Cross-country: Lakeland/Panas's Bobby Mayclim finishes in top third at Nike Nationals

No, he won't have to find room in his luggage for a gold, silver or bronze medal, but Babbly Mayclim put an exclamation point on his near fairy-tale cross-country season Saturday, finishing in the upper third of all runners in the Nike Cross Nationals boys championship in Portland, Oregon.

The Panas senior, who competes for the combined Lakeland/Panas team, clocked 16:04.9 over a muddy, rain-soaked 3.1-mile course to finish 67th overall out of 201finishers and No. 1 out of the 12 athletes competing from New York.

Mayclim passed several runners in the race's last kilometer.

His finish put him ahead of the three New Yorkers who topped him at the Nike New York qualifying race a week earlier at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls.

Included was that race's winner, Nolan Mcginn of Fayetteville-Manlius, who'd finished more than 28 seconds ahead of Mayclim in the qualifier.

Mcginn was the second fastest New Yorker in Oregon, crossing the line 3.5 seconds behind Mayclim in 74th place.

Monroe-Woodbury, which won the New York team championship in what had initially been envisioned as somewhat of a rebuilding year after key graduation losses, was 20th out of the 23 teams competing from across the country.

Oliver Jibb, one of only two seniors among the Crusaders' seven competing runners, was their top finisher.

He clocked 16:28 for 111th place.

Other Monroe-Woodbury finishers included Shane Golio (116th place, 16:28.6); Ryan Devon (147th, 16:49.2); Gavin Catherwood (151st, 16:50.8); Vinny Costello (184th, 17:25.3); Ronaldo Rodriquez Perez (186th, 17:25.5) and Jason Saldanha (197th, 18:04).

Sixty boys broke 16 minutes. Wake Forest commit JoJo Jourdon of Salt Lake City, Utah won gold in 15:16.5.

That was impressive and then some, given the course conditions, which were described as among the worst in race history.

Mayclim spoke of running through water over his ankles and Monroe-Woodbury coach Matt Hemmer said, "They were literally running through a small pond. That's how much water had pooled."

"The course, I've never seen anything like it," Hemmer said by phone Saturday night, noting runners had to go through the pond-like area twice.

But it was cross-country and, well, "That's part of the elements of the sport," he added.

In fact, Mayclim, who noted where it wasn't completely flooded, the course was super muddy, described running it as "really fun."

A great high school X-C ending for Panas senior

For the most part, "really fun" could describe his entire fall.

As he has before, Mayclim used the word "surreal" when looking back on a season in which he won the Westchester County boys championship, finished top-10 in medaling at the state public school championship and then finished fifth among the top public and private high school runners in the state at the Federation meet before grabbing one of five non-team spots in a field of more than 200 runners to qualify for Nike Cross Nationals.

While the Portland course was not nearly as hilly as Bowdoin, its hills broke some runners Saturday.

But not Mayclim.

"I feel like Bowdoin prepared me for hills," said Mayclim, who approached the race's last 1,000 meters with "the mindset of attacking the hill."

Still rebounding from illness and injury that began last year, Mayclim didn't duck any races this fall, competing in a significant meet every weekend since October 21.

And that seemed to contribute to his success in Portland.

"I'm happy about not skipping out on any weeks. Today I felt everyone had to work harder than they normally would have to. With all the mud, every step you'd take you'd have to work that much harder," he said.

As he has tried to do all season, he said he followed the mantra, "Control the controllable."

"I just didn't want anything to (stop) me from sticking to that motto. .... I'm really happy how it went. I'm really happy how things turned out."

"It's definitely satisfying to go out with this incredible field of competition," said Mayclim, who was being recruited by multiple collegiate programs even before qualifying for nationals. "It was such a fun experience to be able to meet so many different people from all different places, all different regions, and having the opportunity to race in such a competitive field."

"It's still shocking to me to be able to overcome everything and make it this far. I'm really grateful to get the experience as a whole. It's something truly special. "

Cross-country 2023: Lakeland/Panas's Bobby Mayclim, Monroe-Woodbury qualify for Nike Nationals

Monroe-Woodbury's learning experience

Based on times during the season over different courses, predictions were Monroe-Woodbury would finish 19th, so 20th wasn't a major disappointment and there were positive upsides, according to Hemmer.

"They treat kids like gold out here," Hemmer said. "For the kids, it was amazing experience. For the seniors (Jibb and Saldanha) to end their careers this way was fantastic. And the ones coming back have something to shoot for."

Hemmer described Saturday as akin to a building block, with "multi tiers to be a competitive team," starting with local success, then state success and, finally, national success.

"For us , this was a first-time experience. It wasn't our best day but it was definitely a great experience. ... We saw incredible programs that have been here multiple times," he said. ... "I marvel at teams that are here year in and year out."

And Hemmer expects that competing against teams like that will only make his returning runners that much stronger.

"It was not complete failure. It was a great experience they'll use as future motivation," he said.

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: Nike Cross Nationals: Mayclim top-third, Monroe-Woodbury 20th as team