Jordan-Elbridge Cross Country

     And just like that, the potential day of destiny became a day of disappointment and disgust.  “I lost the race for us” lamented J-E senior Kyle Becker.  Becker was J-E’s sixth man, whose finish was the tie breaker with Holland Patent’s.  In cross country, if the score is tied after adding the place of finish of the first five runners, the team whose sixth runner finishes first wins.  Holland Patent’s Tyler Evans, who finished 22^nd, suddenly became the ‘hero’ of his team as Holland Patent erupted into celebration milliseconds after the announcement was made.  J-E’s mood went from jubilant, to hopeful, to down right somber.  “It was not easy seeing the looks on their faces” said J-E Coach Roman, “there were way too many tears”.

     No one at the meet, from the race directors to the section chairs had seen a tie in a sectional final.  “No way, I can’t remember any ties in my tenure as a cross country coach” said Skaneateles coach Jack Reed, “not in a sectional final that is”.  “No one wants to lose this way” said J-E’s Roman, “it would be much easier to take if our deficit was 10, 20, or even 30 points, but a tie, and then to lose, come on, this is too cruel”.

     Jordan-Elbridge’s own Cody Stanton became only the second J-E boys harrier to win a sectional title.  Stanton won the Class C race (16.32) by an amazing 17 seconds over the race favorite, Robbie Argentine (16.49) of Canastota.  “I was running pretty close to Argentine and Aaron Walker (Canastota’s second runner) when I threw in a move and surged past them” said Stanton, “they never answered”.  Stanton took the lead at just about the half way point during the race and ran from in front for the last 1.5 miles.  “I yelled to Cody to drive the nail into the coffin” said J-E Girls Varsity Coach Rob Schemerhorn referring to the finishing 600 meters of the race. “I didn’t want this race to go down to a sprint”.  Stanton never gave the Canastota runners a chance, and he won in impressive fashion.  “I even saw Cody celebrating as he crossed the finish line by raising his arms” said Roman, “good for him, he deserves to celebrate”.  “I am so very proud of him”.

Mike Marrero once again played second fiddle to Stanton’s heroics, but Marrero became a hero in his own rights on this perfect fall day.  Marrero finished fourth overall in 16.55 which stamped his ticket for the state meet next week.  “I really wanted this today” said a gushing Marrero, “I mean I beat Aaron Walker and Nate Weber and these guys are the best in our class”.  Walker was the second-ranked Section III Class C runner and Weber was the 4^th ranked harrier.  Marrero was ranked 6^th going into the race.  It was the first time that Marrero had ever beaten Walker.

     J-E’s third man, Greg Bader, finished in 11^th place in a time of 17.42.  “I know Greg well enough to know that no matter how well he did today, he won’t be happy because the team did not win” said J-E’s Roman.  “Greg is all about team”.  “I’ve not had too many runners who has Greg’s passion for the sport or his leadership ability”.  “This kid is a born leader”.  Although Bader finished ahead of all but ten of the race field, he was clearly disappointed.  “It bothers me that three Holland Patent kids beat me” said Bader.  The three Holland Patent kids Bader is referring to are Dylan and Cody Racha, twin sophomores who finished in eighth and ninth places respectively (17.11 and 17.15), and Robert Baird, a junior who was one place ahead of Bader in tenth place (17.33).  Greg was ranked 16^th going into the race, he finished five places ahead of his ranking.

     In the biggest single move of the day was done by J-E freshman Steve Slonosky.  Slonosky, who secretly doubles as a paid assassin, moved up from his pre-race rank of 31^st to an incredible 16^th (17.53).  “Stevie moved up fifteen places and no one on my team even blinked an eye”.  “They all know how good Stevie is and how good he will be” said Roman.  “You have to remember that he is only a freshman in his first varsity season”.  Slonosky was the fastest freshman in the Class C race and the 2^nd fastest freshman on the entire day.  Only South Lewis’ Sam Anderson (17.44) was faster than Slonosky.  When asked if he could see teammate Greg Bader during the race, Slonosky replied “Oh yeah, I was watching him for about the last two miles and I think I was gaining on him”.  Bader mentioned that he knew Slonsoky was just a short stone throw behind him and feared that he’d overtake him.

     Sophomore Tom Poppe rounded out the Eagles’ scoring by finishing 31^st (18.24).  Poppe was visibly upset after the race until he realized how good of a race he had run.  He was ranked 35^th and he finished 31^st, an improvement of four places.  In addition, Poppe was eleven seconds faster than he was on the same course back in September.  “Poppe ran his heart out” said J-E Coach Roman, “he is beating himself up because he thinks he lost the race for us which is ridiculous”.  “Remember, the scores of the team’s top five runners are totaled and the only one on our team who couldn’t have beaten anyone else was Cody as he won the race”.  The other three J-E scorers had runners just in front of them and anyone of them could have provided the point to provide victory.  As sophomore teammate Greg Bader said: “It’s all about team and we win and we lose as a team, we have nothing to be ashamed of”.

     Kyle Becker ran as he never had before and was J-E’s sixth man.  Becker finished in 41^st place (39^th in the team scoring) overall in a hugely improved time of 18.45.  Becker was ranked 58^th entering into the race and improved by 57 seconds over his time earlier in the 2008 season at Jamesville.  “I thought I let the team down” said a tearful Becker, “but coach showed me that Holland Patent’s strength was in their depth and I was not really even close to their sixth man”.  “I guess I’ll have to remember the great times running on this team for the past four years”.  “It sure was a blast”. 

     Mitch Alpha was J-E’s 7^th man (49^th/19.02), followed by John Flynn (57^th/19.19), Tom Badman (75^th/19.55), and Carlin Coomey (95^th/20.33). 

     “We peaked for the second year in a row and I am so very proud of what these guys did and how hard they ran today” added Coach Roman.  “You have to remember that we were supposed to finish fourth and score 85 points”.  Holland Patent is currently ranked 2^nd in New York State and they will probably finish runner up to Newark Valley at the state meet.  J-E most likely would do the same if they had made it.  “Every scorer was hugely faster than in September, every scorer moved up ahead of their rankings, we simply ran into a great great club in the name of Holland Patent”.  Victory isn’t always a championship.  There lingers within each of our J-E hearts an ember that's just waiting to be stoked.  The embers burn red and hot in the hearts and bellies of the J-E cross country crew that will return next year.  “I believe that they’ll want some revenge and will work hard to get that elusive state championship”.  This loss may serve as the fuel for 2009 and ultimately become our victory mantra.