Cross-country: Led by Maddy Williams, Bronxville wins girls state Class C title
CHENANGO FORKS — When Keina Samuels first saw then-seventh-grader Maddy Williams run, she told herself, "I want her on my team."
On Saturday, Williams showed everyone why.
Now a freshman, she helped lead the Bronxville girls cross-country team to the state Class C championship with a third-place, 19:07.9 run at Chenango Valley Park in Broome County.
Williams was one of three Broncos to garner all-state honors with a top-20 finish.
Ava Black was seventh (19:27.1) and Lux Burgin was 16th (19:57.7) in the 130-finisher race.
Other Bronxville finishers included Katie O'Hare (21st, 20:27.1), Quinn Sheehan (48th, 21:28), Rory Denning (56th, 21:40.1) and Charlotte Murray (83rd, 22:24.8).
Bronxville won, as Samuels said, "big," with second-place finisher Norwood-Norfolk trailing by 33 points.
The other Hudson Valley team finisher, Section 9's James O'Neill, was seventh out of 11 squads.
Behind not only Bronxville's performances but strong runs by athletes from three other schools, Section 1 also took the top team award as a section.
A section's top 10 runners' placements counted toward its sectional tally.
Dobbs Ferry's Fenna LaBan was 22nd in 20:33.8, Putnam Valley's Bronagh Cassidy 25th (20:41.2), Pleasantville's Adriana Catalano 28th (20:45.6) and Putnam Valley's Gabrielle Randazzo 29th (20:47.3).
Leah Richardson (33rd, 20:57.2) was O'Neill's top finisher.
"The girls came out and showed they've been working hard all season," said Samuels. "I know Jim Mitchell would be proud," she added, referring to the highly successful former longtime Bronco coach.
Williams, whom Samuels called a "natural," noted five of her team's top seven runners this season were new to the squad.
"We won state titles in the past. It's great to be back," she said
Baloga, Banino, Leitner, Guzman all-state
Karrie Baloga, a junior from Section 9 Cornwall and one of the state's top runners, has had better days than Saturday, when she found herself dizzy and lacking her normal kick during the last few hundred meters of the girls Class A championship.
Still, Baloga clocked 17:55.6 to finish third and, minutes after the race, was already thinking of next year.
"I worked so hard. I worked to do my best. I worked the hills and I'm happy with it. I had a really good mentality. I just didn't feel good at the end of the race," she said. "I worked so hard I'm not surprised I felt that way. I look to come back and work harder and place higher."
Ursuline's Daphne Banino won't be coming back because she's a senior.
But Banino, a Division I college recruit, was happy with her seventh-place, 18:08.6 finish at her first state cross-country championship.
Laughing, Banino, one of four area runners to gain all-state honors with a top-20 finish, said her coach, Jan Mitchell, who's "ever-the-optimist," had hoped for a "shoot-the-moon" top-three performance, but had also indicated he would be fine with top-10.
Banino noted she followed Mitchell's and her dad's advice and tried to stay with runners from Saratoga Springs, who combined to win the team Class A girls title.
"I just tried to focus in on the girls in front of me," she said.
Yorktown's Sydney Leitner, who'll run for nearby D-I Binghamton next year, and John Jay-East Fishkill's Amelie Guzman also ran to all-state finishes.
Leitner clocked 18:33.7 for 15th and Guzman 18:47.2 for 20th in the 108-finisher race.
Guzman's time broke her own school record for a 3.1-mile course.
Fox Lane's Morgan Eigel was 36th (19:34.6) and North Rockland's Jade Pazmino 41st (19:43.6).
Suffern finished eighth in the team competition. Fiona Young (66th, 20:28.6) was its first finisher.
The top time in the race was also the top girls time of the day.
It was 17:40.8 and belonged to Izzie Sullivan of Fayetteville-Manlius.
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Pearl River's Boylan third in Class B
If Pearl River's Una Boylan needed any more "motivation to run past high school," she noted she got it Saturday.
The senior finished in 18:47.7 for third place in the 118-runner girls Class B championship.
Boylan's run helped lead Pearl River to a third-place finish in the 11-team girls Class B championship.
Finishing in the top 20, Sleepy Hollow's Bianca Versaci (17th place, 19:47.7) also was named all-state, as was Section 9's Kayla Schramm of Goshen (12th, 19:35.5). Goshen's team finished sixth overall.
Other top local finishers included Peekskill's Brianna Carter (23rd, 19:58.9), Somers' Gabriella Parisi (26th, 20:05.2), Eastchester's Aamuktha Kottapalli (30th, 20:13.3) and Harrison's Katrina Torelli 38th, 20:23.6).
Boylan noted she was sitting about sixth before making a move up in the last mile.
"I'm really happy," she said of her race.
Class D
The top Hudson Valley finisher in the 108-girls Class D race was Amelia Mickelson of Section 9 Tri-Valley in 40th (21:59.3).
Section 1's top finisher was Haldane's Eloise Pearsall (67th, 23:43.9).
Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at both @HaggertyNancy and at @LoHudHockey.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Cross-country: Bronxville wins Class C girls team title; Baloga 3rd in A
