Chautauqua - Cattaraugus County Cross Country


Dual Meet Season Concludes--what just happened  (10/23/11)
     The five-meet portion of the 2011 CCAA season concluded with a bang last Tuesday.  The season produced an assortment of results predictable since the end of last year along with some big surprises. 
the predictable:  
  • the Maple Grove girls and the Fredonia boys swept to perfect 14-0 dual meet records; 
  • the Fredonia, Falconer, Jamestown, and Gowanda girls fell right in behind MG, in roughly the order most expected; 
  • the Maple Grove boys lost only to Fredonia;
  • Corey Wefing and Josh Szukala led the boys all season;
  • 80% of the top 20 girls and 60% of the top 20 boys were just who we expected.
the surprises:
  • the Southwestern and Gowanda boys crashed the top-five regular season party at #2 and #3, Southwestern getting big improvement from sophomore Jordan Powers and a brand new top 20 runner in 8th grade phenom Ryan Hetrick, while Gowanda reloaded after heavy losses to graduation by adding senior Jonas Aldana and, well, getting everybody else faster;
  • the Sherman/Clymer girls came up with 7th and 8th grade support for star sophomore Holly Eliason, making them legitimate contenders for at least the next couple of years;
  • the youngest girls staged a revolt, overthrowing the sophomores and a senior, as Lauren Reyda (9th, Fredonia), Hope Pietrocarlo (8th, Maple Grove), and Megan Marsh (8th, Maple Grove took the top rankings from preseason favorites Holly Eliason (10th, Sherman/Clymer), Caroline Benson (10th,  Maple Grove), Shannon Murphy (12th , Falconer), and Kirsten Holmberg (10th, Falconer);
  • Southwestern junior Emily Kent, Fredonia freshwoman Meredith Zebracki,  Sherman/Clymer 8th grader Rebecca King, and Maple Grove junior Stephanie Krempa--all but Krempa in their first year of varsity cross country--put together break-out seasons to crack into the girls’ top 20;
  • newcomers Shawn Thompson (12th, Maple Grove, Christian Edborg (9th, Jamestown) along with Ryan Hetrick, started their careers out in the top 20, joining much improved returners Jacob Brown (11th, Fredonia), Colin Green (11th, Maple Grove), and Mike Capestrani (11th, Jamestown), ranked in the top 20 this year for the first time.
  • perhaps the biggest surprise of all is just how good the Maple Grove girls turn out to be, from their breakout finish at the Red Dragon Invitational (four under 20 minutes!) to an easy win in the seeded race at McQuaid, to their #1 State ranking in Class D, this team has everybody--not just the true believers from Maple Grove--doing the unthinkable: mentioning them in the same sentence as powerhouse East Aurora.

County Meet coming up Friday at Long Point State Park-- what it means

     This meet means different things to different people.

     Each boys and girls team has a total of 14 wins and losses after running each of the other 14 teams over the past five Tuesdays.  Now all fifteen meet at Long Point to distribute fourteen more wins and losses to each.  For instance, the Maple Grove girls and Fredonia boys, both 14-0 after five dual meets, will be looking to make their final record 28-0 with first place finishes at Counties.  Teams lower in the standings will be looking to finish this one race ahead of teams to which they may have lost in a dual meet.  Although ties in the final win totals go to the winner of the dual meet between the tied teams, a good team score at Counties makes for a little bragging capital, at least, and in some cases a season redeemed.

     For the top teams, those at or near the top of CCAA, Section 6, and State rankings, this a good “tune-up” for the bigger battles at Sectionals and States, coming up in the next two weeks.  Holding onto or improving a little on the standings they’ve earned through the five league dual meets is secondary to having a solid, confidence-building performance before the bigger hurdles ahead. 

    Individual runners also have something to look forward to at Counties.  First of all, this race is fun.  It’s fairly flat and fast and it’s scenic, following trails through the big woods along the Lake, out of sight of spectators for long stretches.  Throw in some nerves, some friendly rivalries, lots of color, and sudden bursts of bigger, louder crowds than runners normally see, and this race is one of the highlights of everybody’s season. 
 
     This is also an important opportunity to measure personal improvement.  Most runners have run this course earlier in year, as the Red Dragon Invitational, and some seniors have run it seven or more times over their careers.  This is their chance to cash in a year or a season or a career of hard work for an objective personal-best time.
  
