After watching 3 other boys’ championship races, it was apparent that maintaining 5:30 per mile pace would result in a top 10 placement. Thus, the strategy for the Bears was simple, go out under control keeping the first mile time to approximately 5:30 and maintain that pace throughout the race. Unfortunately, it would not be our day and the pace would slow from the controlled first mile pace.

None of the boys were happy with their performance and to a man indicated that they could have done a lot better. Ryan Wells was the only medallist for the Bears finishing 18^th overall with a time of 17:38. The top 20 finishers in each race received medals for their efforts. In my opinion, Ryan is one of the top ten runners in NYS class B and simply had an off day. Good luck next year. Remember to save your best for the last three races of the year.

Mike (58^th) and Roger (61^st) finished next for the Bears in times of 18:22 and 18:23 respectively. Roger finished the race on a sore toe after tripping on Mike’s heel early in the race. Hopefully, it’s not broken as the trainer for the event had indicated after the race. Mike did a good job this year as a leader for the team and his keep a positive attitude when he wasn’t at his personal best. I am sure that after some rest he will rebound with some strong performances.

Joe Williams (78^th, 18:50) ran a nice race and has shown considerable improvement over the season. I look for Joe to be a big factor next season. Joe, I suggest that you work on your strength and speed over the upcoming track seasons. Joe Pitoniak (84^th, 18:50) rounded out the top five for the Bears team scoring. Joe has stepped in nicely to fill the 5^th slot for the team and without Joe we may not have made the states.

Todd Sorensen (92^nd, 19:18) and Chris Cimino (106^th, 19:50) completed the top seven for the team. Todd’s leadership has also had a significant impact on getting the team to the states. Todd and Mike had to keep Mr. Muller loose from time to time. Chris had an off day and is still recovering from the effects of bronchitis. Don’t lose the faith Chris, you’ll be back strong next year and in the upcoming track seasons. Cross country is a long season and requires months of strength and conditioning work so don’t expect too much your first year. You will see the benefits of the cross country training when you run the 800m or the 1600m this season.

Mike Albanese received the sportsmanship award for the section 3 boys. The award is given to one boy and girl from each section that has exemplified sportsmanship throughout the season. This is a great honor for Mike, the Chittenango cross country team and the Chittenango school. Nice job Mike.

Apparently the team drank some bad water a few days before the race. Each of the seven runners plus Joe Campaga, Josh Phalen and Casey Guereschi had their hair turn various shades of yellow/blond. Expect for Chris of course, who didn’t want to look different.

Special thanks to the girl’s cross country team for their support with a spaghetti dinner for the boys prior to their departure for Valhala. The boys were very grateful. Also, the boys were very appreciative of the parents and friends that were able to make the trip to cheer them on. To the other boys on the team that didn’t make the trip, it’s your turn next year to compete at the state level. Next year’s meet is at the Utica Tech sectional course so we will have the home field advantage.

The year is a year that you all will remember. Just think about all of your accomplishments:

1. Undefeated in dual meets
2. 1^st at the New Hartford Invitational
3. 2^nd at the Auburn Invitational
4. 1^st at the ESM Invitational
5. 5^th at the Manhattan Invitational
6. B1/B2 Champions
7. Section III Class B Champions
8. 6^th at the NYSPHAA Championship

And let’s not forget the coach. Mr. Muller has taken this team from a middle of the pack section 3 team to a team ranked 6^th in NYS in less than 3 years. This is coaching at its finest. The team members have grown from 11 in 1996 to 25 this year. Mr. Muller has giving up a lot of his personal time to position the team for the success that it had had this season. Remember the summer runs at Green Lakes, the long weekend runs, the 6:30 am practices that turned into double sessions in the afternoon, and travel on virtually ever weekend. And it’s not over yet with the up coming footlocker race in two weeks. Mr. Muller cares about the team and more importantly you as individuals. Take the time to say thank you to Mr. Muller and his wife.

