vs.Briarcliff and Pleasantville

Girls win first meet,

Jacey wins it all

With a warm late summer sun shining from above, the Hamilton cross country team started its 2009 campaign. The harriers traveled to Briarcliff H.S. to run against the host team and Pleasantville.

The day started with the Hamilton team getting a walking tour of the challenging course. One look at the ‘mountain’ that is the heart of the Briarcliff course left the Hamilton team gasping. This was clearly going to be one hard afternoon. 2.95 miles later, there was no doubt left, this was one tough course.

The day belonged to the Hamilton Lady Raiders. The team was led by Jacey who won the girls’race. Her gutsy 23:36 performance, followed by efforts from Sydney, Dulce, Aiyana, Kathleen and Kazia combined to defeat Briarcliff earning the Hamilton girls’ XC program its first victory ever.

Though victory eluded the boys’ team today, there were some bright spots. Tre (21:25) and Joel (21:33) in their cross country debuts finished in the top ten. Well sort of… Joel should have finished in the top 10. Unfortunately, he took a right turn when he should have turned left and well you know… Allen picked up the #3 spot with a strong 22:40. Joji and Stephen closed off the Hamilton scoring at 24:01 and 24:03 respectively.

Special mention must be made of Alexis, Aiyana, James and Kazia, all of whom had one tough introduction to cross country. This has to be one of the toughest courses around. Still not one of them quit, and after all that’s what it’s all about.

****next week the squad travels to Somers, site of the October county championship.

2009 Season kickoff

Hamilton Harriers Ready to Toe the Line for a New Season

The Hamilton Cross Country team is back for its second season. This year’s team features a mix of veterans and newcomers eager to hit the trails and take on their competition.

On the boys’ side the team is led by captain Allen Thomas, a returning junior. Allen is looking to focus on the 400 and 800 this year, but first he has a squad to lead through the woods. The team’s top spot is up for grabs with two XC rookies looking to make some noise in our league. Tre Bracey, who is already aiming for a spot on the Section 1 spring pentathlon team, is looking for the XC season to sharpen his 1500m skills. Sophomore Joel Kuruvilia is hoping to build on last year’s successful winter and spring track seasons, and if he lives up to expectations he could be running at the State Meet in Plattsburgh this November. The other top seven spots are still wide open with Stephen Samuel(sr.), Joji Jacob(jr.), Anish Thomas (jr.), Bryant Villa (jr.) and John Varkey (soph.) battling to fill out the varsity roster.

Needless to say, whoever misses the varsity squad will be leading a much more potent JV squad than last year. Returning seniors Soe Latt-Naing and Robert Muller are constantly improving and just waiting for a chance to crack into the top seven. The team is rounded out by Brandon Singh (soph.) and freshmen James Tobias and Alexis Xelo whose fresh faces, effort and enthusiasm represent the future of the team.

On the girls’ side the sky is the limit. Our hopes are to capture a Section I title and punch a ticket for the whole girls’ varsity team to Plattsburgh. Junior Captain Sydney Bridges leads the team. Senior rookie Jacey Peers has Coach Aiello shaking his head wondering where she was last fall. A newcomer to the sport, Jacey’s performances last spring predict that she is sure to excel at the difficult 5k distance. The #3 spot for the moment seems to belong to last year’s most improved award winner, junior Dulce Rosas. The only question is: How good can she get? Kathleen Gonzales (jr.), coming off a disappointing spring season battling illnesses, is hoping to rebound this fall on the trails. The #5 spot is open with a whole group of shorter distance runners bravely venturing into a new sport looking to improve their conditioning for the winter and spring track seasons. Sophomores Aiyana Crew, senior Sheena Varghese, junior Alishya Thomas, sophomores Zuleima Mazo and Kazia Garvey are all in the hunt for spots on the varsity top seven.

Section 1’s leagues have been re-arranged for the 2009 season so the Hamilton Harriers will be running against Valhalla, Blind Brook and Keio Academy in their league meet. Not intimidated at all, the team is looking forward to the new competition. The season kicks off Tuesday, September 15 against Briarcliff H.S. This is the place to come to check on our results.

Section 1 Championship

5 Hamilton Runners Qualify for States
Boys’ race: lead pack goes astray,
Girls’ race: Kirstine Section 1 Champion

It was the best of days; it was the worst of days.

It was the worst of days… The Red Raiders headed to Bowdoin Park with high hopes for the Section1 Championship meet. Coming off a fine perfomance at the counties and being ranked #2 in the section, the boys were poised to make some noise and maybe put a scare into a heavily favored Keio team. Having never seen the challenging course the Hamilton plan was to lay back, keep Keio in sight for the first half of the race and then make a challenge on the way down the hill. The first mile went exactly to plan and then disaster struck.
The Keio runners led the lead pack off the course. In the blink of an eye runners that were in 18th,19th and 20th place emerged from the woods the unlikely leaders. After what seemed like an eternity, the lead pack got back on the course, but by then they had a tremendous amount of ground to make up. A Herculean effort by Arnold allowed him to get back into the race. Try as he might he couldn’t catch Haldane’s #6 runner who wound up winning the race in a slow 22:41. Arnold finished hard and fortunately was able to secure a spot on the Section 1 team heading for the State Meet. The extra half mile of running on the difficult course proved to be too much for the other Hamilton Harriers. Despite a valiant effort Hashem just couldn’t make up the disadvantage. The team results were equally shocking. Haldane, which was expected to finish in 4th place, wound up winning the meet, and Keio bested the Red Raiders for second place by just two points.

