The Inside Track
Sunday January 2, 2011

Sunday January 2, 2011: While Shaker students were on school break, there was no break in the action for the school's athletes. Early morning practices and meets paid off for the Boys and Girls Indoor Track teams over the holiday season.

Marine Corps Holiday Classic 2010

As their friends were sleeping in, many members of the Shaker Boys team awoke at 4:00am in order to travel down to New York City for the Marine Corps Holiday Classic on Wednesday, December 29th, which featured a variety of relay events. Originally scheduled for Monday, the meet was postponed two days due to the snowstorm, but that didn't stop the Shaker boys. The team was determined not to leave empty handed and brought home the team title at the meet, as well as relay team awards in several events. The Sophomore 4x800m Relay Team of Max Morgan, Rob Smith, John O'Connor, and Adam Schwenzfeier captured an exciting 1st place finish in their event, and Shaker Junior Franklin Abban had the best individual Triple Jump performance of the meet in an oustanding 44' 3.25." Other top six, scoring relay performances included the Freshman 4x200m Relay (4th), Freshman 4x800m Relay (3rd), Freshman 4x400m Relay (5th), Sophomore 4x400m Relay (2nd), Long Jump Relay (Abban & Gallagher) 2nd, Pole Vault Relay (Derocher & Brant) 6th, and High Jump Relay (Haller & Gallagher) 6th. The featured event of the day was the Invitational Boys Distance Medley Relay, and it included the Shaker team of Mike Libruk, Dan Phillips, Reuben Feinman, and Christian Delago. Despite being at the back of the pack when he received the handoff, Reuben Feinman blazed through his 800m leg chasing down several other teams along the way. When Shaker anchor, Christian Delago took the baton, he didn't waste any time closing the gap on the leaders and actually moved into first place at one time in the race. The Shaker school record for an individual Indoor 1600m is 4:17.2 and was set 30 years ago. While it won't count as a record because it was in a relay, Christian Delago ran more than a second faster in his 1600m leg to help the Shaker team finish a close second in the DMR. (Race Video Highlights Below)

The day after the Marine Corps Holiday Classic, the Boys and Girls teams competed in their third league meet of the season. The Shaker Girls continued their undefeated league season with a two point win over Colonie, 136 to 134. The Shaker Boys despite missing all of their key runners who had competed in the Marine Corps Holiday Classic the day before, managed to capture 2nd place. Top three finishes for the girls team in individual events included Emily Vandenburgh (1st-Long Jump and 2nd-300m), Kristi Hayes (3rd-300m), Melissa Sheridan (2nd-600m), Christine Coughlin (1st-1000m), Blair Burke (3rd-3000m), Rachel Benoit (3rd-55m Hurdles), Hannah Madison (2nd-High Jump and Long Jump),  Chelia Diao (1st-Shot Jump), Meaghan Rice (2nd-Shot Put), 4x400m Relay-Emily Vandenburgh, Melissa Sheridan, Kristi Hayes, Emily Vandenburgh (1st), 4x800m Relay-Christine Coughlin, Melissa Sheridan, Kayleigh Lavender, Emily Franko (1st), and 4x200m Relay (2nd).

Hannah Madison

Top finishes for the Boys included Dan Phillips (2nd-300m), Jesus Vazquez (2nd-3200m), 4x200m Relay (2nd), 4x400m Relay (3rd), Tim Derocher (1st-Pole Vault), Casey Ogden (2nd-Pole Vault), Franklin Abban (1st-Long Jump and 1st-Triple Jump), Jim David (3rd-Triple Jump), Carlos Mendez (1st-Shot Put), and Andrew Brochu (2nd-Shot Put).

This week the Boys and Girls teams will compete in their 4th League Meet of the season at Hudson Valley CC after school on Tuesday, January 4th, beginning at 4:15pm. Teams scheduled for League Meet #4 include Averill Park, Bethlehem, Columbia, Mohonasen, Shenendehowa, and Shaker.
Select Boys Varsity athletes will travel to the Southern Tier Invy at Cornell on Saturday, January 8th. Select Girls Athletes will be competing at the Dartmouth Relays on Friday, January 7th and Saturday, January 8th.

Looking to Order a Winter Sports Team Photo? Click here for form
Team Photo Orders due by Friday, January 7th

Be sure to check out all the photo galleries from the Indoor Track Season on the Indoor Track Photos Page. Thanks to Mrs. Lavender, Mr. Fallon, and Mr. Murawski for submitting photos this week.

Fall Cross Country Scholar Athlete Team Awards: The Shaker Boys and Girls Cross Country teams continued their reputation of not only excelling on the course, but also in the classroom this fall. Congratulations to the Shaker Boys Cross Country Team who had a top seven scholar athlete average of over 97% to earn them a top 15 finish in the state in the scholar athlete rankings. Their average gave them the highest ranking for a Boys Fall Sport at Shaker. The boys team members with the top academic averages were Greg Hickey, Josh Farrell, Brian Hickey, Alex Layden, and Jon Vallecorsa. Congratulations to the Shaker Girls team who did even better with a 98.043 average, placing them #5 in NYS, and having the highest fall average of any Shaker sports team. The top Girls averages were earned by Gili Rusak, Taylor Methe, Shannon Lavender, Eileen Jin, and Shannon Fitzpatrick. If you compare all the fall sports across the state, Cross Country has consistently been the highest in terms of academic averages!

Shakerrunning.com TShirts

Looking to show your support for Shakerrunning.com? Shakerrunning.com T-Shirts are now available for purchase! The cost is only $10! All proceeds will go toward website related expenses. Thanks for your support! See Brian Hickey to purchase a shirt. Sizes from S to XL. Quantities are limitied so buy one today!