States/State_Class_B_Results_1999.doc   (MS Word 97 Format)

Sectional Results (11/6/99)
On the strength of a superb performance by Ryan Wells, the Bears captured their first Section III cross country title since the 1983 state championship team. The Bears took the team title with a slim 68 to 79 margin over Tully who came into today’s race ranked 9^th in NYS. The victory did not come easy as the 4^th ranked Bears still struggle to regain some of their mid-season performance levels. Winning when everyone is not at their best is what has made this team so strong this year. They seem to get the job done when it counts.

Junior Ryan Wells capped off a terrific regular season with an impressive runaway victory over second place Jon Powers from HP. Ryan ran a tactical race waiting until nearly to 2-mile mark to gain the lead. Once he passed Powers it was all over. Ryan never looked back as he grew his lead to 100m in the last mile of the race to win in a time of 17:15. Ryan should be one of the top contenders for the state title this coming weekend at Westchester Community College.

Sophomore Roger Westcott continues to move up the ranks with his second strong performance in as many weeks. Roger finished 2^nd on the team and 7^th overall (17:55) on the demanding 5K course. The more difficult the course, the better Roger seems to perform.

Mike Albanese (18:09), Joe Williams (18:32) and Chris Cimino (18:41) rounded out the top 5 finishing 11^th, 21^st and 28^th respectively. Joe Pitoniak (41^st, 19:09) Todd Sorensen (44^th, 19:14), Casey Guereschi (47^th, 19:19), Joe Campagna (54^th, 19:34) and Josh Phalen (77^th, 20:12) completed the lineup.

Congratulations to the team for a fine regular season and best of luck at the state meet. GO BEARS!

Sectionals/Boys B Results.doc  (MS Word 97 Format)

Other Bear runners seemed to show signs of weakness most likely carryover from the stressful B1/B2 meet. The two teams that went head-to-head at the B1/B2, Skaneatles and Chittenango, both turned in poor team performances. Perhaps the slower times will be a blessing in disguise forcing the Bears to regroup for the sectionals.  Good luck next week.

OHSL/OHSLBoys Varsity I Results 1999.doc   (MS Word 97 Format)

OHSL/OHSL Boys Varsity II Results 1999.doc  (MS Word 97 Format)

B1-B2 Results (10/20/99)
This is what cross country is all about. Two great teams meet head-to-head for the OHSL B championship. Chittenango ranked 4^th in the state in Class B meets Skaneatles ranked 3^rd in the state in Class C. Conditions were nearly ideal with sunny skies, no breeze and temperature in the 50’s. The course was relatively dry for this time of year.

The atmosphere surrounding the meet was very tense. Clearly, these two teams have developed a strong rivalry. Needless to say, the Bears were carrying an extra 10 pounds of baggage from previous losses in track and cross country.

Adding even more pressure was the temporary loss of the Bears number 4 runner Roger Westcott. If that wasn’t bad enough, the Bears number 3 runner Chris Cimino was running with heavy congestion from a cold. Skaneatles had taken the past two weekends off from invitationals to train and focus on this meet. They were clearly well rested. All the odds seemed stacked against the Bears with a couple of exceptions, DEPTH and DETERMINATION.

The race started as everyone expected with Jim Ryan taking a small lead at the 800m mark. Poppenger and Albanese followed closely behind. The pack was thick going up the first hill with separation starting to take place by the top of the hill. Skaneatles and Chittenango were both well positioned with runners matched stride-for-stride throughout the depths of their respective lineups. Jim Ryan and Poppenger had moved to the front with Albanese holding strong at 10 meters at the 1-mile mark.

At the end of the first loop it was clear that Jim Ryan had taken control of the race. Poppenger was beginning to struggle as he climbed the hill out of the woods and Albanese was still holding steady at 10 meters. Twenty to 30 meters behind Mike came the front edge of the rest of the pack. The race was beginning to develop in the middle pack with Williams, Sorensen, Cimino, Pitoniak and Guerreschi battling with Alexander, Porter, Lind, and Evans.

After looping the school for the second time and getting ready to climb the hill, Jim Ryan was well on his way to victory. Poppenger still led Albanese by more than 10 meters but Mike had the gun pointed and the scope focused on Pop’s back. Passing the soccer field and heading down the hill Jim Ryan had a commanding 50-meter lead and Albanese had pulled even with Poppenger. The pack had tightened up at the front with Cross and Alexander into position to close at the finish.

