Hamilton Harriers Kick Off Season 

Against Croton and Blind Brook

by Alexander Huguenot

On Thursday afternoon the Hamilton Harriers traveled to beautiful Croton Gorge Park to kick off their 2014 season. The season's first opponents were Blind Brook and a very strong Croton team. Although both of these teams have been league opponents in the past, neither is in Hamilton's league this year. This early in the season the team's goal was simply to stretch out their legs and basically run a practice in uniform.

Boys ready to start the season

The boys team had a great beginning to their season. Seniors Aden Nasarat and Steveen Bernalworked well together during the race and they came in tied for 4th/5th place. Sophomor Ryan Alicea was next across the the line with a very strong finish. Felice was the 4th Hamilton runner to finish. The biggest surprise of the day was the #5 finisher. Eighth grader James Ricciardi waved Coach Aiello off at the half way mark and decided to run the whole race. An impressive performance for such a youngster. James' eighth grade buddy, Mike Napoli, decided to opt for just half a race, and that is just fine for now. Vishnu Unnithan and Jonathon Medina were next to complete the tough 5K course. Vishnu looked strong , and it was Jonathon's first time competing at this distance. Luciano Aprile and Chris Clough also finished well today.

Where as Coach Aiello felt pretty confident about what he

Aden and Steveen working together

would see on the boys' side. The same can't be said for the girls' side where things were a bit more uncertain. Starting this year with such an inexperienced squad, the question was how many girls would complete the course today. Expectations for the freshmen were to simply run half the course their first time out. Aiello was pleasantly surprised by how things turned out. Our freshmen girls ran as a pack for most of the race. Mikayla Green broke away from the pack late in the race and was the first Lady Raider finisher. Rachel Jessamy was the next girl home, like Ryan she finished with a very strong kick. Next girls in were Naomi Imaizumi an Gabby Blanks. Our fifth freshmen Erin decided half a race was enough on such a hot day. Senior rookie Alana survived her first 5K and finished with a smile. Sarin Itty was the next girl in for Hamilton. The bad news for us today was that Croton had done such a bad job of marking the course. This resulted in poor Arianna Albino making a wrong turn. The good news is we decided to give Arianna the unofficial 7K record. Though no one is exactly sure how far she ran.

All in all, it was a nice start to the season. The team has a weekend to rest up and then it's back to the races next Tuesday against a new opponent,Edgemont.