     In addition, having earned individual rankings based on their performances in the five league dual meets, runners will now either back those rankings up, lose some ground or, as everybody hopes, show the world that they are really much better than the soulless computer has been claiming all season!  Once finalized, these rankings will determine both the CCAA Runners of the Year and the County All-Star teams--the top seven finishers, boys and girls, in both the large and small schools divisions. 
 
     Finally, although the top seven runners from each school will be moving on to race at Sectionals next week, for dozens of runners on the larger teams, Counties is the last and biggest race of the season or, in the case of some seniors, their last race ever.   


what to watch for
     In the boys race, scheduled for 3:30 Friday, watch to see how close the Maple Grove boys, ranked #4 in New York State in Class D, can come to upsetting Fredonia, the defending County champions and ranked #9 in the State in Class C.  Fredonia won the dual meet, in week 1, but by a narrow margin and current individual rankings put the two teams within 10 points of each other.  Both will be juggling their goals in this race with much bigger goals in next week’s Sectional championships: Maple Grove trying to get past State #1 Barker, and Fredonia to earn a trip to States ahead of #10 Alden.  Look for surprisingly strong Southwestern and Jamestown squads to battle it out for third and fourth, with Gowanda, Falconer, Frewsburg, Olean, and Sherman--all within a few runners of each other--clawing for the best of the places left over.
   
     The individual boys title fight should be, appropriately, between one runner from each of the two top teams:  Maple Grove sophomore Corey Wefing and Fredonia senior Josh Szukala.  Wefing won a memorable 3200 meter race at the County track & field championships last June, and the two met again in the first week of this fall season, when Szukala came away with a 10-second win.  Wefing is currently ranked number one in the CCAA with Szukala right behind in second.  If both are healthy Friday, only Olean senior John Panus of Olean (#3), Randolph junior Hunter Leinhart (#4), Szukala’s teammate, senior Alex Crise (#5), and Gowanda senior Taylor Nielson (#7) might make this anything more than a two-man race.  


     In the girls’ race, scheduled for 4:00 Friday  Maple Grove is as close to unbeatable as a team can be, but Fredonia, Falconer, Jamestown and fast-improving Sherman will be measuring themselves against the Red Dragons and, incidentally, trying to outdo one another. 
 
     For the individual girls, the result is far less predictable.  Fredonia 9th grader Lauren Reyda has been dominant over the last several weeks and, for those who value rankings, she is currently #1 in the CCAA as well as the top-ranked CCAA girl in the State (#47 overall and #8 in New York State Class C).  But the Maple Grove trio of 8th graders Hope Pietrocarlo and Megan Marsh and sophomore Caroline Benson are ranked 2-3-4 behind her in the league rankings (as well as #3, #1, and #10, respectively, in New York State Class D), and each of the Maple Grove trio has beaten the other two at least once this season.  At this point we have not even mentioned two-time defending champion Shannon Murphy, a Falconer senior, or her teammate sophomore Kirsten Holmberg--both ranked behind Pietrocarlo and ahead of Caroline Benson in the State rankings--or sophomore Holly Eliason of Sherman/Clymer, who finished third behind Murphy and Holmberg last year and was the preseason #1 in the CCAA this year.  Rankings are based on circumstances that may or may not obtain on this particular Friday, and any of these girls--or someone else--could pop through to a win if the top three or four slip up in an intense race.  In addition, juniors Olivia Zabrodsky of Jamestown and Alyssa Stroud of Allegany-Limestone, along with 8th grader Hannah Seiders of Silver Creek have been quietly putting together a very strong season and should appear in the final top ten on Friday.









The 2011 cross country season is barely underway, but a number of story lines are already developing.  Among them:  

√State consolidation from five classifications to four, eliminating one boys’ and one girls’ race from the Sectional and State championships, and making life much more competitive for schools and individuals competing in class B and C in Section 6;

√ the Maple Grove girls’ defense of their County, Section 6, and State class D championships; 

√ the battle between two very strong girls teams in Falconer and Fredonia fighting, first, to displace Maple Grove in the CCAA, and second, to land a Section 6 championship and a trip to the State meet in class C; 

√ the Fredonia boys’ defense of their County and Section 6 championships in the face of a strong threat from class D Maple Grove in the CCAA, and Alden in Section 6 Class C;

