who hasn't been to Mendon East (we did not run there last year, for the first time since it was made the County Meet course), the parking is at the Beach parking lot, and the race starts and finishes next to the parking lot entry road.  Please do not park along the entry or exit roads as the race course crosses those roads.

Directions from Schroeder are included here:


View Larger Map

Cougar Invitational

Tomorrow we will be heading over to Genesee Community College for the Cougar Invitational. The course is the same course that is used for Sectionals.  The schedule is as follows (Schroeder races are bolded):

10:00 Girls Group III
10:30 Boys Group III
11:00 Girls Varsity B
11:30 Boys Varsity B
12:00 Modified Girls
12:15 Modified Boys
12:30 Girls Group II
1:00 Boys Group II
1:30 Girls Group I
2:00 Boys Group I

Here is a map of the course

Complete information is available in this PDF file.

Here are the directions from Schroeder:

View Larger Map

Week 2 Recap

Webster Park

Our boys performed as expected with easy wins over Brockport and Canandaigua and lopsided losses to Thomas and HF-L. Thomas took advantage of HF-L missing one runner and backing off after Saturday's big performance that vaulted them to #3 in the State Rankings for Class B, and beat them, 26-30, with three runners under 17 minutes.

Our girls also split their meets, as expected; however, we only lost to HF-L by the score of 27-30, as their big 3 finished ahead of Alaina and they slipped 4-5-6 in ahead of Natalie and Sarah. And Thomas came a little closer than expected. Canadaigua sat some girls and HF-L backed off from full speed, but the net result was that Canandaigua still won, with their decided dual meet advantage over HF-L (although they finished just behind HF-L in the VVS merge, they would have won a dual meet, 25-30). Val and Amanda earned spots #9 and 11 on the "Internet Era" all-time best at Webster Park. Meghan McCormick's winning time was the 4th best.

Black Creek

Irondequoit showed their strength by out-Sutherlanding Sutherland. Their top 5 finished within 24 seconds of their winner, Eric Bigenwald. Sutherland, ranked 15th in Class B, could only manage 3 runners in that gap. Fairport also managed to edge Sutherland, 27-28, by sneaking 3-4-5 in ahead of Sutherland's 4th. So, they seem to be better than expected.

In the girls race, Irondequoit's new star, Tiffany Tate, won the race over Georgia Tuttle, with both of them breaking Brianna Deming's course record, but Irondequoit couldn't get a 5th girl to the line for another 3:18, allowing Fairport to displace for a 28-29 victory and go 4-0 on the day. Irondequoit's 1-2 punch was also not enough to beat Sutherland.

Center Park

Victor's boys set the tone of the day, with a 27-28 win over Brighton. Their 5th man beat Brighton's 5th by just 2 seconds, as Brighton and Victor combined to take 16 of the top 20 places. MJ Erb's win was the 5th best time on this course.

And the Victor girls followed up with a 27-30 win. Although Brighton went 2-3-4, Victor grabbed the next 5 spots to get the win.

Mendon East

R-H took the day off after Saturday's race, only running Mickey Burke from among their leaders, but still won easily. Travis Jordon of Gates got the individual win.

The girls race was similar to Saturday's merge results between R-H and Penfield, although in slower times, as both teams seemed to leave something in the tank (or were too spent from Saturday). R-H bunched 5 ahead of Penfield's 3rd, for a 25-32 win. Katie Lembo and Leila Mantilla tied for the win in a respectable 19:46, which is still well off of their capabilities.

Northampton Park

Hilton ran well up front in the boys race, but they could not match Mendon's depth and Mendon won 26-31, to sweep the day.

In the girls race, Allison Hallock and Krista Roncone outkicked Hilton's Haley Keene, to give Mendon a comfortable 21-36 win over Mendon.

