Monroe-Woodbury cross country wins second straight federation title

For the first time in school history, the Monroe-Woodbury cross country team returned to a state championship event to defend its title. On another picturesque November afternoon, the Crusaders descended on Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls for the NYS Federation Cross-Country Championship.

After their strong performance at the NYSPHSAA championships, the Crusaders were joined by top NYSPHSAA teams and schools from each of the other federation member leagues, including those from Catholic, public, and private schools.

The 1 p.m. race saw 287 runners compete on the challenging 5,000-meter course at Bowdoin Park. Running off the lessons learned at last year’s federation championship run, the Monroe-Woodbury cross country team ran a poised first mile, establishing their positioning on the steady ascent. Oliver Jibb, Shane Golio, and Gavin Catherwood each established themselves in the top 25 placement. Unfortunately, approximately one quarter mile into the race, junior Devon Ryan was knocked down and kicked in the neck, knocking him back from his targeted position. Incredibly, Ryan picked himself up and began the steady process of racing back to his position. In the middle mile, Monroe-Woodbury held steady to the elevated peak of the course before beginning the descent towards the mile 2 marker.

With Ryan steadily working his way back into position and Ronaldo Rodriguez Perez and Vinny Costello pushing together to close the Monroe-Woodbury scoring, the Crusaders were in contention to defend their title. The emerging challengers from Brooklyn Tech, Auburn, and Hunter College High School all were working to chase down the Purple Pride singlets ahead of them.

At 4,000 meters into the race, the Crusaders had Jibb and Golio pushing for a top 10 finish and Catherwood not far behind. As the race reached its culmination, Monroe-Woodbury was feverishly battling to pass everybody they could to help decrease their team score. Jibb crossed first in sixth place with a 3.1-mile time of 16:24.3. Golio followed in ninth, with a timing of 16:27.0. Catherwood placed 20th, with a time of 16:40.4. Ryan recovered from his early race fall and charged all the way up to 49th place, clocking in at 17:04.8. Rodriguez Perez closed out the team, scoring in 76th place. Costello placed 88th overall, while sophomore Tylan Haag completed the team at 176th place.

As the racers recovered, the crowd consistently refreshed their cell phone browsers in hopes to learn the team scores. When they finally popped up, Monroe-Woodbury was once again on top with 92 points, successfully defending their federation state championship. Brooklyn Tech was second with 129 points, and Auburn was third with 139.

Up next, the cross-country team is scheduled to compete as the “MWXC Club” at the Nike NY Regional at Bowdoin Park on Saturday November 25. The top two teams in the championship race advance to the NXN Championships in Portland, Oregon, on December 2.