At the Schuylerville Invitational (Oct 19), Argyle ran very very well in winning with a point total of only 27 (13 teams)  ... Caitlin Lane finished second overall and beat Heather Iatauro (Tri-Valley, a previous Class D State champion) who had beaten Caitlin earlier in the year ... the Argyle speed ratings were exceptional again - Caitlin Lane (133), Hannah Davidson (130), Emily Fung (119), Ashley Fung (115) and Klara Varosy (113) ... Argyle's next race is the Section 2 sectionals at Saratoga State Park (Nov 1).

Beaver River easily won the Frontier League Championship meet (Oct 22) ... Beaver River took the first five places plus 7th and 9th ... and Beaver River ran their fastest team race of the season - individual speed ratings were Lauren Moser (132), Chelsea Nuffer (115), Kendra Chamberlain (112), Adrienne Gagnier (115), Julie Emery (114),  Alexis Nuffer (109) ... The gap between Argyle and Beaver River has gotten closer ... Beaver River also easily won their division of the Adirondack Invitational (Oct 26) taking six of the top ten places (the races was run under muddy, windy and cold conditions) ... Beaver River next races in the Section 3 sectionals at ESM (Nov 2) where they should win easily.

Bronxville finished second to Monroe-Woodbury (45 to 54) in the Varsity C Race at the Section 1 Coaches Invitational at Bowdoin Park (Oct 19) ... Bronxville easily won the Westchester County Championships (Oct 26 at Westchester Comm. College) with Caroline and Catha Mullen finishing first (20:10.6) and second (20:13.5) ... the Section 1 sectionals are at Bowdoin Park (Nov 1).

... here is the Class D comparison (current top five runners and modified seasonal ratings):

          
    Argyle                Bronxville              Beaver River
===================     ====================    =======================
Caitlin Lane    131     Caroline Mullen  128    Lauren Moser        132
Hanna Davidson  127     Catha Mullen     128    Chelsea Nuffer      113
Emily Fung      120     Beth Butler      101    Adrienne Gagnier    111
Ashley Fung     116     Dana Mitchell    107    Kendra Chamberlain  112
Klara Varosy    107     Hiller Burton     98    Julie Emery         109    

In a three-way meet, Argyle (33) would outscore Beaver River (39) and Bronxville (48).

Bronxville (65 pts) won the Varsity C Race at Manhattan and beat Colonie (83 pts) and Fairport (90 pts) ... individual ratings were up nicely - Caroline Mullen (128), Catha Mullen (127), Dana Mitchell (115 ... big improvement), Beth Butler (improved 106) and Kate Kearney (102) ... Beaver River did not race.

Beaver River raced very well at the Baldwinsville Invitational ... they finished a very close second to Liverpool (score of 60 to 62) in the Class A race and beat other good teams such as Westhill, Fairport and FM ... Lauren Moser won the race impressively and is currently the second fastest class D girl in the State (behind Heather Iatauro of Tri-Valley) ... for this race, individual speed ratings were Lauren Moser (135), Chelsea Nuffer (110), Kendra Chamberlain (108), Adrienne Gagnier (108), Michelle Golden (101) and Alexis Nuffer (99) ... Julie Emery suffered a cramp during the race ... a healthy Julie Emery makes this a very close match-up with Argyle because Julie can run with most of the Argyle runners ... This was my first time this season watching Beaver River run and I was impressed ... they are a serious contender to beat Argyle ... Beaver River has a coming weekend off (the Beaver River Invitational was cancelled due to construction at the high school).

