Friday, October 6, was the annual Saint Anthony’s Cross Country Invitational at Sunken Meadow State Park. The Friar boys’ team left directly from school for the afternoon meet, where schools from all over Long Island and Connecticut gathered to compete.
Most who are knowledgeable about cross country are familiar with the notorious Sunken Meadow 5K course, home to Cardiac Hill and regarded as one of the most difficult courses in the state. This challenge, however, posed no threat to the Friars because, not only have been practicing there since July, but they also have been racing there at least once a week since September. And, unlike the previous few years when runners have had to brave strong winds and torrents of rain, the weather that afternoon was unseasonably pleasant. Coach John Braile, who has attended the Invitational for the past seven years, noted, “The weather was slightly warm, but otherwise it was a perfect day to run.”
Once again, the star runner of this meet was senior Mason Gatewood, who came in first for the boys varsity race. With a time of 16:03, Gatewood was more than thirty seconds ahead of all others, making a highly competitive race of almost 350 runners look easy.
When asked if this race came with any extra pressure, being that Saint Anthony’s was hosting, Gatewood replied, “It wasn’t exactly pressure, but I was definitely aware it was our meet, and I wanted to do well.”
Varsity placed 4th of 49 teams in the race, but they did manage to achieve the lowest average time of all the teams racing with a solid average time of 17:33. The other members of the varsity team who helped secure the impressive possession include: Brendan Dearie, Hunter Vierling, Patrick Kutch, Michael Barbaro-Barnett, Brennan Lopez and Matthew Payamps.
This race was actually junior Matthew Payamps’ season debut after a knee injury that has kept him from participating thus far. Payamps has been a crucial factor for the boys team in the past -even placing first in the Saint Anthony’s Invitational last year- so eyes will be on him as he recovers and works his way back his full capability.
The freshman team was also very successful at this meet capturing a first place victory on the 1.5 mile course among 21 other teams.
Unfortunately, the junior varsity races were unable to be run due to an unexpected occurrence after the girls’ varsity race. Ambulances had to be called as daylight was slipping away so officials felt it best to cancel the races. Depending on who was asked, runners felt anything from frustration to relief at being spared a tough race. Senior Thomas Schmidt, speaking on behalf of the Saint Anthony’s JV team said, “We are disappointed that we didn’t get to race, but what happens happens, and our prayers are with the person who got injured.”
About The Author:
 |
Cate Cappelmann Cate is a senior at St. Anthony’s and a runner in Cross Country, Winter Track, and Spring Track. This is her first year writing for the Friar Scoreboard, and she is also a writer for the school newspaper, The Paduan. |