√the Maple Grove boys’ pursuit of Fredonia in the CCAA and two-time Section 6 champs Barker out of the Niagara-Orleans League;

√the individual competition between some very strong girl runners, including senior Shannon Murphy from Falconer, and sophomores Holly Eliason (Sherman/Clymer), Caroline Benson (Maple Grove), and Kirsten Holmberg (Falconer), and the “kiddie corps” of Megan Marsh and Hope Pietrocarlo, both eighth graders from Maple Grove, and freshman Lauren Reyda from Fredonia, plus who knows what new 7th graders might burst on the scene;

√the battle between Fredonia’s top two seniors, Josh Szukala and Alex Crise, and Maple Grove’s sophomore Corey Wefing and junior Nick Zuroski for top individual honors.



pre-season “paper” rankings            
Girls Teams                                                             Boys Teams                  

1. Maple Grove, class D                                     1. Fredonia, class C

2. Falconer, C                                                      2. Maple Grove, D

3. Fredonia, C                                                      3. Jamestown, A

4. Jamestown, C                                                 4. Olean, B

5. Gowanda, C                                                    5. Frewsburg, D                            

 

top returners from 2010                         
                      girls                                                                          boys
1. Holly Eliason, 10, Sherman/Clymer                                    1. Corey Wefing, 10, Maple Grove

2. Caroline Benson, 10, Maple Grove                                     2. Josh Szukala, 12, Fredonia

3. Shannon Murphy, 12, Falconer                                          3. Alex Crise, 12, Fredonia

4. Megan Marsh, 8, Maple Grove                                          4. Nick Zuroski, 11, Maple Grove

5. Kirsten Holmberg, 10, Falconer                                         5. Taylor Nielson, 12, Gowanda

6. Hope Pietrocarlo, 8, Maple Grove                                      6. John Panus, 11, Olean

7. Lauren Reyda, 9, Fredonia                                                7. Nick Holsinger, 12, Frewsburg

8. Katelyn Benson, 12, Maple Grove                                     8. Hunter Leinhart, 11, Randolph

9. Olivia Zabrodsky, 11, Jamestown                                     9. Chaz Mancino, 12, Fredonia

10. Katie Saff, 12, Falconer                                                10. Paul Armstrong, 11, Southwestern

11. Alyssa Stroud, 11, Allegany/Limestone                          11. Ryan Carpenter, 10, Sherman/Clymer

12. Kelsey Branch, 11, Olean                                             12. Mark Dudek, 12, Fredonia

13. Johanna Pettibon, 12, Jamestown                                 13. Peter Mueller, 12, Southwestern

14. Taylor Norris, 10, Maple Grove                                      14. Peter Cala, 11, Maple Grove                 

15. Abby Sirwatka, 10, Maple Grove                                   15. Bobby Devling, 11, Olean

16. Michaela Tramuta, 10, Fredonia                                    16. Brandon Norris, 11, Falconer

17. Chelsea Smith, 11, Frewsburg                                      17. Jordan Johnson, 11, Jamestown

18. Haley Kulakowski, 12, Jamestown                                18. Dylan Gaeta, 12, Jamestown

19. Hannah Seiders, 8, Silver Creek                                   19. Zachary Stahlsmith, 12, Frewsburg

20. Kelly Vincent, 11, Randolph                                          20. Matt Nelson, 11, Maple Grove

 

meets to watch
Tuesday, 9/20, Dunkirk, Ripley, and Olean at Jamestown--#3 vs. #4 boys teams

Gowanda, Silver Creek, and Falconer at Sherman--#1 Holly Eliason vs. Falconer’s “big three” and youngsters

 

Tuesday, 10/4, Randolph, Frewsburg, and Jamestown at Gowanda --#3 vs. #5 boys teams

Olean and Fredonia at Falconer--showdown between the top two Class C girls teams

 

Tuesday, 10/11, Franklinville, Sherman, Fredonia at Jamestown--#1 boys vs. #3 PLUS #3 girls vs. #4

Silver Creek, Olean, and Frewsburg at Maple Grove--#2, #4, and #5 boys teams in one meet


Tuesday, 10/18, Falconer, Jamestown, and Maple Grove at Southwestern -- three of the top four girls teams in one meet, PLUS #2 and #3 boys

 
Friday, 10/28, CCAA Championship Meet at Long Point State Park

 
Friday, 11/4, Section VI Championship Meet at Elma Meadows Golf Course