Chery, Tuohy go 1-2 at Suffern cross-country meet; North Rockland, Somers are team champs
BEAR MOUNTAIN — The bragging rights at Saturday‘s Suffern Cross-Country Invitational went to Claudel Chery.
By 1.5 seconds.
Next week may bring a different result because he and teammate Ryan Tuohy are just that close.
A stride or two between them virtually every time. Or a lean.
Every week they race their chief competition because, as North Rockland varsity team members, the sophomores are in the same races.
And almost always they’re matching foot-falls from the front of the pack.
Saturday, they and 398 other varsity runners beat the rain as Chery and Tuohy beat everyone else who ran in four varsity races.
With 200 boys divided into two races, Chery’s 15:02.4 over the revised 3-mile Bear Mountain State Park course was No. 1 in the boys B race and No. 1 overall.
Tuohy clocked 15:03.9 for second in both with Oyster Bay’s Chris Tardugno (15:10.7) third in B and third overall.
Scarsdale’s Rishi Shadaksharappa (15:36.4) won the boys A race, edging Bobby Mayclim of Lakeland/Panas (15:37). The two finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the overall 200-member field.
Tardugno ran with Chery and Tuohy for more than two miles before the North Rockland duo pulled away.
Tuohy took the lead on Chery with about 350 meters to go but Chery quickly pulled even, then outkicked him to the finish.
“He got away. I’ve got to be right next to him. That’s how we roll,” said Chery, who described his races with Tuohy as “friendly competition” and said the two, friends since seventh grade, have become closer as their running times have grown closer.
The lingering impact of massive summertime flooding forced the course to be changed, eliminating a large, make-or-break hill through woods. That was replaced with a second loop around a park lake.
Chery wasn’t a fan of the change, saying it felt more like he was running in a track meet than running cross-country and there were fewer opportunities to make a move.
But Shadaksharappa and the top girls finishers had no problem with the course change.
Shadaksharappa, a Somers Big Red winner, noted his time and placement was far better than what he’d run at Bear Mountain last year. At that point, he clocked 17:25.4.
“I was really psyched after they told me the hill wasn’t there anymore,” Shadaksharappa said.
Girls B race and overall girls winner Ainara Schube Barriola (17:39.3) of Rye Neck and girls A race and second overall girls finisher Ava Pennaachio (18:14.8) of Eastchester pulled away early from their respective packs and were so far ahead they could have jogged the last half mile and still won.
Schube Barriola, coming off a win at the Somers Big Red meet where she also ran fast from the get-go, described the retooled Bear Mountain course as “super fun, super smooth.”
“It’s beautiful here. I didn’t really get bored,” she said when asked about having to circle the lake twice.
While her time would easily have placed her in the top third of all boys despite not being pushed, Schube Bariola noted she’s still looking to improve. She's working in part, she said to avoid essentially "falling asleep" mid-race by getting lulled into one pace.
Pennachio, who also liked the largely flat course, slipped on her first step in the A girls race but quickly recovered to distance herself from the pack.
“It was a little isolating,” she said of being so far in front.
But she was happier than she had been at Big Red, where she was disappointed finishing her race in third place.
“I think I’m getting back,” she said of her improved showing.
Teammate Eva Muzichenko, running in her first cross-country race after Pennachio and others talked her into trying cross-country, was second in the A race at 19:32.5 . That time placed her 11th overall among the meet’s 200 varsity girls.
Muzichenko, who ran track for Eastchester last spring, said, of her new endeavor, “All the team spirit is definitely fun.”
Pennachio and Muzichenko, whose team won the girls A team title in an 11-school field, noted the bus ride home would feature some music, starting with the running-appropriate Eminem song ‘Till I Collapse.”
Team finishes
The overall girls team title in a 17-school field went to Somers, the B race winner, with 43 points.
Eastchester had 87, Suffern was third with 113, Scarsdale was fourth with 124 and Mamaroneck was fifth overall with 141.
