September 25, 2010

Posted by ahhsxc on September 26, 2010 at 6:03 PM

Robin and Jason Bring Home

the Fred Gressler Trophies



   A small, but determined, group of Hamilton runners climbed on to an early 

morning bus to compete in the first invitational of the season. It felt more like

 summer than autumn on this warm, stick morning, but our harriers were  ready 

to give it their all.
   First race of the day was the boys' varsity. Jason led the way. His 19:38 didn't 

match Arnold's 2008 effort of 18:50, but it was good enough to secure him a 13th

 place finish and only the 2nd Hamilton trophy won at this meet. Alexis, "el 

Torro", battled one of rival Keio's runners to the finish line with a 23:36 on the 

hilly White Plains H.S. course. Allen, running with a banged up foot, cruised to a 

25:12. James turned an ankle late in the race and was a DNF.


   For the first time we had entries in the Freshman events. Aram gave it his 

all in the boys' race. The highlight of the day though was the girls' freshman 

race. Robin, sharp after her great run earlier in the week, came back with an 

outstanding 2nd place finish at the 1.5 mile distance. The future couldn't be

 brighter for this promising athlete. Let's hope Haldane doesn't know about her 

yet. Mikayla and Shanelle also gave gutsy performances in the race as well.


   The girls varsity race was not what I had hoped. SAT classes and prior 

committments left us with only two runners toeing the line. Dulce tested her 

knee at the 5k distance and KZ used the race as a return to the 3.1 mile 

distance. 

    Isaiah was the lone Hamilton runner in the boys' JV race. Starting off with 110 

runners, the 10th grader got a true introduction to the tough sport of XC. He 

even had the good fortune to have a runner puke his guts up in front of him..

. I've said it before: " Cross country is freakin' hard!". Completing the 5K 

distance for the first time (pictured below) Isaiah can take comfort in knowing 

that they don't get any longer than that.

   As I told the gang at the meet. Ok, that's it. The easy part is over. It's time for 

the real work of this season to begin.

Next race Tuesday at Westlake 

The Brewster Bear Classic

Posted by ahhsxc on October 2, 2010 at 5:03 PM

Jason Breaks Arnold's 5K Record!
Angelene and Robin medal in frosh race

   Jason on his way to a new Hamilton record

   After days of gloomy rain, the day dawned dry and bright. A crisp October 

morning, just pefect for XC running. Once again a "skeleton" team of Hamilton's 

most dedicated runners were climbing on to a 7am bus heading for another 

race.The destination today was a new one, The Brewster Bear Classic. This was 

our first visit to this event, but I doubt it will be our last.

   As soon as we got off the bus we knew we were at a big meet. We walked past 

the orange Nike bus, t-shirt vendors, food stands, and the multi colored tents of 

the other 47 teams. Finally we found ourselves a nice, dry spot right across from

 the p.a. system that was blasting music. Maybe it was the music or maybe the

large crowd, but you just got the feeling that today was going to be an exciting 

day.

   First race up was the girls' freshman race. Shanelle, Mikayla, Robin and 

Angelene were filled with eagerness and couldn't wait to strip off their sweats 

and toe the line. (Ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating a little) The girls' race was a 

quick 1.5 miler. Robin and Angelene both finished in the medals coming in 17th 

and 19th. Angelene also brought home a PR as did Mikayla both of them running

about a minute faster than previously. That was the first indication of what was 

to happen later that morning. Ariel was up next. Running solo in the boys' frosh 

race, he also set a PR slashing his time by about a minute. It quickly became

 clear this Brewster course might be muddy, but it was obviously not slow.

   Because of our bear bones roster (Come on you missing guys, you have to 

show up for Saturday meets) a deciion was made to skip the varsity races and to

run our squads in the JV races. This meant that Jason and company would have

to run in a larger field, but we had no idea how much larger. The JV race took 

off with 330 runners in it (see the video section of the site). At the blast of the

starter's horn our boys in red and white charged out with the rest of the mini

army that wound itself up the first grassy hill. The weather conditions were

perfect and Jason was ready to "seize the day"and run into the Hamilton record 

books. He blazed through the course, his ninth place finish at 18:22 eclipsed

Arnold Lane's 2008 record of 18:40. This makes Jason now the top runner in

modern day Hamilton XC history. Hopefully, this is a record that will continue to

fall as Jason and Joel push each other through the rest of this season. Alexis

(21:45), James (23:15), Travis(25:37)  and Isaiah(25:37) also all PRd as well.

Coming back from a DNF at Westlake, Brandon also PRd (23:27) and impressively

so after having to recover from being pushed and falling at the crowded start.

