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New York Region Boys Preseason Rankings 2021Published by
With Limited Data Points To Evaluate In The Past Year, Corning-Painted Post Gets The Early Nod In New York By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor Boys NXR New York Preview The cross country in New York state has been so good for so long that Nike Cross Nationals organizers set it apart as its own "region." But the continuity has been broken by the global pandemic that caused massive disruptions in March of 2020. Consider that in New York, the 2020 track season was wiped out. Then the 2020 cross country season was reduced to embers with most teams contesting a few small meets and then stopping, with no state meet. Then there was a tiny fraction of an indoor season and a greatly reduced 2021 outdoor season. "Those seniors (class of 2021) got robbed," Fayetteville-Manlius coach Bill Aris said. This fall, cross country is coming back but it's not likely to feel the same for a while longer. In some places, team culture has to be rebuilt. Consistent training has to be re-established. Thankfully, there are competitive opportunities on the horizon. In ranking New York boys cross country teams before the first wave of meets, too much emphasis has necessarily been placed on what happened at the end of 2019 -- and who had promising sophomores -- and who ran well in non-championsship settings last spring. There are some schools with known personnel and depth who appear ready to go, but there is still much to revealed. The Pre-State Invitational at Chenango State Park looms on Sept. 18 as the meet that will truly establish a clearer pecking order in New York state. It will be the most important high school cross country meet in the state in 22 months. Here is a best guess at the top of the order headed into the season. 1. Corning-Painted Post. The Hawks concluded the 2019 NXR New York competition in 17th place, but a young nucleus of runners has persisted through the pandemic and on paper looks pretty good. Senior Jack Gregorski and junior Ashton Bange did good things last spring and there are supporting pieces with seniors Matt Gensel and Nathan Webb, junior Marcus Homa and sophomore DJ Cornfield. This is also a program with a pedigree. CPP finished 12 at NXN in 2017. 2. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake. At last year's Suburban Council Championships, which was one of the biggest meets in New York, Burnt Hills scored 58 points and finished second behind Saratoga Springs without any seniors in the top six. The Spartans have instant credibility as an NXN qualifier in 2018 and 2019 and that legacy is something that seniors such as Ryan Allison and Peter Fulgieri and junior Matthew Rounds, have been able to hold onto. 3. Fordham Prep. In what could be a very competitive battle for bragging rights in the CHSAA, Fordham Prep of the Bronx seems to be best positioned thanks to talented senior Myles Hogan, one of the top runners in the state, and a pack of young runners behind him. Xavier and St. Anthony's should be in the mix for the CHSAA crown as well. 4. Webster Thomas. This team returns six of its top seven from a second-place showing at the Section 5 Championships last fall. Six proven guys feels like a luxury heading into 2021. Juniors Connor Thomas and Evan Lacey and senior twins Jaden and Jalen Barnwell lead the way for the Titans. 5. Fayetteville-Manlius. When F-M won their ninth NXR New York title in 11 years in 2019, sixth man Daniel Patrick was a sophomore and seventh man Benjamin Perry was a freshman. So there are a couple of building blocks, but there might not be enough to get this team back to the top of any big podiums. Time will tell, but what this group has going for it is that it's been through a solid summer program with Aris, and his track record speaks for itself. Watchlist More news |
