Rome – The resurgent VVS Red Devils Cross Country Team has made the most of their return to the Tri-Valley League this season, capturing the 2016 TVL Small School Division Championship.
On Tuesday afternoon at Staley Junior High School, the Red Devils improved to (7-1) in meets this season, topping both the hosts, RFA and fellow visitors Whitesboro, by scores of 20-25 and 23-32 respectively. Whitesboro and RFA each dropped to (5-3) in meets this season.
Rome’s Davone Hernandez leads VVS’ Owen Rose through the last water hazard on the course (Photo By – Jeff Pexton – Perfect Game Imaging).
The boy’s varsity division was won by Rome’s Davone Hernandez, New York State’s 23rd ranked cross country runner, with a winning time of 16:40.o3, a full 38 seconds ahead of VVS’ Owen Walker, who was pretty much stride for stride with Hernandez for the first trip around the course. Owen Rose of VVS was third, just 5 seconds behind his teammate, Walker.
Whitesboro’s Kyle Engelhart finished 4th with a time of 17:29, followed by VVS’ Robbie VanDreaser in 5th with a time of 17:40.7 .
Rounding out the top 10 on Tuesday were VVS’ Trevor Kline at 17:46 in 6th, Whitesboro’s Ryan Svitak at 17:50.1 in 7th, Tom Colicci of Whitesboro in 8th with a time of 17:50.9, Kameron Pratt of RFA in 9th at 17:54.8 and Seamus Riley in 10th place with a time of 17:58.3 .
VVS’ Trevor Kline (left) comes out of a stream just seconds ahead of Whitesboro’s Kyle Engelhart (right) during the varsity race at Staley Junior High on Tuesday. (Photo By – Jeff Pexton – Perfect Game Imaging)
The top finishers on the girls side of this co-ed meet were Marian Draper of RFA with a time of 18:41.34. Moriah Humiston of RFA was second at 19:14.15 and VVS’ Allison Donnelly was third at 19:59.8 . Whitesboro’s Sylvia Kryszczuk was the Warriors top female finisher with a time of 20:09.84
After the meet, VVS coach Mike Dunne told The Mid-York Sports Report how proud how he and Coach Bauer are of the Red Devils progress.
“It was definitely an exciting race for us because of our improvement over the last 2 years and the significance of our first year back in the TVL. Especially proud of our success competing with the large schools in the TVL (We defeated RFA, Proctor and WBoro) as we won the TVL Championship in the small school division” Dunne explained.
Whitesboro head coach Brian Holtslag was also pleased with his team’s performance on Tuesday, as the Warriors split the meet, defeating RFA and losing a close on to VVS. “This team is peaking at the right time, coming into what we refer to as championship season the next few weeks” Holstag told MYSR, adding “the runners have notched their best times of the season with only a few weeks to go which is what you want to see”.
Rome’s Marian Draper checks the pathway as she heads into the latter stages of the course. Draper was the top female finisher. (Photo By – Jeff Pexton – Perfect Game Imaging)
This Saturday all three of this teams and numerous others will converge on VVS High School for the annual Red Devil Invitational. The Tri-Valley Championships will be run on October 18th in Utica, followed by the Section III Championships in Chittenango on November 5th.
Best of luck to all runners from The Mid-York Sports Report.