Bronxville finished second in the A1 race at the St. Anthony Invitational at Sunken Meadows (site of this year's State Championships) ... they were beaten by Warwick Valley (currently 2nd ranked class A team in the State) by a score of 44 to 87 ... individual ratings were down slightly - Caroline Mullen (123), Catha Mullen (117), Helen Millson (an improved 91), Beth Butler (76) and Kate Kearney (76) ... Dana Mitchell was not listed in the available results, and Hiller Burton has not competed yet (she was 12th in the steeplechase at States).  Bronxville is stronger than this race indicates ... they are preparing for a top effort at States (on Nov 2) ... this was their third consecutive weekend competing at Sunken Meadows ... According to Paul Suwan (sports writer for the Westchester Journal News), the early season has been hard on Catha and Caroline Mullen due to numerous college visits and missed schoolwork ... this past weekend was also Bronxville home-coming weekend with time-consuming activities.  Don't worry about Bronxville ... the Journal News has the following quote from Catha Mullen, "I'm very confident that we'll do well at states ... Argyle's ranked ahead of us ... but we have a really strong team and we're all really determined to do well here, so don't count us out. We're still training hard. We haven't by any means started to taper yet, doing three hard practices a week plus a race." ... here is the Class D comparison (current top five runners and seasonal ratings):

          
    Argyle                Bronxville              Beaver River
===================     ====================    =======================
Caitlin Lane    129     Caroline Mullen  128    Lauren Moser        134
Hanna Davidson  124     Catha Mullen     124    Chelsea Nuffer      109
Emily Fung      117     Beth Butler       89    Adrienne Gagnier    107
Ashley Fung     112     Dana Mitchell     90    Kendra Chamberlain  106
Klara Varosy    101     Helen Millson     86    Julie Emery         101
    

In a three-way meet, Argyle would outscore Bronxville and Beaver River by 32-39-49 .

          
    Argyle                Bronxville              Beaver River
===================     ====================    =======================
Caitlin Lane    129     Caroline Mullen  131    Lauren Moser        128
Hanna Davidson  119     Catha Mullen     126    Chelsea Nuffer      107
Emily Fung      109     Beth Butler      93     Adrienne Gagnier    107
Ashley Fung     108     Dana Mitchell    90     Kendra Chamberlain  95
Klara Varosy    101     Alanna Rogers    70     Amanda Zehr         88
    

This is an interesting match-up ... a group of five 7th graders challenging two top level State teams ... both Bronxville and Beaver River will most likely get better as the season progresses ... but will it be enough to catch the youngsters??  Look for this race to tightened-up and get very close.

Heather Iatauro      Tri-Valley   133
Caitlin Lane         Argyle       121
Hanna Davidson       Argyle       107
Kristin Clark        Washingtonv  104
Ashley Fung          Argyle       101
Emily Fung           Argyle        98
Kelly Bauer          Washingtonv   97
Brittania O'Keefe    Argyle        32

None of the Argyle runners ran at last year's Section 2 sectional meet (and I did not see any runners in very limited modified results from last year) ... the speed ratings for the top four Argyle runners are very good and make them a potential contender at the State level ... therefore, I will be following Argyle ...

I did find out that Argyle's top two runners (Caitlin Lane and Hanna Davidson) are 12 years old and have run some good 5K road races this year and last year ... apparently, all five Argyle runners are 7th-graders ... Last year and this summer they ran for the Argyle-Lite Track Club (a registered member of the Adirondack Association of the USATF) ... At the national finals of Junior Olympics (in Omaha, NE in July 2002), Caitlin Lane won the Silver Medal (Midget age class) in the 1500 meters (5:00.21); she ran a PR of 4:59.89 in a regional qualifying meet ... Hanna Davidson ran a 5:14.74 1500 meters in a regional meet (Ashley Fung ran 5:26.48) and Emily Fung ran 11:37.48 for 3000 meters ... This is an exceptional group of incoming 7th graders for a Class D school.  .... This looks like a perfect example where new (young) female runners have a big impact on team scoring and potential ranking (you don't know until they actually run races in the current season).