It was the best of days…The Lady Raiders, helped by the absence of Blind Brook’s team, capped off their season by all qualifying for next week’s State Championship Meet at Sunken Meadows Park on Long Island. No PRs were set on the difficult Bowdoin Park course, but Hamilton now has its first girls’ cross country sectional champion as Kirstine was able to cruise to an easy victory. The Haldane team claimed the girls’ crown by default, but we plan for them to have a much harder time next year when we return with a full girls’ squad.

Westchester County Championship

Hamilton Beats 10 Teams at
County Championship Meet

Harriers have best performance yet

Van Cortlandt Park, Thursday October 23, 2008

In what was without doubt their best running of the season, the Hamilton XC team finished a respectable 29th of 39 teams at the Westchester County Championship this past Thursday at VCP. The air was crisp and the shadows creeping up to the starting line made the 270 runners feel even colder, but Hamilton was ready to run. The Harriers were eager to put the disappointment of last week’s League Meet fiasco behind them, and they did so in a big way. The boys’ varsity team rose up to the level of competition with all seven setting PRs on the tough Van Cortlandt course. Coach Aiello remarked, “I can’t ask anymore of my runners than that they give me their best effort, and today they all did. At the start of the season our goal was to let people know that Hamilton Cross Country is back. Today there are at least ten teams in Westchester that know we ARE back.”
Now the focus switches to preparation for next week’s Section 1 Championship at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls. The race will be a full 3.1 miles. Can we qualify any runners for the State Championship?

notes:
- Arnold finished 51st out of 270
- Allen and Joji are knocking on the 17:00 door
- John Varkey debuts as a freshman runner with 11:15 for 1.5 miles
- Kirstine, Sydney and Kathleen set new PRs in the girls’ varsity race

Pictures soon to come!

League Meet

Hamilton Stumbles at League Meet
Harriers hampered by injury,illness and inelligiblity

VCP, Tuesday October 14, 2008

Hamilton had planned to cruise to an easy second place finish in the South League IV Championship Meet on Tuesday at Van Cortlandt Park. Instead the Red Shirts finished a disappointing third and were lucky to beat a Children’s Village team that they had dominated all season. The top seven were not anywhere near full strength with the absences of Jamar, Allen and Anish. Despite fine performances by Arnold, a fourth place finish that stopped a Dobbs Ferry sweep, and Russell , who ran a gutsy race and shaved 45 seconds off his PR, the team could not keep up today.
All was not dark however, Arnold and Hashem were named to the All League Team and Russell received Honorarble Mention honors. Also on the girls’ side, Kirstine was honored with an honorable mention to the All League team. Let’s hope the team pick itself up for the Westchester County Championships next week.

The Bobcat Run

Hamilton Brings Home Medals
Harriers set PRs at Bobcat Run,
Byram Hills , Saturday October 11, 2008

Hamilton was one of twenty teams that decided to bypass the crowds at the Manhattan Invitational in favor of running at the Bobcat Run in Byram Hills, and they are glad they did. PRs fell faster than the autumn leaves on this sunny, early October day. The day’s biggest improvements were seen in the boys’ JV race where Soe bested his 5K mark by almost five minutes. Not to be outdone freshman phenom, John Varkey, covered the distance an amazing eight minutes faster than his previous best.
Our boys’ varsity squad was hindered by the absence of Arnold and Jamar. Too bad, it would have been interesting to see what we could have done against a lineup of teams our size had we been at full strength. Nevertheless, the team stepped up with everyone running a strong race. Hashem and Allen brought home their first cross country medals. Kirstine led our finishers in the girls’ race. She also set a 5K PR and was awarded Hamilton’s first girls’ cross country medal ever. The team looks tuned up and ready to compete at Tuesday’s League Championship meet. Run Red Raiders run!

men
Arnold Lane DNR
Hashem Nasarat 20:25
Allen Thomas 21:28
Joji Jacob 22:38
Jamar Powell DNR
Anish Thomas 23:04
Russell Tobias 23:02
Bryant Villa DNR
Steve Samuel 23:51
John Varkey 25:23
Soe Latt-Naing 28:46
women
Kirstine Jessamy 23:00
Bridges, Sydney DNR 2:35
Rosas, Dulce 29:22 29:10
Gonzalez, Kathleen 27:49 31:29

Octoberfest!

The Great Pumpkin Relay
aka Octoberfest

Some times you just have to relax a little. After yesterday's race it seemed like the perfect time for a little fun. The rematch of Red vs. White never materialized, but that didn't stop everyone from running as hard as they could, holding a pumpkin that is. After the race we broke for some hotdogs, chips and soda. It was the perfect autumn afternoon with the sun shining and the colors just starting to change on the trees. Nice little break, just keep in mind the most important part of the season is still in front of us.