The Inside Track
Sunday October 2, 2011
Sunday October 2, 2011: The Shaker Blue Bison charged through another exciting week over the past seven days. At the third league meet of the season, which was moved to the Colonie Town Park due to flooding at the Crossings, some outstanding individual performances highlighted the day. Things got off to an exciting start in the Freshman Boys race as Shaker's Kaushik Pilar and Colonie's Jake Johnson battled it out over the 1.5 Mile course with the race coming down to the final kick on the straightaway. Johnson just edged out Pilar as they both ran an impressive 7:52 for 4th and 5th All-Time on the Colonie Town Park Freshman Course. Fans are hoping to see the two go head to head at least once more on the same course at Albany County Championships where a course record of 7:44 is within reach. The success continued as the Shaker Boys JV and Varsity Teams defeated Burnt Hills and Colonie, moving the Boys Varsity team to 6-0 this season. On the girls side, Shaker 8th grader Maryanna Lansing won the Varsity race over the entire nationally ranked Burnt Hills Team in a blazing 18:31 for the fastet CTP All-Time Shaker Girls performance on the course by 7 seconds.
This week, the Shaker Boys and Girls Teams will again race at the Colonie Town Park on Tuesday with a start time of 4:00pm. They will match up against Shenedehowa, Guilderland, and Averill Park as the Varsity Boys hope to move their league record to 9-0.
Boys Practice Update: Freshman Practice Only on Monday 10/3. No Practice for JV/Varsity.
The weekend meets didn't disappoint either as the Shaker Teams performed well across the board. The morning got off on a good note as the Freshman Boys captured the Team title at the Grout Invitational in Schenectady as Paul Nichols (5th) and Jeremeeh Dimalig (10th)both finished in the top 10 to lead the team. In addition, Nick Raghubar placed 2nd in the Individual Frosh race. The Freshman girls team took 2nd as a team as the 1-2 Shannon punch of Shannon Lavender and Shannon Fitzpatrick bested the rest of the field. Both the Boys and Girls JV Teams ran their way to a 1st place team finish as the Shaker Boys took 7 of the top 11 spots to run away from the competition 22 points to 2nd place's 99. For the boys, John O'Connor earned a commanding victory and Nick Morihisa, Brandon Phillips, Max Lipeles, and Greg Hickey all performed well enough to be added to Shaker All-Time List at Grout Invy. The JV Girls were led with five of the top ten including Anne Rehfuss (2nd), Mandy Sacca (3rd), Fayth Risler (5th), Emily Franko (6th), and Christine Brown (9th). The Shaker Girls ended the Grout Invy in a close battle for the Division I title. Maryanna Lansing added to her outstanding week by earning her first Invitational victory while another Jr. High runner, Payton Czupil took 5th to help the team. Despite the Shaker girl's taking 5 of the top 15 spots, Connetquot's 2-3-4 finish was just enough to outplace Shaker by only 1 point, 43-44 for the title.
Some 250 miles away in Rochester, NY the pressure was on the Shaker Boys Varsity team considering the sacrifices they made to attend the McQuaid Invitational and the success of their teammates earlier Saturday morning. Leaving mid-day Friday, the Varsity Boys, comprised of mostly Seniors, gave up the Pep Rally and Homecoming Football Game with the hopes of rising to the ocassion at the McQuaid Invite. Two Shaker runners even got up early Saturday morning to take the SAT's before the late afternoon race. Despite the cold temperatures, rain, winds, and course that got progressively worse as the day went on, the Shaker Boys prevailed over Rush-Henrietta, a team ranked among the top in NYS and the nation, for the team title in the Championship Boys AAA Race for the fastest team time of the day. In a close race, Shaker Senior Mike Libruk ran to the win in the last quarter mile of the race and Jon Vallecorsa also moved into 5th overall to edge out RH in team scoring 79-82. Adam Schwenzfeier, Ryan Recchia, and first year XC runner Juan Alvarez completed the top 5 for Shaker. In addition, Coach Springstead eased Ethan Hausaman and Christian Delago back to racing this past week in order to start to transition them back as valuable scoring members for later in the season. While they didn't make it home in time for the Homecoming dance on Saturday night, the Shaker Boys brought home a towering trophy and increased promise and potential for the weeks to come.