   The girls' JV race found Dulce all alone on the starting line. Hats go off to

Dulce. Her courage, dedication, and determination to comeback from her

injured knee has been an inspiration to this team. Hoping to just get another

low stress 5k under her belt, she started the race just hoping to finish steady and

strong. However, the results wound up being better than that. She took 

advantage of the relatively flat course to run a 26:08, only a minute slower that

her PR at the State Meet last season. We could not have hoped for a better

performance. Our finger remained crossed


  It was a happy team that spent the rest of the meet soaking up the sunshine,

collecting free colored spikes and laces from the Nike bus and chilling to the

music. And as if things hadn't gone well enough for Coach Aiello. He also got to

see his son Dom PR and run into the #3 spot for New Ro. All in all a great day. It

almost makes you look forward to the next meet: our return to

Briarcliff.....almost.



    Robin, Angelene and Jason bringing home the hardware

September 28, 2010

Posted by ahhsxc on October 1, 2010 at 5:21 PM

Girls Run to Biggest Margin of Victory Ever

Crush Westlake

   Three years ago the Hamilton Girls' XC team lost every meet they competed in. Not because they were slow, but when you don't have an official team of five members you automatically lose by the shut out score of 15-50. Today Hamilton's ladies won their dual meet against the home team Westlake by that same shut  out score. Not because Westlake didn't have enough girls, but because ours were so much faster. Led by freshman Robin Jessamy and sophomore Daisy Pogyo the Lady Raiders had seven girls cross the finish line before the first Westlake runner made it home.
   The times don't tell the story of this tough course. Though I didn't see the back section, I heard many a story about the steep descents, mud, logs and rocks. The course took it's toll on our team with both Sydney and Jason finishing with aching knees, and Brandon being injured during the first loop. Luckily, the course didn't knock out Dulce who was able to complete another re-hab run on the challenging course. Kathleen, Angelen,and Kazia were the other finisher for the girls' side today.
   Our boys, those who were able to show up, had a tougher time today. The team was with out any seniors today for several reasons.Led by Jason the Hamilton Harriers just couldn't keep up with Westlake and Keio. Though we are getting closer. Once again Alexis and James gave gutsy performances and Isaiah completed another 5k. Congratulations also go out to Travis who completed his first 5k and to freshman Ariel Portillo who came through today in the #3 spot.
   Unfortunately, the camera we brought had no memory card so we have no visual record of  today, but it will be a long time before the girls forget this victory. Congratulations to charter members Kathleen, Dulce and Sydney you deserved this victory! Next up the Brewster Bear Classic on Saturday and then back to the "mountain": Briarcliff on Tuesday.

vs. Briarcliff and Blindbrook

Posted by ahhsxc on October 13, 2010 at 7:36 PM

Robin Wins !

Girls Take Two!

Tré makes his comeback

   When we heard that the meet was being moved from Briarcliff High due to 

unsafe conditons we figured that any course had to be better than 'he "mountain".

The team had never run at Rockwood Hill Park before, so we were not sure what

we were getting into. Well, it couldn't have been better. We discovered a 

challenging but beautiful course practically next door to Elmsford. With one big 

hill, gentle wood paths and sweeping views of the Hudson this was sure to be 

one of the best courses we had ever seen.

   Guys went first.We had some solid performances on the guys' side with Joel

and Jason coming in 4 and 5 @ 19:43 and 19:45. Allen took the #3 spot back

today at 22;14 with Alexis four seconds behind. Tré decided to run today and took

 the #5 spot at 22:59. Brandon was next up the hill with a PR of 23:00. Followed

by frosh Ariel, Travis and Isaiah. The boys couldn't overcome a strong Briarcliff 

team losing 21-40. The results were a lot closer against Blind Brook who just 

edged us out at 25-30.

   On the girls' side it was another great race with the lady Raiders running away 

with two victories: 25-30 against Briarcliff and 15 -NS  against Blind Brook. Robin 

had the race of the day. Going into the last hill with Briarcliff's top girl right on her 

heels Robin showed that she might be young but she's not weak. She 

managed to stretch out a 14 second lead in the last half mile. Daisy held off a 

strong finish from another Briarcliff runner to finish third. Syd also fought hard to

secure 5th for the team. I've always thought the girls' team was kind of odd and

they proved that today coming in with Kathleen in 7th, Angelene in 9th and Dulce 

in 11th. Only Kazia finished in an even place in 12th. Great job girls. The future is

 bright. Next meet back to Valhalla where the girls will try to defend their league 

champs title.