Up the hill and heading to the finish, Jim Ryan kicked up his heels and proceeded to break the course record held by Jeremy Cornue. Ryan finished in a time of 16:07 eclipsing the previous record by 2 seconds. Albanese had established a 10-meter lead over Poppenger and held off a late charge by Westen Cross who out kicked Pop to the finish. Mike finished second in a time of 16:20 with Cross and Pop finishing at 16:23.

Chittenango held the early lead at 3 to 7 but Skaneatles managed to capture 8^th and 12^th place with their third and fourth runners. With 4 in before Chittenangos 3^rd, the mood became tense. Joe Williams finished strong and placed 13^th. He was followed by Joe Pitoniak who used his strong kick to pickup an extra and critical place finishing 14^th. The score at this point with 4 runners in for both teams was Chittenango 30, Skaneatles 27. The suspense began to build with both teams having their 5^th runner still out in the pack. Sorensen came through with a 18^th place finish closing out the team scoring at 48. Then came Cimino and Guerreschi capturing 19^th and 20^th respectively. These places would ultimately turnout to be the difference in the meet. Skaneatles’ coaching staff was yelling feverishly to get their 5^th runner to pass 3 other runners from the base of the hill to the finish. One went down, then a second, but their runner couldn’t manage to overtake a third runner and finished 22^nd. The team score ended at Chittenango 48, Skaneatles 49.

This was a day that our boys will not soon forget. Down on their luck with one of their top runners out and another sick, the Bears managed to rally as a team and pull out a huge victory. They demonstrated the true meaning of a team; filling in for others when the going gets tough. Albanese could have given up on Poppenger (welcome back Mike), Pitoniak could have let up in the finishing stretch and not taken back a place, Cimino could have dropped back to catch some air with his one good lung, Casey could have let off assuming he wasn’t in the top 5 and allowed Skaneatles to capture a place, Williams and Sorensen could have backed down feeling the pain and Ryan could have decided not to open up a big lead which ultimately drained Poppenger. Any one of these could have happened but they didn’t. It was gut check time and the Bears passed the test as a TEAM. Great job.

  Team Results

  Individuals Page 1

  Individuals Page 2

Matching times from various races, the Bears’ performance was second in Section III only to state powerhouse Beaver River. Other competing teams included Liverpool, FM, C-NS, NH, VVS, Central Sq., Tully, Oneida, and Beaver River. In total, there were 33 races with 9,200 runners including 7 varsity races. The Bears also would have defeated Class B Newark with their IMPORTED Ethiopian talent. In spite of all the internet trash talk, Tully was non-competitive with the Bears. However, the Bears can't afford to become complacent since a trip to the states includes a victory over Tully at the sectionals.  

Jim Ryan turned in yet another brilliant performance finishing 7^th in a talent filled race that included over 250 runners. Ryan completed the 2.5-mile course in 13:12 defeating last year’s Class B State champion Julio German from Sleepy Hollow. Chris Limino a.ka. Chris Cimino or Mino Acid finished second for the Bears and 19^th overall with a time of 13:34. Chris continues to improve week to week and should be a big factor in the final 6 weeks of the season. Mike Albanese was third and 24^th overall with a time of 13:43. Mike showed signs of breaking out of his slump but continues to struggle on race day. Mike should also be a major factor down the final stretch of the season.  Roger Westcott a.k.a Frank Sitnik was next and 38^th overall with a time of 13:59 followed by Joe Pitoniak (52^nd, 14:20), Todd Sorensen (77^th, 14:43) and Joe Williams (90^th, 14:55). Joe Pitoniak ran a nice race and came in with a strong kick. Pud needs to run with Roger throughout race and his times will fall. Joe Williams and Todd also had off days and will be back on track in the near future.

After missing their race earlier in the day because of an early start of the event, the all-freshman team of Andrew Foxenberg, Joe Campagna, Randy Pittman, Dan Harp and Martin Falvey placed 21^st out of 35 teams in the Boys Varsity A race. This was an impressive showing for the young team and bodes well of the future. Foxenberg lead the team with a time of 15:43 followed by Campagna (15:48), Pittman (17:38), Harp (17:42) and Falvey (21:03).

