Beaver River ran in the Baldwinsville Invitational (Oct 4th) ... they decided to compete in the Class A race against some very good teams (such as Fairport, Liverpool, and Fayetteville-Manlius) ... unfortunately, Beaver River's top runner (Lauren Moser, the defending State Class D champion) developed a cramp in a quad muscle while running with lead runner Brittany Crawford (FM) and was forced to drop out of the race (which raised the team score by nearly 50 points) ... however, Beaver River still would not have beaten Fairport or Liverpool. Beaver River will be hosting their own Invitational on Oct 11th.

In the most recent edition of The Harrier magazine, Argyle was ranked third in the Northeast USA and 19th nationally ... These rankings will likely go up in the next edition.

Beaver River won the Varsity B division of the big EJ Hermann Invitational in Utica ... they totaled 34 points to outscore Canastota (55) and Sauquoit Valley (93) ... once again, Lauren Moser was an easy race winner (19:11) followed by Adrienne Gagnier (4th, 19:57), Chelsea Nuffer (6th, 20:32), Julie Emery (9th, 20:48), Alexis Nuffer (14th, 21:09) and Amanda Zehr (16th, 21:23) ... Beaver River is scheduled to race at the Baldwinsville Invitational (Oct 4th).
 

Beaver River ran an incomplete team at the ESM Invitational (the top three runners did not run)

 

Argyle traveled to Essex Vermont and easily won the Essex Invitational (Division I) by scoring only 18 points ... Caitlin Lane won the race, finishing the five-kilometer course in 18:46 ... Emily Fung placed 2nd (19:02), Hannah Davidson 5th (19:56), Ashley Fung 6th (20:01) and Klara Varosy 7th (20:02) ... Coach Bob Lane was quoted in the Glens-Falls Post Star, "That was quite a way to start of the year. The best teams from Vermont were there." ... Argyle's next invitational race is the Great American Race of Champions (Sept 27) where they will compete against some of the best teams in the US, including NY's Saratoga Springs and Bay Shore.

 

Argyle did not compete in an invitational this past weekend ... they participated in a 5 x 2 mile relay (tune-up) in Greenwich, NY covering the extremely hilly 10 miles in 58:30, breaking their own course record by 4 minutes.  Split times (for varying terrain and difficulties) were reported as follows: Caitlin Lane - 11:15, Hannah Davidson 11:47, Ashley Fung 11:49, Emily Fung 11:17 and Klara Varosy 12:22 ... On Sep 13th, Argyle was scheduled to compete in the Johnstown Invitational, but the invite was cancelled ... they will be competing in the Essex Junction, VT Invite instead ... An unfortunate note - Brittania O'Keefe will be out for a few weeks, as she fell off a horse and broke both wrists, and had a knee injury (just a bruise) ... hopefully, Brittania will return soon!
 

 Last Year ... State Meet - Girls Class D Team Results for 2002

                   
   Team                  Score                 Team                Score
   =================     =====                 =================   =====
   1 - Argyle              33 (Sec 2)          6 - Millbrook        161 (Sec 9)
   2 - Beaver River        46 (Sec 3)          7 - Frewsburg        174 (Sec 6)
   3 - Bronxville          56 (Sec 1)          8 - Seton Catholic   179 (Sec 7)
   4 - Marathon           139 (Sec 4)          9 - Salmon River     255 (Sec 10)
   5 - Notre Dame-Batavia 149 (Sec 5)         10-  Shelter Island   284 (Sec 11)
   
     Note ... Rhinebeck was Class C in 2002...finished 2nd to Bayport-Blue Pt
              at States (lost by only 2 points)

Pre-Season 2003 Comments for Girls Class D

Some Argyle girls warming up before Section 2 State Track Qualifiers (3000 Meters) ... from left to right are Klara Varosy, Caitlin Lane, Hannah Davidson, Emily Fung and Ashley Fung

Argyle Coach Bob Lane talking to daughter Caitlin before the Section 2 State Track Qualifier (3000m) ... Caitlin finished second (10:11.5) behind Nicole Blood (Saratoga) ... this track race was effectively a team dual race between Argyle and Saratoga with Argyle taking 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th and 11th and Saratoga 1st, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 9th and 10th (point-wise, Saratoga had an XC scoring advantage of 26 to 30) ... that says something about the strength of the Argyle team.

