League Meet #5 10/16/07 by Matt Blizinski
The Varsity boys approached their last league meet of the season on October 16th against Niskayuna High School and Mohonasen High School with great anticipation. A win over these two schools would complete an undefeated season in the Suburban Council, which is one of the strongest leagues in New York State for teams competing in Cross Country. Shaker had not won the Suburban Council title in many years, frequently finishing behind Shenendehowa, currently the top ranked team in NYS. This year, after defeating Shen on September 25th, in the biggest league meet of the year, the Shaker Boys knew the regular season title was within reach. Emotions were high on the Shaker team before the race. For many runners on the varsity, this was their first time running on Niskayuna’s home course. The last time Shaker had run there was 2003. R.J. Sniffen and Craig Weiss, Shaker top 2 runners, knew that they needed to run well and had to worry about Niskayuna’s Louis Serafini. They may not have expected to set a new course record, as R.J. and Craig crossed the finish alongside each other. R.J. beat out Craig by .01 of a second. R.J. Sniffen, in his last XC league meet in a Shaker uniform, set a new course record by almost 15 seconds and led the Shaker boys to their final league meet win over both Niskayuna and Mohonasen. The Shaker boys finished 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 7th. Following R.J. and Craig for Shaker were Chris Manico (4th), Devon Sedgwick (6th), and Jeff Corelli (7th). The Shaker boys defeated Niskayuna by a score of 20 points to 35 points and swept the top five spots against Mohonasen. Congratulations to the Varsity team on their undefeated league season!!!
The steadily improving J.V. Boys ran well in winning against both schools in their final league meet in preparation for the Albany County Championships and Suburban Council Championships later this month.
The Frosh Boys team, running without top runner Mike Libruk (who ran in the Varsity/JV race), completed the season with two more wins. They finished the league with a 10-1 record and are now looking ahead to the final two Championship races at the completion of their season.
The Varsity Girls won their race against Mohonasen but finished behind Niskayuna. The Girls completed the league season with a 5-6 record. The Frosh Girls swept every spot in the race as neither Nisky or Mohon were able to field a team for the girls Frosh race. Despite some disappointments, the future looks bright for the Girls team as several young runners are expected to help strengthen the team in the years ahead.
