State Pre-Season 2000 Ranking and Analysis

In last year's State Meet, Bronxville had the advantage of running two races on the Westchester course before the State Meet (Sectionals and Section 1 Coaches Invite). Their race strategy was to go out fast ... after the first mile, Bronxville had four runners in front of Tully's first runner!! They knew what they were doing because they won the State Championship. This year they must run against Tully or Beaver River on the Section 3 course at SUNY Utica Tech ... both Tully and Beaver River are very familiar with this "deceptively difficult" course.

Bronxville had an excellent Spring track season. They beat Tully in the State Meet 4x800 relay and at the Footlocker Nationals in both the 4x800 relay (9:34 vs 9:47) and 4x1 mile relay.

Melissa Wisner reported in an Internet article that the Bronxville team feels "like a family more than sport" ... they have organized pre-season practices and weekly team dinners lead by the team. Sounds a lot like Tully!

Bronxville wore Superman T-shirts to the award's stage at States. Until somebody finds some kryptonite, Bronxville is the number one Class D team in NY State.

Tully loses Danielle Caracci to graduation ... she will be running at Cortland State (we'll miss you ). However, we are very fortunate to have freshman Jessica Portmess running XC for the first time this season. She ran the 800m in 2:24 and was sectional 400m hurdle champion (70 sec) during spring track ... she appears to be an excellent distance runner. Sophomores Heather Roberts and Jessica McAnaney return as the top runners from last year. Returning seniors Jamie Crawford and Anna Holden will round-out the top five. Close behind are sophomore Alyssa Clark and juniors Laura Riehlman and Gwen Lennox. (Girl's Roster)

Last season, Tully had two outstanding team efforts ... the Sectionals (beat Beaver River by two points) and States (lost by two points) ... Tully ran a great race at States ... they were simply beaten by a slightly better team.

Overall, Tully looks to be just as strong or stronger than last year. However, we do not have any runners from last year's junior high team moving to the varsity level as impact runners ... this is where Beaver River has a big advantage over Tully ... and last year, Tully and Beaver River were very evenly matched. It's a shame that Section 3 can't send both teams to States, especially since one section did not send any Class D team to States!  Tully and Beaver River will fight an all-out battle to determine which team goes to States, while Bronxville and Groton will make States very easily!! Who has the advantage??

A rumor ... Coach Franklin is developing a secret weapon ... she will know by October 1st whether she can use the "Krytonite Rocket".

Beaver River had a strong junior high team last year ... several runners may move to varsity with real impact. This is their advantage over Tully. I have also heard a rumor that Aaron Emery's little sister (now in junior high) is very very fast ... I really think she should stay on the junior high team as a 7th, 8th and 9th grader!

The top runners are Brandey Hurchla and Annie Scogin ... they represented the Central Region in this summer's Empire State Games 10000m for scholastic girls (both ran 42:56.6). Annie showed great improvement during Spring Track by running 10:51 for 3000m. Coach Weeks is still the top middle distance runner in central NY (he won the Empire States Games 3000m Steeplechase for the 5th straight year) ... Groton has talented runners and coaching ... they are my "dark-horse" selection to upset the top teams.