October 18, 2022

Normally Long Island cross country teams gear up for Cardiac at Sunken Meadow, the rolling hills of Van Courtland Park, Brown Invitational and the turns of Bowden Park where the NY State Cross Country meet is held each year. These courses mark a deep tradition in cross country for any runner and the times on these courses define their career.

The 2022 boys cross country team will now define themselves as nationally known, opening on the road at Kutztown University farm course running in the PTXC13 Invitational. This is a well known meet in PA and in the northeast drawing top teams from Maryland, Connecticut, and PA. With high expectations for this season any coach with a quality team likes to see what they have before it’s too late, so this meet would be the test. THEY ACED IT! 

A win with our top 5 scorers finishing in the top 10 and all 7 earning top 30 honors with close to 100 runners competing speaks volumes. When you run a course for the first time and you know the competition will be fierce, coming out winners is a statement that you have something special.  

Now you see what you have, Head Coach Tim Dearie ‘78 stated, “The team’s performance in the first two meets of the season were very impressive. The results are a reflection of the tremendous training the boys put in during June, July, and August. Our races might be in the fall, but they are won with the high level summer training. Without it, there’s very little chance of challenging the top teams in the state and country.  The boys are zeroed in on winning League, Catholic States, and New York Federation titles. They’d like to follow those up by qualifying for the Nike National Cross Country Championships in Portland Oregon. We realized how important and helpful being in that race will be as we head toward the Eastern States Race and post season Championships. 

We take things one workout at a time, one week at a time, one race at a time. We won’t hit our halfway point of the season until October 15th, so we have to stay grounded, work very hard, and learn as we go.”

The cross country season extends from mid August until Mid November due to Nationals and a good start to the season speaks volumes, so this squad kept talking as they ventured to Georgia on Sept. 23rd to run in the Wingfoot XC Classic Presented by Publix in Cartersville, Ga. at Sam Smith Park. A nationally known meet running 5 divisions of races from youth division to Championship level. The race would draw the top teams from Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina, and the host state. Being strong New Yorkers they did not let that bother them, as the team let their talent speak for itself.

Taking second overall in the championship division with 129 points, the first place team finished with 70 points and 3rd place with 138. In cross country, the low number wins and with a first place margin of 59 points, it’s clear the competition was outstanding. Our top 5 scorers finished in the top 35. Dearie says, “The purpose of our race in Georgia was to go up against some high level teams in an early season, championship-type race and we got exactly that. There were 25 teams from 7 different states and although we were disappointed we got 2nd, we also knew the southeast schools are further along in their seasons than we are. It was our 3rd race and most of theirs 6th or 7th.”

This unassuming squad of 3 Seniors, 3 Juniors, and a Sophomore is enjoying this early season success. As individualistic as running is, this group has found a cohesive bond that makes them a force to race against, and are very excited about the season.

In two outstanding 5ks (3.1 miles) Friars’ top runner senior Aidan Brancaccio ran 16:20.80 finishing 2nd at the PTXC13 and then 15:46 (11th) in Georgia. Brancaccio’s performance in both cases was outstanding and he states, “Our whole team has been training hard to improve with every meet. When we travel to more competitive meets, the times generally do improve. We had great team performances both times and we are excited for the rest of our season.” 

The youngest member of varsity is sophomore, Regan Macpherson, who in 2021 was called up to run at NY State Federation meet as a freshmen states, “my focus is not on times right now but instead, I’m focused on getting team wins and hopefully getting the win at the Federation Championships. Nothing has really been too much of a surprise for the season so far. Coming off a good spring season and strong training over the summer we knew that we were going to be in a good position this fall for cross country. Each week we know that the spots for varsity can change and it helps us stay focused and not become complacent.” 

Running is a tough sport; therefore, when a person runs a personal best time but still finishes 20th overall and it takes a total of 7 individuals doing their own thing to collectively win as a team, it is impressive. This is just what the Friars have going on right now! Come support them on October 30th at the CHSAA League Championships at Sunken Meadow State Park where being impressive will really matter. 

Results

PXC13 1st place 
2 Aidan Brancaccio 12 Saint Anthony’s 16:20.80 1 
4 Sean Dearie 12 Saint Anthony’s 16:25.60 1 
7 Jack Morelli 11 Saint Anthony’s 16:30.00 1 
8 Hunter Wilson 12 Saint Anthony’s 16:30.60 1 
9 Regan Macpherson 10 Saint Anthony’s 16:31.40 1 
20 Collin McLaughlin 11 Saint Anthony’s 16:57.40 1 
29 John Melloy 11 Saint Anthony’s 17:23.10 

Wingfoot Invite

Second Place  129 Saint Anthony’s 
11 Aidan Brancaccio 15:46
25 Jack Morelli 16:09
29 Sean Dearie 16:14
31 Hunter Wilson 16:15
33 Collin McLaughlin 16:19
41 Regan Macpherson 16:32
80 John Melloy 17:01

https://dyestatxcrankings.runnerspace.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=46052&do=news&news_id=647043

https://ny.milesplit.com/articles/320693/new-york-boys-state-rankings-week-1?page=2

Uchenna Kelly is a sophomore at St.Anthonys; this is her second year writing for the Scoreboard. A member of the track and field team and is a member of several clubs at SA.