In other items of interest, Gene Stankivitz cleared the air on the bus. I am sure that after 5 hours on a bus with that many boys, Right Guard was the right touch. Gene also won the best hat award.

Dinner was excellent as the team was very well behaved. In fact, one of the customers commented that they had never seen so many boys as well behaved for so long. The dinner was capped with a birthday greeting for the 40-year-old coach. Roger tried to eat his ice cream sundae, but to no avail. Todd and Pud ordered two "Virgins Frozen" but were disappointed when they received their drinks. Better luck next time.

I understand the Mike, Todd, Joe, and Pud got invited to a wedding reception. The wedding album photos and video will be coming soon. Todd and Joe won the dance contest.

After a long couple of weekends, the Bears earned a well-deserved day off on Monday. The next events include Cortland at home and the ESM invitational on Saturday.

Photos will be posted later in the week. Please note that all other photos will be removed to make way for the new ones.

More complete results of Manhattan Invitational can be found at www.dyestat.com or www.armorytrack.com.

My apologies to the others that ran in the event, I don’t have your times. If you have them and want them posted, please E-mail them to me.

Top 30 individuals in the Varsity B race.

Top 10 teams in the Varsity B race.

McQuaid Results (10/3/99):
Conditions were perfect with the temperature in the low 60's and a fast course. Competition was intense as the Bears competed in by far the toughest race of the day, the A-2 seeded event. The field was filled with 6 highly ranked teams in NYS and two top teams from Ohio. Beaver River, ranked first in the NYS Class C/D division, lead the way cursing to victory with 70 points. Chittenango finished the day with 201 points placing 8^th.

The overall team performance was excellent with several PRs turned in on the 3-mile course. Ryan Wells had another outstanding day finishing 12^th overall with a time of 15:59. Ryan looked strong throughout the race gradually moving up as time elapsed. Ryan was followed by Mike Albanese (16:37), Chris Cimino (16:40), Roger Westcott (16:44), Todd Sorensen (17:10), Joe Pitoniak (17:15) and Joe Williams (17:25). Todd Sorensen looked very strong as he made a surge to the finish line picking up several places and finishing with a PR. Chris Cimino and Ryan Wells also had PRs on the day.

Although the Bears did not place well in their race, they had one of the strongest performances of any section 3 team. The times of their top 5 runners would have placed them ahead of Skaneatles who finished 2^nd in their race.

In order to challenge for state title the Bears need to improve on several fronts. As a team they need to pick up an average of 15-20 seconds per man. Intense and healthy competition seems to be brewing for the 5^th and possibly the 4^th slot on the team. This will help push times lower in the weeks ahead. In addition, the workouts will soon begin to focus on shorter and more intense runs to increase the turnover rate. 

The Bears travel to JD on Wednesday for a three way meet with JD and Mexico.  This weekend they travel to Van Cortlandt park to compete in the Manhattan invitational.

In other races, some of the younger team members also did very well. Frank Sitnik turned in a time of 17:54, Casey Guerreschi (18:05), Josh Phelan (18:08), Andrew Foxenberg (18:38), Joe Campagna (18:38) and Vinnie Twiss (20:00).

The meet was never in question as the Bears lead pack of Chris Cimino, Ryan Wells, Mike Albanese and Roger Westcott surrounded Homer's only threat, David Ames.  The pack contained the pace at a pedestrain level for nearly the entire run conserving energy for this weekends invitational at McQuaid.  At a little over the two mile point, Ryan heard footsteps and thought it was Ames and charged ahead.  Little did he know that it was Chris Cimino and they continued to push each other to the finish. Mike and Roger held back with the real David Ames.  Ryan finished first with a time of 18:22, followed by Chris (2nd, 18:23), Mike (4th, 18:36), Roger (5th, 18:44), Todd (6th, 19:10), Joe Williams (7th, 19:13), and Casey Guerrreschi (8th, 19:23).  Joe "Pud" Pitoniak was held in reserve because his contact only always for weekend events.