Last XC season, Argyle typically trained 20-25 mile per week ... this year will likely be similar in the 25-30 miles per week range ... For those interested, Coach Lane receives some training advise from Coach Jack Daniels (very successful former coach at Cortland State).

New young runners having an immediate impact on a girl's XC team occurs every year, but the magnitude of the impact by the Argyle girls is unprecedented (to the best of my knowledge) ... five 7th-graders (Caitlin Lane, Hannah Davidson, Emily Fung, Ashley Fung, Brittania O'Keefe) and two freshmen (Klara Varosy, Cassidy Norton) ... all from a Class D school (Amazing!!) ... I will skip the impact of graduation on Argyle .

Caitlin Lane, Hannah Davidson, and Emily Fung are profiled on my Top State XC Runner List ... for the 3000m race this past track season, Lane (10:08), Davidson (10:28), Emily Fung (10:27), Ashley Fung (10:54), and Klara Varosy (10:52) all broke the 11:00 mark.

Argyle is a remarkably good team ... but they beat Beaver River by only 13 points at States ... and as I'm writing this, everything indicates Beaver River will be better this year ... Argyle is still the favorite in this very interesting Class D match-up ... I do not know if the two teams will meet head-to-head before States.

Beaver River Coach Nicole Kuhl (center) congratulates Chelsea Nuffer and Adrienne Gagnier after the school relay record ... this was a significant accomplishment as they lowered their own record by nearly 30 seconds ... it's also impressive because some of them would much rather be running XC than track.

Six returning runners are profiled on my top individual runner list for Section 3 - Lauren Moser, Chelsea Nuffer, Adrienne Gagnier, Kendra Chamberlain, Julie Emery,  and Alexis Nuffer ... also returning is Amanda Zehr (7th at sectionals) ... Moser and Chelsea Nuffer are also profiled on my Top State XC Runner List ... Update - Kendra Chamberlain will not be running XC this season.

Lauren Moser is the defending individual State champion (Class D) ... cousins Chelsea and Alexis Nuffer ran very well during spring track and appear to be improving ... Adrienne Gagnier looked much improved during spring track ... These four runners combined to lower Beaver River's school record in the 4x800 relay by nearly 30 seconds (to 9:33) ... Julie Emery is also a talented runner.

Coach Nicole Kuhl has done a superb job ... Beaver River enters the 2003 season as the #2 Class D team in State behind Argyle ... and this year, Beaver River could be a better team ... Argyle beat Beaver River at States by only 13 points ... at Federations, Argyle was 3rd and Beaver River 4th ... Beaver River is a serious challenger to upset Argyle.

Coach Tim Fulton of Somers has written an excellent pre-season preview for all Section One teams ... his preview of Bronxville is available there.

Bronxville still has some talented runners including senior Helen Millson (800m-219, 1500m- 4:55, 3000m -10:51), senior Hiller Burton (1500m-5:14, 2000mSt-7:32), sophomore Dana Mitchell (good XC performances last year), sophomore Margaret Gustafson, senior Kate Kearney and junior Alanna Rogers ...

Bronxville is apparently adding some new XC runners with very good ability ... sophomore Amanda Hudson (1500m-5:02 in her first season) ... there could also be some good incoming freshmen according to Coach Fulton.

Rhinebeck has no graduates from their State team at Sunken Meadows, so this is a very good team ... This is only speculation on my part (I don't know), but Rhinebeck may opt to move back up to Class C since they did so well there last year ... but until I know different, I will consider Rhinebeck as Class D team.

Top returning runner is senior Laura DeWitt - the Class C individual champion (she is profiled on my Top State XC Runner List) ... junior Erica Wiles finished a very good 4th at States ... Rhinebeck's next two finishers at States were 8th-graders last year (Amelia Calsi and Danielle Herr) ... sophomore Nicole Devens was the #5 scorer at States.

I have absolutely no track data on Rhinebeck ... perhaps the Rhinebeck XC runners play soccer in the spring??