Year in Review: Island runners finish strong

Shelter Island’s boys cross country team placed seventh and the girls placed ninth in the 2015 New York State Public High School Athletic Association State Championships.
The boys and girls teams made it to the state competition by winning the Class D county championships — sporting a perfect record in league races this year.
These simple facts don’t begin to portray the accomplishments of the Shelter Island team, considering that the cross country program, long dormant, was revived from scratch only a year ago.
Special congratulations must go the coaches — Bryan Gallagher, Toby Green and Bryan Knipfing — who brought the team to life, trained and inspired the young athletes and helped bring a county championship home to the Island.
The year past will be a strong building block for the future of competitive running on Shelter Island.