Chittenango Harrier

Jamesville, N.Y. – The harriers from J-E put on another great performance on the same course that the sectional championships will be held later this season.  The final tally saw J-E place 4^th in the Varsity II race behind only state ranked AA power F-M (12^th in NYS) who won the race with 55 points, class AA Baldwinsville who is currently ranked 13^th in NYS (62), and class A power Pittsford-Mendon who is currently ranked 6^th in NYS (77).  Jordan-Elbridge tallied 166 points to edge state ranked class A power Jamesville-Dewitt (169).  There were 21 teams in the race where the Eagles clearly made their mark.

     Senior Jeff Donohue had perhaps his finest moment in a large invitational as he finished in 10^th place out a crowded field of outstanding runners.  Donohue also broke 17 minutes for the first time in his four-year varsity career, completing the 3.0 mile Jamesville Beach course in 16 minutes and 50 seconds.  Jeff’s time and place would put him in the top five of all three squads that defeated the Eagles, not an achievement to take lightly.  According to Donohue, he thought that he could have done a lot better and thought that he needed to push himself more in races.

     Once again, sophomore Cody Stanton ran almost the entire race along side his J-E teammate and was J-E’s 2^nd man.  Stanton finished 18^th overall in a personal record time of 17.07.  Cody is showing everybody that his success is no fluke, but a product of talent and a hard summer of training.  Stanton was running ahead of Donohue last week at Central Square until a wrong turn sabotaged his race.

     Sophomore Mike Marerro was J-E’s 3^rd man who blazed over the Jamesville Beach course in a personal record time of 17.19.  Marerro was 23^rd overall in the race.  One week prior to this race, Marerro was J-E’s # 1 man. 

     A senior and a freshman were J-E’s last two scorers.  Senior Donato Direnzo finished 55^th (18.10) and freshman Tom Poppe was 71^st (18.34).  Direnzo was disappointed with his race and immediately began wondering what was wrong.  “I kept trying to get my body to go faster but it just wouldn’t respond” stated Donato, “I kept wondering which teammate would pass me down the last mile of the race, would it be Poppe or Bader”.

Tom Poppe, in only his second 3-mile race, continued to be uncertain when to go and when to slow and said: “I really don’t know what I’m doing out there, and I hope that I figure it out soon”.  “I felt great during the race but I guess I had too much left at the end”.

     The next three runners in were all within 16 seconds.  Senior Jake Griffin got a small token of revenge by beating freshman Greg Bader.  Griffin was 82^nd in a time of 18.51, nearly two minutes faster than his Central Square race.  Bader’s time at Central Square was faster than Griffin’s and this only helped Jake to feel satisfied with his race.  Bader ran in his first varsity race of his career, and finished in 86^th place (19.01), a mere six seconds ahead of junior teammate George Brauchle (88^th (19.07).  Brauchle was disappointed that he may have lost his varsity spot to a freshman.  Senior Zac Darling also ran in the varsity race finishing in 123^rd place (21.01). 

     The Junior Varsity squad finished 13^th and was led by junior Kyle Becker.  Becker finished 78^th and was under 20 minutes for the first time.  “I knew I was racing well and even could have gone faster” said Becker.  Sophomore Kyle Alpha was next for J-E in 84^th place (20.13).  Alpha continues to move up the ranks of the squad despite having no real training during the week.  Dylan Kirk was J-E’s 3^rd man (113rd/20.46) followed by Tom Badman (131^st/21.13), Matt Sullivan (140^th/21.19), Carlin Coomey (147^th/21.38) and Brendan Hogan (168^th/22.23). 

     J-E hosts state-ranked Marcellus on Wednesday.  Marcellus is led by junior, all-state runner Chris Stogskill.  “Stogs” was Stogskill is called, blazed to victory in the Varsity I race on Saturday running one of the fastest times of the day (15.19).  If Marcellus is to be beaten, the Eagles will need a team effort to outrun the Marcellus team.  “We will need all of our scorers and then some to defeat Marcellus added Coach Roman, “if you take each team’s top four runners and score them together, we are only beating Marcellus 16-19”.  “Our fifth, sixth, and 7^th runners may decide our fate”.