Cross country season ends in the far north
Senior Sawyer Clark, in blue at his last cross country race, achieving his dream of running at the state championships in Canton New York November 6. At left, in blue, Joshua Green.
Did someone say Canada?
After a warm and much appreciated send off by the Shelter Island School, our athletes began the long journey to the New York State Cross Country Championships on November. Destination? Canton, New York, about 15 miles from the Canadian border.
Representing the Island for Section XI (Suffolk County) Class D boys were senior Sawyer Clark, junior Jack Kimmelmann, freshman Joshua Green and 7th grader Kal Lewis.
Representing the Island for Section XI Class D girls were freshmen Caitlin Binder, Francesca Frasco, Lindsey Gallagher and 7th grader Emma Gallagher.
The first leg of the journey began with meeting up with the remainder of the Section XI athletes at two Long Island rendezvous points to catch charter buses, one for boys, one for girls, taking about 100 athletes to the first overnight stay in Albany.
The second leg, which started out raining, turned into some light snow then hail by the time the journey to Canton was complete, arriving around noon. With temperatures in the 30s, all the athletes representing Section XI did an easy jog in the hail to become familiar with the course before race day the next morning, Saturday, November 8. What resulted after two days of rain was a soft, slow, muddy course.
Our cross country teams certainly have racked up the miles this season traveling to compete. We logged over 1,000 miles back and forth to our competitions at Sunken Meadow State Park, and now nearly another 1,000 miles for the back and forth to the State Championships. But this last journey was different in that our athletes got to spend lots of time on the road with their season-long competitors, traveling with the common goal of representing Suffolk County at the “States.”
After the competitive tension that built up between opponents, it was pleasing to see the athletes mingle, warm up to each other, have some laughs and even exchange social media accounts.
Race day, Saturday morning, began with temperatures just above freezing, but thankfully the precipitation had stopped overnight and it was a clear and sunny day. The course was as slow and soggy as we had left it the day before. But that’s cross country — no matter hot or cold, sun or rain, snow or sleet, dry or muddy, the race goes on.
The first race of the day was the Girls Class D state championship with a field of 118 runners. The Island girls did themselves and their coaches proud, running in very adverse conditions. Lindsey Gallagher clocked in at 20:57, Binder 21:31, Emma Gallagher 22:28, and Frasco 24:25.
While waiting for the Boys Class D championship, we all cheered on our fellow Suffolk County female athletes racing in the Class A, B and C races. We also got to wish our best to Bronxville senior Delia Hayes, one of the members of Cliff Clark’s summer running club and heartily cheer her on in the C race. Hayes placed a very impressive fifth place in her race.
For the Boys Class D championship, the temperature warmed up a few degrees, but after four races involving nearly 500 runners, the course became even more sloppy. Again, making their coaches proud, the boys ran very well, with Lewis posting a time of 18:13, Kimmelmann 19:24, Clark 19:48 and Green 19:52.
All in all, the States were a great event for all the athletes and the coaches. We all took something away from it. Everyone enjoyed our common experience, had a great time and made new friends.
Now that cross country comes to a close, the coaching staff of Jason Green, Bryan Knipfing and myself, would like to recognize not only the athletes that made the States, but our incredible teammates as well, sophomore Olivia Yeaman, freshman Jack Lang, 8th graders Elizabeth Cummings, Lily Garrison, and Michael Payano and 7th graders Liam Adipietro, Lauren Gurney and Jonas Kinsey, each of whom made incredible progress this season.
Each individual contributed to the team by training together, challenging each other and themselves and supporting each other along the way during both the highs and lows of many physically and mentally challenging workouts and competitions. In a nutshell, these athletes showed lots of heart and broke new ground. Eight of our athletes made States in their first year, and five of our athletes, Lindsey Gallagher, Emma Gallagher, Binder, Lewis and Kimmelmann broke into the top 12 male and female Shelter Island athletes of all time for 5K times run at Sunken Meadow. What an incredible season these teams have had!
The journey of how cross country came back home to the Shelter Island School started two years ago. I’d like to personally recognize a few people: Coach Toby Green for the endless amount of time and energy he’s given to our athletes from the start; Coach Cliff Clark and Mary Ellen Adipietro for supporting us and working behind the scenes to make this program happen; Coach Bryan Knipfing for his eternally optimistic demeanor; Shelter Island School, for believing in the value of cross country and bringing the program back; our sponsors for outfitting the team with gear — Dr. Frank Adipietro, Shelter Island Hardware and one other who would like to remain anonymous.
We’d like to thank the parents of our athletes who supported them along the way. And finally, the fans, families and friends alike who cheered us on during our races and made the long trek to Sunken Meadow.
We couldn’t have done it without all of you.
For any Shelter Island students who would like to explore the sport, or cross-train with us for another sport, we conduct a school running club on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays each week after school. Give us some of your time, and you’ll find yourself running faster, stronger and for longer.