Next weekend marks one of the most anticipated weekends of the year for the Shaker runners. The Boys and Girls teams will continue the tradition of bringing all of their runners to the prestigious Manhattan Invitational, known as the "Biggest and Best" meet in the country, hosted in NYC. Due to Yom Kippur, the race is scheduled for Sunday, October 9th this year. The Shaker Teams are scheduled to depart from Shaker HS at 9:00AM on Saturday and will travel down to Van Cortlandt Park to run the course before spending the night in a nearby hotel before Sunday's races. Individual team coaches will provide more specific information and trip details this week. The Shaker Boys Team, which captured the Eastern States Championship Race last year, will be in the race again this year, competing against many of the top teams from across the nation. Follow Shakerrunning on Facebook or Twitter for coverage of the event!
Manhattan Invy-Van Cortlandt Park Course Map/Updates:
View Van Cortland Park in a larger map
Check out the Shaker race entries for Manhattan below!
Manhattan XC Invitational Boys Eastern States Championship Entered Teams:
The Eastern States race promises to be a great opportunity for fans to see what many consider to be the best team in the nation (CBA-NJ) and the best individual runner in the nation (Edward Cheserek) and last year's #2 team finisher at Nike Cross Nationals and NYS rival (Fayetteville-Manlius). While early season injuries have lowered the short term expectations for Shaker, it will be a good chance to measure the Shaker team against some of the toughest competition it will see in October and November.
Mark Your Calendars! The Shaker Boys Cross Country Team will be holding a UNO's Night Fundraiser on Wednesday, October 12th! Stop by and Dine-In or Takeout and up to 20% of your bill will go directly to the Boys XC Team with Shaker XC UNOS Coupon! This is also the night of the Elementary School Cross Country race which the Shaker HS XC athletes also run to help out and encourage the Shaker runners of the future. On your way home from the Colonie Town Park, grab some food from UNO's to support the team.
Profile and Interview-Michael Libruk (September 2011): When the name Mike Libruk is mentioned, one can't help but smile. Whether because of his consistency and success as a runner or because of his fun-loving personality, Mike always leaves an impression on those with whom he interacts. His talent, experience, determination and work ethic is a combination rarely matched. Shakerrunnng.com recently interviewed Mike Libruk to learn more about him as he begins another successful year...Full Profile and Interview
Tullyrunners NYS Individual Rankings: In the latest individual NYS Rankings, Mike Libruk and Jon Vallecorsa were both ranked among the top four runners in NYS and within the top three in Class A. In addition, Ethan Hausamann and Ryan Recchia were rated within the top 50 in Class A. Maryanna Lansing was ranked among the top 40 runners in NYS and the top 25 runners in Class A.
National Rankings: The Shaker Boys were ranked in the top 14 in the United States by both XC Nation and ESPN Rise Rankings this week.
Photos Wanted! Parents and Fans Who Take Photos at the Cross Country meets this season are encouraged to send them in to this website to be posted in our meet Photo Galleries. Please email your best photos or any interest to bhickey@shakerrunning. Thanks to Mrs. Hickey and Mrs. Lavender for submitting pictures for our galleries this week.
Order your own Shakerrunning.com shirt today! Full sizing in stock, while supply lasts. Please return form to Brian Hickey. Click Here For Order Form!
National Running News: Each week we'll being posting a HS and Professional Running Rundown Show through Runnerspace to keep you up to date on the latest XC News from across and country in a fun and entertaining fashion. To read about Shaker and other national headlines check out the 2011 Cross Country Page.
