Monroe-Woodbury Cross Country places second

One year removed from their runner up finish at the 2022 NYSPHSAA Championship, the Monroe-Woodbury cross country team was back at Vernon Verona Sherrill High School for the 2023 installment of the Championships.

The Crusaders entered the race as one of five teams mentioned as potential threats to the team championship. Fairport, Auburn, and Ithaca were the top three favorites, while Saratoga Springs and M Monroe-Woodbury were given an outside shot at the title entering the race.

After seven previous races had conquered the deceptively challenging VVS 5k course, the state was finally set for the grand finale at 2:30 p.m. The field of 108 runners included nine teams of seven runners and an additional 45 individual qualifiers from varying schools.

Heavy race favorite Nolan McGinn from Fayettville-Manlius quickly established himself as the race leader with a strong first mile. While the individual race title was becoming crystal clear, the team championship was still tight.

Monroe-Woodbury raced a disciplined first mile and quickly climbed into contention with a strong second mile. Saratoga, Auburn, and Fairport also found themselves in contention. As the racers approached the final half mile, Monroe-Woodbury was in position to have its top three finishers all earn medals by virtue of finishing in the top 20. Oliver Jibb led the Crusaders with a sixth-place finish. Shane Golio was close behind in 11th. The Crusaders had two medalists. After hearing his place status as he approached the final stretch, Gavin Catherwood surged ahead to grab 18th place and lock up his medal. The Crusaders were in great shape through three finishers.

Tasked with a pre-race assignment of finishing in the top 35, junior Devon Ryan entered the stadium battling three runners from Saratoga. Ryan was able to get ahead of two of the three Toga runners to claim 30th place.

Ronaldo Rodriguez Perez, Vinny Costello, and Tylan Haag all had pre-race assignments of challenging for a finish in the top half of the second half of the race, specifically targeting positions 55 through 83. Rodriguez Perez came across in 66th, Costello in 70th, and Haag in 95th.

With all runners in, the wait was on for the team scores to be released. Monroe-Woodbury knew it had four low numbers in team scoring, but Saratoga was also in a strong position based a tight 18-second compression between their second finisher in 29th and their sixth in 46th. After what felt like an eternity, the results popped up online — Saratoga 58, Monroe-Woodbury 58. The place numbers before each team read one for Saratoga and two for Monroe-Woodbury. The race required a tiebreaker. Under NFHS rules, ties in cross-country scoring are settled by comparing the finish of each team’s sixth runner. On this day, Jacob Bernd from Saratoga finished 46th while Vinny Costello for Monroe-Woodbury finished 70th. By virtue of the tiebreaker, Saratoga was awarded the Class A State Championship. Monroe-Woodbury would settle for their second straight runner up finish.

Looking back at the history of boys’ NYSPHSAA Championships dating back to 1950, it is believed this was the first instance where a team championship came down to a sixth-man tiebreaker. Results from 1965 and 1976 show the top teams in the Class A Division tied, but were designated as co-champions as these years possibly predated the sixth man tiebreaker rule.

By the numbers:

This was the fifth runner-up performance in Monroe-Woodbury cross county history, joining the 1974, 1984, 1994, and 2022 teams.

Oliver Jibb, Shane Golio, and Gavin Catherwood became the first Crusader trio to medal in the same cross country state meet.