 State Meet - Girls Class D Team Results for 2001

                   
   Team               Score                 Team                    Score
   =================  =====                 =================       =====
   1 - Bronxville       52  (Sec 1)          6 - Notre Dame-Batavia  163  (Sec 5)
   2 - Beaver River     61  (Sec 3)          7 - Galway              165  (Sec 2)
   3 - Groton           65  (Sec 4)          8 - Seton Catholic      193  (Sec 7)
   4 - Rhinebeck        85  (Sec 9)          9 - Norwood-Norfolk     217  (Sec 10)
   5 - Randolph        153  (Sec 6)         10-  Shelter Island      254  (Sec 11)
   
     Note ... Rhinebeck is Class C for 2002

Pre-Season 2002 Comments for Girls Class D

Losing runners of this caliber would seriously hurt most teams, but Bronxville is no ordinary team ... not only was Bronxville State Class D champions in 2001, they finished second to Saratoga at Federations ... and they return some outstanding runners.  Catha Mullen is one of the very best runners in New York State and her sister Caroline Mullen is not far behind ... the senior twins are on my Top Individual list for NY State.

In track, Catha Mullen finished a very close 2nd to Molly Huddle in the 1500m race at outdoor States (4:27.94) ... she ran many fast 800m times (2:10.60 the fastest) and ran 9:59 for 3000m.  Caroline Mullen also ran many outstanding times (800m - 2:14, 1500m - 4:42, 3000m - 10:16) ... Other returning XC runners include Helen Millson (800m - 2:20, 1500m - 5:15, 3000m -10:51), Beth Butler (400m hurdles - 68.9, 1500m - 5:22), and Margaret Gustafson.

Bronxville is apparently adding some new XC runners with very good ability ... junior Hiller Burton finished 12th at the State track meet in the 2000m steeplechase (7:22.90); she has also run other good track times (800m - 2:20, 1500m - 5:09).  Other new talented runners are supposed to be competing for Bronxville this fall ... Dana Mitchell (Somer's top runner from last year as an 8th grader) is running for Bronxville this season ... Dana qualified for 2001 XC States in Class B and ran some good track times (800m - 2:23.48), and her father is the Bronxville coach.

Coach Jim  Mitchell has done a sensational job at Bronxville ... Bronxville has elite runners and a strong supporting team ... They are defending champions and the favorite to repeat ... But, they only beat Beaver River by 9 points last year and Beaver River is probably better this year ... repeating as Class D champions could be very difficult.

Beaver River may get a real boost from last year's junior high team ... Chelsea Nuffer won large junior high invitational races at Baldwinsville and Tully (running significantly faster than the Class A/B races) and was the Frontier League champion ... Alexis Nuffer finished 2nd at the Tully JH invitational and 3rd at Baldwinsville ... as an 8th-grader, Chelsea Nuffer ran some good varsity track races in the spring - she ran a good 1500m (5:12.67) and substituted for the injured Julie Emery on the 4x800 relay (2:30-2:32) ... These new varsity X-C runners could have a very positive impact on team scoring, especially in the bigger races.

Coach Nicole Kuhl does a very good job with both the girl's varsity XC and track teams  ... this year Beaver River could be a stronger XC team ... and last year they lost to Bronxville by only 9 points ... Beaver River has a real chance to be State champions.

Becky MacKenzie may be one of the top individual runners in Section 4 (all classes) ... last year, Becky was injured the last half of XC season which significantly compromised Groton's ability to win the State title ... in outdoor track, Becky finished 2nd to Molly Huddle at the IAC Championship 3000m (10:51.9) ... But Becky has transferred to a private school in NJ, so she is no longer run Groton ... Katie O'Konsky finished 13th at XC States (Class D) and 11th at Footlocker NE (Junior race) .. Katie also ran well in track (800m - 2:27) ... Alida vanAlmelo was much improved in XC (compared to her previous year), which proves hard work does pay off ...

Coach Scott Weeks is an excellent runner and coach ... some new runners are needed to replace the graduates because Groton faces a serious challenge from a very good Marathon team in Section 4 (Class D) ... I do not know the prospects at this time.