Cross-country: Irvington wins its first ever boys state championship, taking Class C title
CHENANGO FORKS — Irvington had had its share of success in cross-country over the years. Still, it had never grabbed the brass ring.
But two months ago, Chris Barry, who has coached the Bulldogs for 23 years, the last 15 as head coach, started thinking big while watching his team win a team title at the Somers Big Red meet.
Sensing the potential, he met with his runners, asking whether they'd be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to get even better.
Barry was mentally jumping ahead to the Section 1 Class C championship and beyond.
Saturday, was the beyond.
And Barry's kids, who "totally bought in" after the Somers meet to do what was needed to win, did just that.
On a cold, rainy day in Chenango Valley State Park in Broome County, Irvington captured its first-ever state boys cross-country team championship, out-running 10 other squads.
"I'm incredibly proud of them," Barry said. "They trained their butts off. They're all such friends. They run for each other. They're really coachable and really, really committed to each other."
The Bulldogs' performances combined with other strong showings from local runners also helped Section 1 secure the Class C boys section title.
Lucas Turano, the Bulldogs' top finisher with a 13th-place, 17:14.1 run.
He and classmate Liam Lyons (20th place, 17:34.4) secured all-state honors with top-20 finishes in the 132-runner race.
Irvington's other finishers included Bruce Pierce (26th, 17:52), Indy Minkoff (30th, 17:55.6), Ryan Carron (31st, 17:56.7), Taoig Cypher, 60th, 18:28) and Mitch Milun (70th, 18:40.5).
Turano, who linked his team's championship in part to good coaching, said he tried to keep Section 1's top finisher, Briarcliff's Giovanni Culotta, who was eighth in 17:09.2, in his sights throughout the race.
This was Culotta's second appearance at cross-country states. He ran as a sophomore and last year's championship was canceled due to COVID concerns.
His first experience helped him Saturday.
"Championship races are so hard, so intense. You have to run with that championship mentality," Culotta said he'd learned.
Not far behind Culotta was Rye Neck's Joe Lavelle, who was 10th in 17:11.7.
Also gaining all-state honors were Pawling's Noah Brightman (14th place, 17:14.9) and Pleasantville's Alex Searle (19th, 17:33.7).
One other Hudson Valley runner gained top-30 status as Carson Darling of Section 9's James O'Neill was 28th in 17:54.8. His team finished fifth out of 11 squads in the team competition.
Dobbs Ferry senior Marc Lucasey's showing (51st, 18:15.4) also was included in the section championship tally.
Class D to Tri-Valley, Haldane 9th
Haldane, the Section 1 team in the Class D race, finished well back in ninth in the team competition.
Its top runner, Luke Parrella, was 56th out of 116, clocking 18:42.5.
But another Hudson Valley team fared well.
Quite well.
Led by Adam Furman's second-place, 16:10.1 finish, Section 9's Tri-Valley took the boys Class D crown.
Furman and three of his teammates garnered all-state honors with Craig Costa 10th (17:27.2), Van Furman 17th (17:41.9) and Caleb Edwards 18th (17:43.6).
Other Tri-Valley finishers included Vincent Mingo (24th, 17:58.6), Thomas Houghtaling (77th, 19:25.1) and Connor Weyant (86th, 19:54.3).
Beaver River's Colton Kempney took the overall title in 16:06.5.
Adam Furnman, who's a junior, said he entered the race thinking he was going to win.
"I'm not too happy but if anyone was going to beat me, I'm glad it was him," he said of Kempney, terming Kempney an "amazing runner" with a "very powerful" kick.
Brewster's Ford, Section 9's Waterton, Blough all-state
For Brewster junior Pat Ford, Saturday wasn't quite as good as he'd hoped but earning all-state honors with a 16th-place, 16:54.4 run in the boys Class B championship left him "pretty happy."
Ford, who gained ground on the downhills and put in a "big surge" on the course's first uphill, struggled a bit on the last hill before the finish.
Still, his race left him hungry for next year, when he'll shoot, he said, for a top-five placement.
The top time of the day belonged to the B winner, LaSalle Institute's Gitch Hayes at 15:37.1.
Section 9 had two top-10 finishes and four runners overall in the top 30.
Monticello's Evan Waterton clocked 16:05.9 for third.
Mount Academy's Ike Blough ran 16:17.3 for fourth.
Blough, who'd competed two years ago at states in Plattsburgh, where the course included snow and ice, said he entered Saturday's race with the mindset the weather doesn't matter.
"You just run a good race and run your hardest and don't let it get into your head," he said, noting runners had no choice but to just run through the park's mud.
Beacon's Evan Labelle crossed in 17:15.3 for 24th and Kent Kleinsasser 17:17.7) was 29th for Mount, which finished sixth in the team competition.
Nanuet's John Fontanez was Section 1's second finisher in B with a 27th-place, 17:16.9 run.
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John Jay-Cross River's Max Goodman missed out on a top-30 showing by fewer than five seconds. He ran 17:23.1 for 33rd out of 122 finishers.
Pearl River finished seventh among the 11 teams. Its top finisher was sophomore Sean Hughes in 65th (18:04).
Class A race a sloppy mess
By the time the boys Class A race rolled around, all four girls and the three other boys races had taken place.
That might have been okay without the falling temperature (40 degrees), steady rain and, as a result of the rain and number of races, chewed up course that was much muddier than earlier.
Some runners, including Lakeland/Panas's Bobby Mayclim (62nd, 17:31.1) carried some of the course to the finish, having fallen in the mud.
Fox Lane's Harry Griff (34th, 16:55.4), who was a bit cleaner, quipped, "Kids were doing the slip and slide and that was sometimes faster than running."
He noted with the conditions the way they were, it was tough getting back in the race after he got boxed in.
Griff was impressed with Corning senior Jack Gregorski's first-place 15:45.7 clocking, indicating it should be judged better than Hayes's time because course conditions were much worse.
Only one Section 9 runner got a top-20 finish for all-state. That was Collin Gilstrap of Monroe-Woodbury, who was 20th in 16:41.5.
The top Section 1 finisher was Mamaroneck's Jason Markopoulos (21st, 16:41.9).
Arlington's Ethan Green got into the top 30 of the 107-finisher race with a 16:49.3, 28th-place performance.
While he had hoped for a higher finish, Griff wasn't unhappy to have made the three-hour trip north.
"I'm happy to be here," he said. "It was great to run with this level of competition. ... There are so many kids are so good."
Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at both @HaggertyNancy and at @LoHudHockey.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Cross-country: Irvington boys win school's first state X-C title
