NEW YORK STATE CROSS COUNTRY: OWEGO BOYS 8TH; HUNSINGER LEADS GIRLS TRIO AT STATE MEET (13 PHOTOS) (2018-11-10)
BY TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports ReportKINGS PARK, N.Y. - Ten Owego runners braved the cold wind blowing off the Long Island Sound to compete in the 2018 NYSPHSAA Cross Country Championships at Sunken Meadow State Park Saturday.
Seven of those competitors represented the boys team, which would place eighth out of 10 scoring teams.
The Indians' five seniors made up the scoring group, led, as usual, by Nate Bowers and Cameron Szabo. Ian Hackett moved up a spot in the final team tally.
Bowers paced the team with a 31st-place finish, logging a time of 17:20.8, and Szabo was 41st, clocking 17:33.5. Eaan Hackett crossed the finish line in 84th, posting a time of 18:14.5, and Gavin Watkins was 89th in 18:22.2. Lewis Race rounded out Owego's scoring, finishing 95th in 18:31.8
James McDonald and Joel Choynowski placed 108th and 109th, respectively. McDonald had a 19:06.6 and Choynowski ran a 19:08.4.
"We came down here in September and ran the St. Anthony's invite and a lot of the boys ran very similar times today," said Owego head coach John Heath. "A couple of the kids had bigger drops. Ian Hackett was our third guy today. He'd been running as our fourth guy. He had about a 35-second improvement over his time down here in September. For the most part, guys ran about the same times as they ran in September here."
Heath said the previous event has similar conditions, as far as the integrity of the course, but was a little softer for the state meet. It was also cooler and windier.
"As far as the overall integrity of the course was pretty similar to what it was today, maybe a little slower today," he said.
Sunken Meadow is well known for being a challenging course, especially with the demanding Cardiac Hill and the lesser-known Snake Hill.
In the girls event, Jenna Hunsinger would lead the way, placing 78th with a time of 21:51.5. Classmate Brittany Sanguinito took 97th in 22:47.1 and Mary-Carol Hoover was 104th with a time of 23:27.8.
"Our individuals ran really well," Heath said. "Two out of the three individuals that we had had big drops. Mary-Carol Hoover, she's a 10th-grader. She ran 30 seconds faster today than she did in September. And Jenna Hunsinger, she's a senior, it's her second state meet she's been to. She ran a minute, five seconds faster than she did. So, the girls looked really good in their races as well.
"The boys looked strong too. They packed kind of the way they had been, maybe a few gaps in there that probably caused our team score to be higher than what it was projected to be."
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IN PHOTO 1: Owego's Eaan Hackett (410). ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
