BOYS
In the first, seeded section, the Motor City TC (Mumford, Detroit) inexplicably stepped off the track after 150m while in the lead. More on that later.
Dynizzle (North Penn, Lansdale Pa) went to the front along with Byram Hills NY, and even though it was 9 am (8 am EST, but the clocks flipped overnight), these kids were hauling, going under 2:00 on the leadoff. Byram stayed in front with 1:59.5-1:59.0.
North Penn had a big 3rd leg and grabbed the lead with 1:56.5, while The Prep TC (Don Bosco Prep, NJ) got into contention with 1:58.0. Danbury Conn. also was in the hunt.
On the anchor legs, Byram Hills tried to fight back, after a 2:02.9 3rd leg. North Penn could not hold off Don Bosco as Sharif Webb anchored in 1:52.8. Byram anchored 1:54.6 and got up for 5th. Danbury was 3rd in 7:54.90, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake 7:55.43 for 4th.
Don Bosco split 2:00.3-2:01.8-1:58.0-1:52.8 for 7:52.92, North Penn 1:59.5-2:01.2-1:56.5-1:57.2 for 7:54.39.
Motor City was permitted to run Heat II because of an apparent misunderstanding about breaking too soon, and they won a good race with Shenendehowa in 7:52.84 (1:58.0-2:00.4-2:00.1-1:54.4). It was determined later that its leadoff runner had in fact cut in on the first lap of the first race, and their time was disallowed. Shen won Section II in 7:58.06 as Steve Murdock ran his third race in as many days. Ten teams broke 8 minutes.
GIRLS
This looked like a big-time race. Pope John XXIII (Sparta NJ) had already broken 9:10 this winter, and with Kristen Reese back to good health, Carmel (NY) could be a threat.
Pope John took the pace right away and Lauren Bariexca led off in a rousing 2:16.2, but no one was far back even at that pace. Lincoln-Sudbury (Mass) was in there. Warwick Valley, always dangerous, had a 2:17.3 leadoff from Kristen Peluso, Carmel 2:18.9 for Caity Tully.
On the 2nd leg, Pope John continued to press its advantage, Sarah Cariati splitting 2:15.9 and putting some distance on the field, but Lillian Greibesland, Warwick Valley’s precocious freshman, passed four teams in the last 200, splitting 2:15.7 to put Warwick in contention. Carmel was still in it after a 2:16.6 by Catherine DeSarle.
Warwick fought to the front, as Tori Pennings ran 2:16.4 to put some ground on Carmel (Ashley Maurer 2:16.8) and Pope John (Lara Heigis 2:20), but Reese was overpowering on the anchor. Warwick held on as long as it could, while Pope John’s fine sophomore anchor, Emily Carrollo, simply could not keep pace even though she ran 2:13.9. Reese ran a spectacular 2:07.6 (Warwick a mortal 2:13.3 by Claire Pettit) to make Carmel the 4th team ever to break 9 minutes (8:59.85). Warwick Valley ran 9:02.65, #6 all-time. Pope John ran a seasonal-best 9:05.97, a New Jersey state record.
