IAC CROSS COUNTRY: NEWARK VALLEY HAS SOLID NUMBERS, MORE EXPERIENCE (2025-08-26)

By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
NEWARK VALLEY — The Newark Valley cross country teams will have solid numbers this season and a little bit more experience to work with.

“Our numbers are pretty good,” said coach Eric D’Arcy. “We've got nine boys on the varsity team and we've got 13 girls on that side, so numbers are really good on the varsity level. The one beauty is that, hopefully, we pick some kids up when school starts. Every year, we pick up kids at the junior high level when school starts, and we'll usually pick up one or two kids at the high school level too.”

The modified program is lacking in numbers with seven boys and one girl signed up.

The experience level is better this season at the varsity level.

“We only had one senior on our team last year for the boys and girls teams, so all of those kids are back from last year,” D’Arcy said. “And with a couple junior high kids moving into the ranks of both the girls and boys teams our experience level is definitely going to be better than last year, so that's nice.”

The Cardinals are usually pretty competitive at the girls level.

“They were third last year in the section and second the year before that,” D’Arcy said. “We would expect that they should be in the hunt again. You never know what other teams are bringing back and things like that, but we've got a good experienced group of girls who have put the work in during the summer, so they should be a pretty solid team this year again.”

NV was also fourth at the IAC championships, just three points out of third. The cardinals top runner was ninth in both the IAC and Section IV Class D. The Cardinals’ No. 2 runner was 13th in the IAC and 20th at sectionals.

The boys team returns its top runner as well and he was 13th in the IAC and 20th in the section. The team took fifth in the IAC and sixth at sectionals.

“The boys are going to be better than last year,” D’Arcy said. “We've had a winning record the last couple years with the boys and the girls, but the boys' side has been, more or less, three or four guys who are in that faster time range, and then you sometimes just had to have guys who were a little farther back hoping that they could get in at a decent spot to to help you out. In dual meets, it's workable. In invitationals, it kills you. This year should be a huge improvement on that side. We're excited for that Improvement.”

NV opens the season Sept 6. At the Flash Forbes Invitational in Oneonta.

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IN PHOTO 1: Eric D’Arcy will have more experienced runners to work with this season. IN TOP PHOTO: There were no seniors on the girls team last season. … PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.

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