SECTION IV GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY: NV'S SILBA GARNERS CLASS C GOLD (12 PHOTOS) (2018-11-01)

BY TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
FENTON, N.Y. - Marissa Silba said she never felt like there was point where she had the Section IV Class C girls race won - well, maybe not until she crossed the finish line. The Newark Valley senior managed to create a little bit of space near the end to win by nearly eight seconds at Chenango Valley State Park Thursday.

Silba crossed the line in 20:04.4, outrunning Lansing's Catie Eisenhut (20:12.1) and Dryden's Emily Miller (20:13.6) to grab the gold.

"I was just kind of like, get to the finish, hope that they don't catch me in the finish," Silba said, "because there were so many people screaming at the end, I wasn't really sure how close they were to me and nobody was really telling me, so I just like, go to keep going, hope nobody comes."

She said she made her move to the front of the pack about the second mile.

"I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to be able to catch up, because on each downhill, their legs were longer, they were kind of getting further away, but then they started drifting back a little bit, because I think they might have gotten a little tired, so I think that was about when."

Silba said it felt good to get this victory, one of the highlights of her running career.

"I've been running for so many years," she said. "It feels good.

"It definitely comes full circle. After all these years, I've been running from seventh grade up and every single winter, weather it's snowing or raining or sleeting or whatever, I'm out there running, so it's just about time I guess."

Also qualifying for the state meet was the Cardinals' Sophie Stewart, who placed sixth with a time of 20:47.5.

Rounding out NV's scoring were Renee Riegel, 13th with a time of 22:10.3; Kristina Knight, who clocked 22:41.3 to place 18th; and
Colleen Riegel, who finished 25th in 23:30.4.

Newark Valley would place third as a team with 45 points, just one point behind Waverly. Lansing won the team title with 36 points. SVEC was sixth with 159.

Also competing for NV were Rosie Hines, 34th (25:16.1); Monica Escalante, 40th (25:39.8); and Charlotte Dunn, 53rd (28:17.5) 

Leading the SVEC effort was Jenna O'Connell, who placed 10th with a time of 24:10.8. The Eagles' other scoring runners were 
Erin Bruttomesso, 29th (24:21.6); Mya Marsh, 39th (25:38.1); Delaney Fatcheric, 48th (26:52.5); and Saudra Horackova, 50th (27:47.3).