The Inside Track
Sunday November 29, 2009

Sunday November 29, 2009: The Shaker Boys Cross Country Team finished 7th at the NXN New York State Qualifier on Saturday, November 28th to complete one of the most successful seasons in school history. Lead by juniors Casey Gilboy (33rd) and Dave Marthy (40th), the Shaker Boys showed the strength and depth and that has already raised expectations for the 2010 Cross Country season as Shaker's 3rd runner (Mike Libruk 44th) and 4th runner (Jon Vallecorsa 48th) are sophomores that will return next season. Shaker had their entire team (seven runners) finish before any other team in the race had all it's runners across the line. Seniors Eric Young and Ryan Egan completed their last cross country race and successful high school running careers. Ryan Egan finished a strong overall senior season and Eric Young improved his time from Federations at Bowdoin Park by almost 50 seconds from a week earlier.

For the first time in the history of the Nike Championships, members of the Shaker Girls team ran in the Nike New York Regional races. Blair Burke ran in the Championship race as an individual and Kayleigh Lavender (41st) and Laura Libruk (55th) ran in the Open race.

Other thoughts about NXN NYS Qualifier:

The Shaker team’s “compression” from the 1-7 runners was only 22 seconds. Most teams were closer to two minutes between the first and seventh finisher.

The first four finishers for Shaker will all be back next year. No other team above Shaker in the team results will have more than two of their top four returning next year.

Shaker’s seventh finisher was ahead of every other team’s sixth runner, except for one team (#1 FM).

Teams to Watch – The Warwick team (#10 overall) will return all of the five scorers next year and is expected to be listed along with Shaker as one of the top NY State teams in 2010. The Rush Henrietta team which finished #6 overall had four sophomores among the seven team members and is expected to compete with Shaker for the next two years at the State level.

Section 2 will be well represented at the NXN Nationals next week with Burnt Hills earning an automatic spot with their impressive #2 team finish as they were led by Otis Ubriaco in first place. The Saratoga girls also earned an automatic spot with their #2 finish. The Shen girls, led by Lizzie Predmore and the Queensbury girls team, led by the Winslow twins, both received an at-large bid. Best wishes to all the Section 2 athletes who will be running next week in Oregon.

Congratulations to Shaker freshman Adam Schwenzfeier, who placed 16th at the Footlocker Boys Freshman Northeast Regional on Saturday. Adam will be competing along with Shaker freshman teammate Max Morgan, at the USATF Junior Olympic Nationals in Reno, Nevada on December 12th.

Indoor Track Updates: The Indoor Track Season is finally in full swing. The Shaker Boys and Girls Indoor Track teams have their first official meet this Saturday, December 5th at Hudson Valley beginning at 8:30AM. Click here to visit the 2009-2010 Indoor Track Page for girls and boys indoor track meet schedules, boys practice schedules, forms, results, photos, and other announcements.

Boys Indoor Track Team Pictures will be after school this Thursday, December 3rd. Uniforms will be distributed this week to those who do not have them.

Many Shaker runners were spotted at the Troy Turkey Trot this past Thursday. While many Shaker runners ran the 5K, it was nice to see many Shaker athletes as volunteers at the water stops on the course on an early Thanksgiving morning. Top Shaker Boy finishers at the Turkey Trot 5K included Alex Layden, Dylan Hedderman, Christian Delago, Ryan Recchia, Brian Hickey, Jackson Ciavardoni, Connor Dodd, Mike Libruk, Eric Young, Chris Herman, and Kyle Foster. On the girls side, Shaker was led by alum Christine Hall who was followed by Christine Coughlin, and Erin Arnold. It was also nice to see many Shaker alumni including Jeff Corelli (5th overall), Chris Manico (6th), Steve Marthy (10th), Brian Benson (17th), Will Schanz (19th), and Craig Weiss dressed as a snowman (35th)and John Maloy 36th put in impressive finishes. Josh Catrine of SJHS took 2nd place in the Grade School Mile and Boy's Indoor Coach Dave Stadtlander was 75th out of more than 700 runners in the 10K. Top 5K finishers among the parents of current Boys team members were Tim Egan, Lou Recchia and Dave Haller. Photo Gallery / Results

In the windy Caryl Faye 5K on Saturday, top Shaker finishes included Dylan Hedderman, Ryan Recchia, Jackson Ciavardoni, Brian Hickey, Andrew Olsen, Connor Dodd, and Chris Herman, along with an impressive 6th place overall finish by Coach Stadtlander. Shaker Alumni RJ Sniffen represented the Bison winning the race by over 2 minutes. Other Shaker alumni in the race included Kevin Conti and John Canfield. Nicole Wiegman and sister Andrea Wiegman finished in a dead heat to take 2nd and 3rd overall for the women. This fundraiser with a nice post-race brunch was a great way to support the Caryl Faye Foundation. It was great to see so many Shaker runners at the event. Photo Gallery / Results

Week #3 Boys Indoor Track Practice Schedule:
Monday November 30th: Practice 2:30-5:00
Tuesday December 1st: Practice 2:30-4:00 (Parents Sports Information Night 7:00 at SHS Auditorium)
Wednesday December 2nd: Practice 2:30-5:00
Thursday December 3rd: Practice 2:30-5:00 (Team Pictures)
Friday December 4th: Practice 2:30-4:00
Saturday December 5th: League Meet #1 @ HVCC 8:30AM

Click here to view Boys Indoor Practice Schedules through January.

The Shaker Boys Team will be attending the Marine Corps Holiday Classic on December 28th @ 168th St. Armory. Permission Slip

The Winter Sports Information Night for parents is Tuesday, December 1st at 7:00PM at Shaker High School. The Boys Indoor Track and Field Team parents meeting will be held in the Taft Dining Room and the Girls Track and Field meeting will be in the front of the Auditorium. This program is mandatory for parents, and athletes will not be eligible to compete until a parent meets with the coach.

The Shaker Boys and Girls Cross Country Banquet will be held on Sunday December 6th at Shaker High School in the Taft Dining Room starting at 5:00 with the dinner buffet beginning at 5:30. There is no charge for the Shaker Cross Country athletes, and all others in attendance cost $10. Please return the Banquet Form to Mrs. Gansle or Mr. Springstead. Checks are to be made payable to: Shaker Booster Club. Banquet Form

Many new photo galleries have been posted! Galleries from the Troy Turkey Trot, Caryl Faye 5K, and NXN New York State Qualifier are now available. Complete photo galleries from every cross country meet this past season are available on the Cross Country Photos Page. As always, photos from the meets are welcome for submission to bhickey@shakerrunning.com Thank you to Mr. Fallon, Mrs. Egan, and Mrs. Sorady for contributing photos from this past week's races.

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