Boys’ Cross Country

Blair Boys’ Cross Country
2005 Season

10/26 – Blair (3-2) vs. Gill St. Bernard’s
Blair golf course
Blair wins 21-30
Gill’s lead runner, Taylor Coate, ran away from Rick DeFino in the third mile to take the race, but the Blair pack of 2-5 proved victorious. Hats off to Rick for running shoulder to shoulder with a runner who had handily defeated him at the Newark Academy race earlier in the year. Next stop the State Meet in a week’s time.

10/22 – Blair (2-2) vs. Lawrenceville
Blair golf course
Blair wins 15-47
Parents’ Day in the rain (as usual) was a showcase for the Blair runners. It was treat to race up the football field and finish along the sidelines in front of the crowd. The strength of the team was a large group of runners pacing each other to an easy victory. Rollie Peterkin and Dylan Evans are moving up on our lead pack of four. We’ll need a tight group of five to succeed in the coming weeks. Next up: Gill St. Bernard’s this Wednesday.

10/19 – Blair (1-2) vs. St. Benedict’s & Oratory Prep
Blair golf course
St. Benedict’s wins vs. Blair Academy 19-39
Blair wins vs. Oratory Prep 16-42
The St. Benedict’s team handily defeated Blair in our initial race over the home course. Rick DeFino is emerging as the number Blair one runner, given that Tommie Huang will be out for quite awhile. Blair bested the Oratory Prep boys. Lots of work to do before running in front of the parents on Saturday vs. Lawrenceville.

10/12 – Blair (0-1) vs. The Hill School Hill wins: 20-35
The Blair boys ran into an excellent Hill School team on a muddy course amid a driving rain. A tough day it was! Tyler Pruce was out of action, Kiley Austin-Young ran his first race of the season at half-speed (no small feat to stay with the top Hill boys for 2 miles), Anthony D’Amato is slowly getting back to full speed, Anthony Stival is leaving the “mono” issue behind, and Rick DeFino was our number one man in fourth place. A number of runners posted best times even in the bad weather. Hill placed 1-2-3, an automatic win in dual meet competition. The good news for Blair was a 4-8 finish which made the score realtively close. The two teams will meet again at the MAPL championship on a neutral course. Some 57 runners finished the race, a record for Blair/Hill dual meet competition. Distance running is alive and well in our prep school world.

9/28 – Blair vs. Hackettstown and North Warren High School at Hackettstown (a non-scoring race)
Coach Ryan Hashway of North Warren Regional High School deserves a geat deal of credit for building a fine girls’ and boys’ team from scratch. He and H’Town coach Jim Morrison were nice enough to invite Blair to race in their scheduled league meet. It was the first race for many of our runners and a decent test for those who ran at Newark and Canterbury. Highlights include Rick DeFino’s first win as a Blair runner, newcomers Keefer Taylor (9th grade) and sophomore Bob Boyle breaking 20 minutes, Anthony Stival continuing to recover from mono, D’Amato gutting through another race, Pruce picking up the tempo quite a bit, a personal best mark for Josh Case and, in general, a spirited effort by most of the boys. We are still missing injured number one runner Kiley Austin-Young.

9/24 – Canterbury Invitational
Canterbury School, New Milford, CT
It was a perfect fall day for XC running: clear, sunny skies, cool weather, challenging course, and New England prep schools to race against. Last year’s second place to Andover might well have been duplicated or even surpassed with a healthy team. Kiley remains on the sidelines, Pruce and D’Amato at half-strength continue to move from the pool and weight room to the race course - no small feat - Stival is slowly emerging from the fog of mononucleosis. The boys tied for third place with Loomis Chaffee (Loomis received the third place trophy based on a faster sixth man). Tommy Huang medaled in eighth place with a PR (personal record) for this hilly course; Rick DeFino had a course PR and Dylan Evans fared well in his second varsity start for Blair. Tim Bacon debuted as a varsity runner over this challenging 3.1 mile course. Fine sportsmanship, focused running, good cheer, support for the girls’ team wonderful sixth place finish, AND a fine dinner at perennial favorite, Marathon pizza, all added to a successful outing.

9/17 – Newark Invitational (Livingston , NJ)
Blair boys’ XC opened up the season with a second place finish at the Newark Invitational (Livingston, NJ). Kiley Austin-Young, the team’s top runner, was out with an injury, and three others on the varsity in our top five were below par physically. Healthy bodies seem to be more important than talent and training! St Benedict’s Prep finished first in the ten team field with 27 points, Blair followed with 62 points, Kinnelon was third with 83 points. The St. B’s has improved markedly since last year and will be a great challenge in the 10/19 duel meet and the State Prep meet. But that’s what XC is all about!

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