Manhattan Invitational 10/13/07 by Matt Blizinski and Brian Hickey
The Shaker Boys Varsity competed in the Manhattan Invitational held on October 13th at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City. Teams from all over the country came to New York to participate in the Manhattan Invitational. Record participation from over 12,200 runners representing 422 schools made for an amazing sight on a cool October day that was perfect for a cross country race. The Shaker boys, who had the biggest win in Shaker Cross Country history last year, were looking to continue their success against a field of over 40 teams in the Varsity A Race There were many good individual runners, including Doug Smith (St. Bernard’s New Jersey) and Brandon Jarret (St. Benedict’s Prep New Jersey). On the 2.5 mile course these two runners were looking to run under 12:20 making the fight for third even more significant. The fight for 3rd place overall would consist of several runners including Shaker’s R.J. Sniffen and Craig Weiss. The boys Varsity A race was won by Doug Smith (St. Bernard’s) with a time of 12:31. The Shaker boys had 3 runners in the top 7. R.J. Sniffen came in 4th with a time of 13:02 and Craig Weiss finished 5th with a time of 13:02, and Chris Manico who finished 7th with a time of 13:08. Shaker’s 4th man, Jeff Corelli, finished in 23rd (13:38) while Devon Sedgwick completing the Shaker scoring in 44th place with a time of 13:53. The team results between Shaker, Merrimack (NH), and Smithtown were very close as expected. In the end, Smithtown ended up winning with 71 points. Merrimack finished second with 78 points and Shaker in third with 83 points. Niskayuna finished 4th with 169 points. Over 40 family members of the Shaker team made the trip on Saturday. They were joined by ‘06 Shaker grad and current Yale Frosh runner Matt Bogdan to offer support and encouragement to the team.
The Boys Freshman team added another Championship trophy at Manhattan when they were tested against many of the strongest Frosh teams in the Northeast. The team’s first place finish was again anchored by Mike Libruk (4th), Brian O’Connor (5th) and Kyle Foster (12th). Overall, the Boys Frosh team brought home 12 individual medals.
The J.V. Boys team finished 6th out of 62 schools in their race. Eric Young (17), Ryan Egan (28) and Will Shanz (35) were the top Shaker finishers in a field of over 500 runners.
The Frosh Girls team captured the Championship trophy in the closest team competition of the day. Balanced team scoring was the key to the victory as the top 5 Shaker runners finished between 6th and 23rd place to narrowly win with a team total of 79 points followed by Washingtonville (81), Warwick Valley (84) and Guilderland (89). The Girls Frosh team brought home a total of 18 individual medals.
The Girls J.V. “A” team finished in 3rd place of 73 teams entered in the race. They were led across the line by Kate Martel in 8th place as the team finished behind Section 2 powers Saratoga and Shenendehowa. At least 11 Shaker girls won individual medals in the J.V. races.
The Varsity Girls finished 6th of 41 teams in the last Shaker race of the day. The team was led by Melissa Sheridan (11th) and seventh grader Morgan Wojtusik (12th place). The girls Varsity earned six individual medals in the race.