Scouting Report - Week 2

We are hosting this week's League Meet at Webster Park. Our guests will include our cross-town friends from Thomas, plus Brockport, Canandaigua and Honeoye Falls-Lima. The boys will be racing first, at 4:30. HF-L and Canandaigua ran at VVS on Saturday, with very different performances. HF-L showed they are much stronger than expected, and placed 7th in the overall merge. Cooper Roach led them with the 7th fastest time of the day, and although there is a large gap to #2, the next 4 runners finished within 42 seconds of each other. Meanwhile, Canandaigua was 53rd, with just 2 runners under 19:30. Brockport also lacks depth, but Thomas is incredibly deep, with many youngsters among their leaders.

The top opponents (with time from VVS, if applicable, plus predicted time for Webster Park):

Name Team VVS Pred
Roach, Cooper HF-L 16.25 16:21
Andrievsky, Sasha Thomas 16:46
Jamele, Geoff Brockport 17:05
Johnson, Keith Thomas 17:08
Trombley, Nick Canandaigua 18.08 17:10
Brunett, Joe HF-L 17.13 17:12
Beaujon, Allen Canandaigua 17.87 17:21
Paganelli, JT HF-L 17.58 17:26
Douglas, Langton HF-L 17.52 17:27
Goldstein, Josh Thomas 17:33
Lawlor, John HF-L 18.78 17:36
Leo, Patrick HF-L 17.83 17:37
Matthews, Cole HF-L 17:49
Witt, Kevin Thomas 17:51
Loce, Matt Thomas 17:58
Baller, Mitchell Thomas 18:06
Peffley, Chris Thomas 18:11
Smith, Austin T. Thomas 18:17
Whitman, Ben Thomas 18:20
Smith, Trevor Thomas 18:22
Sykora, Josh Brockport 18:23
Vestri, Justin Thomas 18:37
Garvey, Evan Thomas 18:38
Shuler, Colby HF-L 18.97 18:53
Johnston, Joe Thomas 18:53
Frank, Austin Thomas 18:53
Wall, David Canandaigua 19.58 18:55

The girls race could be quire interesting. HF-L had an outstanding race at VVS, to grab 4th in the merge, while exacting revenge on Penfield, whose 8th and 9th graders did not seem ready for the larger race, leading to 13th in the merge, despite fine runs by Katie Lembo and Leila Mantilla. Canandaigua was right behind, 5th in the merge. They have a big advantage over HF-L in a dual meet, as they are capable of going 1-2-3 to end it. Brockport has an outstanding frosh, who should be in the mix, but they have mo depth. The Thomas girls should make things interesting for us.

Here are the expected leaders of the girls race:

McCormick, Meghan Canandaigua 19.13 18:22
Albrecht, Autumn Brockport 18:49
Cole, Hannah HF-L 19.93 18:52
Engel, Katie HF-L 19.82 19:05
Steinke, Ruth HF-L 20.00 19:12
Jensen, Kennedy Canandaigua 19.30 19:24
McCormick, Kate Canandaigua 19.58 19:28
D'Amore, Kendall Canandaigua 21.15 19:31
Williams, Jenna HF-L 20.20 19:44
Roose, Serena Brockport 19:56
Miller, Hayley Canandaigua 21.47 20:02
D'Amore, Lauren Canandaigua 20.92 20:07
Douglas, Riley HF-L 20.90 20:09
Mack, Kellie Canandaigua 24.07 20:15
O'Hara, Shannon Thomas 20:20
O'Hara, Eileen Thomas 20:47
Garbinski, Dana Canandaigua 21.58 20:51
Adams, Laura Thomas 20:59
Held, Emmy HF-L 22.07 21:04
Cole, Ari HF-L 21.30 21:05
Malmberg, Cecilia Thomas 21:15
Hanson, Jenna HF-L 22.23 21:19
Crocetti, Noelle Thomas 21:21
Hulme, Mackenzie Canandaigua 22.22 21:33
Simpson, Tori HF-L 22.95 21:35
Mevorach, Martha HF-L 21.97 21:36