On the boys side, North Rockland took the overall, 23-school team title at 45 points. Scarsdale, the A race team winner, was second, edging Briarcliff by one point, 166-167, Oyster Bay (176) was fourth and Trinity School rounded at the top five at 185.
Of course, the season is young and much can change.
Mayclim, a senior who qualified for the state cross-country championships the last two years but was hamstrung a lot last year by illness, shared a mature outlook on his final high school cross-country season.
“Take every meet one at a time,” he said of his philosophy. “Every day’s a gift. Be patient and results will come eventually.”
Cross:country: Arlington's Green defies humidity, breaks own course record at Somers
Results
Overall placement among all 200 girls and 200 boys noted right after each runner's time
Girls Varsity A top 10
1. Ava Pennachio, Eastchester, 18:14.8 (2nd overall)
2 .Eva Muzichenko, Eastchester, 19:32.5 (11th)
3. Kennedy Leone, Suffern, 19:48.2 (13th)
4. Joy Yin, Suffern, 19:49.6 (14th)
5. Cacie Beades, Eastchester, 19:52.8 (15th)
6 . Morgan Grant, Clarkstown North, 20:00.4 (17th)
7. Isabella Marinaccio, Bergen County Tech, 20:01.4 (18th)
8 Zoe Franks, Briarcliff, 20:04.2 (19th)
9. Natalia Socha, Eastchester, 20:09.1 (21st)
10. Nina Nowakiwskyj, Briarcliff, 20:17.2 (22nd)
Boys Varsity A top 10
Rishi Shadaksharappa, Scarsdale, 16:36.4 (4th overall)
Bobby Maylim, Lakeland/Panas, 15:37 (5th)
Michah Taffet, Rye Neck, 15:40.1 (6th)
Jack Bowman, Suffern, 15:42.2 (7th)
Miles Chamberlain, Briarcliff, 16:08.1 (13th)
Jack Sherman, Scarsdale, 16;11.6 (14th)
Luke Dennis, Briarcliff, 16:13.9 (16th)
Padraig Pearlman, Pelham, 16:20.7 (18th)
Todd Korman, Suffern, 16:33.4 (20th)
Eduardo Salinas, Monticello, 16:34.7 (21st)
Girls Varsity B top 10
1. Ainara Schube Barriola, Rye Neck, 17:39.3 (1st overall)
2. Julia Duzynski, Somers, 18:40 (3rd)
3. Julia Aquilino, Somers, 18:45.1 (4th)
4. Danielle List, Albertus Magnus, 18:47.1 (5th)
5. Phoebe Carmel, Rye Neck, 18:50 (6th)
6. Mia Sandolo, Somers, 18:52.9 (7th)
7. Rachel Rakower, Scarsdale, 19:02.9 (8th)
8. Jessica Masterson, Somers, 19:24.3 (9th)
9. Maya Hennessey, Mamaroneck, 19:29.7 (10th)
10. Julia Scheffler, Scarsdale, 19:39.6 (12th)
Boys Varsity B
1. Claudel Chery, North Rockland, 15:02.4 (1st overall)
2. Ryan Tuohy, North Rockland, 15:03.9 (2nd)
3. Chris Tardugno, Oyster Bay, 15:10.7 (3rd)
4. Jake Harold, Albertus Magnus, 15:45.2 (8th)
5. Matt Thomson, Eastchester, 15:46 (9th)
6. Devon Piccone, North Rockland, 15:51.4 (10th)
7. Zach Greene, Oyster Bay 15:57.4 (11th)
8. Christian Wissa, Somers, 16:07.5 (12th)
9. Daniel Affoumani, North Rocland, 16:13.4 (5th)
10. Liam Luff, Trinity, 16:27.6 (19th)
Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, basketball, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at @HaggertyNancy.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: lohud cross country: North Rockland, Somers are Suffern team champs