Phoenix Results (9/22/99):
The Bears traveled to Phoenix on a rainy Wednesday afternoon to start their dual meet season.  It was never really much of a contest as Phoenix managed only 3 runners in the top 10 places.  The Bears won the meet 19 to 42 showning considerable depth in their lineup as most varsity runners were rested.

Pacing the Bears was rookie Chris Cimino easily winning the 3.05 mile race in a time of 17:07.  This is Chris' first career victory with many more to come.  Rounding out the field the Bears placed Todd Sorsensen 3rd (18:14), Casey Guerreschi 4th (18:21), Frank Sitnik 5th (18:24), Josh Phelan 6th (18:26), Joe Campangna 8th (19:25), and Andrew Foxenberg 9th (19:43). 

1. Warwick Valley-9
2. Bayport-11
3. Scotia-2
4. Chittenango-3
5. Waterloo-5
6. Queensbury-2
7. Horace Greeley-1
8. Burnt Hills-2
9. Canton-10
10. Ossining-1
11. Moore Catholic-NYC
12. Roch Aquinas-5
13. Windsort-4
14. Bellmore JFK-8

Auburn Invitational (9/18/99):
On a beautiful Saturday morning at Auburn Community College, the Chittenango Bears turned in their second strong performance of the season. Again competing in the Class A division with teams from Buffalo, Rochester and Canton, the Bears finished a very close second to perennial powerhouse FM. The Bears managed significant individual improvements on nearly all fronts. Coach Muller has his team on a roll.

Leading the Bears for the second week in a row was Ryan Wells a.k.a. Craig Silwicki. Ryan ran a strong race gradually pulling himself through the field of competitors to finish a second with a time of 16:38. Finishing second for the Bears and 5^th overall was rookie Chris Cimino a.k.a. Randy Pitman. Chris cracked the 17-minute barrier for the first time in his short carrier with a time of 16:57. Look for Chris to run well at McQuaid; a course that is well suited to his sprint to the finish approach to the sport. Roger Westcott a.k.a. Todd Sorensen was next and 7^th overall with a time of 17:08. Roger can’t wait for the rain and mud were he can use his power. Mike Albanese was 14^th overall with a time of 17:27 and continues to struggle. When Mike gets on track this team will be tough to beat at any level of competition. Look for Mike to break out at the McQuaid Invitational. Rounding out the top 5 for the Bears and 19^th overall was Joe "The Chief" Williams. Joe also shows weekly improvement and finished in a time of 17:42. Joe Pitoniak (23^rd, 17:50) and Todd Sorensen (27^th, 18:03) are poised to break into the top 5 at any moment. In the JV race, Casey Guerreschi, Frank Sitnik, Josh Phelan, Joe Campagna and Vinnie Twist all had strong performances.   The JV team had one its fewest point totals in quite some time.

From 1^st to 5^th the Bears managed to tighten the time separation to only 68 seconds and placed 3 individuals in the top 10. By the end of the season, look for this gap to be reduced to 30 seconds or less.

The Bears are off this weekend and travel to McQuaid on Oct 2^nd for their next invitational. The McQuaid Invitational is one of the best around and should have teams from all over the state, other nearby states and Canada. The ability of the Bears to compete at the state level will certainly be tested in this meet.

Upcoming dual meets include at Phoenix (9/22/99) and home against Homer (9/29/99).

Auburn Invitational

Pacing the Bears was Junior Ryan Wells who finished 3^rd with a time of 17:14. Ryan looked strong throughout the race gaining back several positions in the last mile. His work ethic this season (hasn’t missed a practice including doubles) has already paid off and he will continue to improve as the season progresses.  Look for Ryan to be in the low 16's or better by the end of the season.

Sophomore Roger Westcott was next finishing 9^th in a time of 17:50. Roger also ran from behind closing in on many runners as he neared the finish. Roger was followed closely by Mike Albanese (11^th), rookie Chris Cimino (27^th) and Joe "The Chief" Williams (37^th). Rounding out the field was Joe Pitoniak, Todd Sorensen, Casey Guerreschi, Josh Phelan and Frank Sitnik. A solid team performance placing 7 runners in the first 50 places.