The energy field had been building over the past couple of years, virtually
undetected and hidden among the rolling and pastoral hills of central Washington
County. Then, on a cloudless Saturday in mid-September of this year, it struck
with the suddenness of the finest stealth technology, a jarring bolt from
the blue delivered into the midst of a crowd of high school athletes, coaches
and spectators who were left gaping in disbelief at what they had just witnessed…...the
emergence of the Argyle Scot's girls cross country team.
Argyle? Argyle and cross country? Argyle, the school with a total of some
740 students in K-12 (188 of them in high school) all housed in one building?
Argyle, athletically categorized as a Class D school and known as a basketball
community? Yes, Argyle and most definitely cross country!
OK, so Argyle has a cross country team….what's the big deal? Only that
a) the program is in but its second year of existence, b) the competition
on September 21st was in the Sandy Morley Championship at the Guilderland
Invitational and featured some of the top Class A and B girls teams in New
York State - including Colonie High School, ranked second only behind current
national champion Saratoga Springs, Shenendehowa (10th-ranked Class A), Niskayuna
(15th-ranked Class A), and Franklin Academy (5th-ranked Class B), c) Argyle
crushed the field, defeating second place Colonie by 33 points and d) the
Scot's scoring team consisted of a bunch of seventh graders and a freshman!
This is heady stuff in the nearly invisible world of cross country racing
where only the runners, coaches and parents seem to grasp the effort and tenacity
of spirit required to excel individually or collectively as a team. A single
outstanding runner from any class of school flourishing against other individuals
is not uncommon, but a bunch of Class D twelve to fourteen year olds beating
up on ranked teams above their class definitely is not. Further investigation
into this phenomenon was warranted.
An e-mail and a phone call provided me with an opportunity to meet with the
Argyle coach, Bob Lane, who is also the elementary school principal, and,
from a runner's perspective, counts nationally-known coach Jack Daniels among
his mentors.
Arriving at the school at mid-afternoon following the end of the classroom
day, I found Mr. Lane attending to a myriad of duties, including coordinating
the team's workout with his assistant coach, Jill Morris. Talking for a few
minutes in his office, I learned that the Argyle cross country program, which
had been dormant for a number of years, was reactivated by the school board
last year at the request of Mr. Lane and a group of parents due to a growing
interest shown by a number of area youths who had been training and competing
on a club basis for a couple of years. Traveling to available track meets
and cross country runs as far removed as Long Island, Boston and Florida,
the club members began to show a collectively remarkable level of running
talent at middle distance events, culminating in last year's sixth graders
- this year's core of seventh graders - finishing in the top 10 of cross country
teams at the Junior Olympics held at Disney World.
The team, as Coach Lane explained, basically consists of members who are friends
on and off the field of competition, supportive of one another, having fun
while they ascend to higher levels of success, yet not feeling undue individual
pressures. This last quality is due in no short part to the level of running
talent they each already possess which allows them to train and compete as
a group, a key to cross country team success.
Not proponents of mega-mileage for their young charges, coaches Lane and Morris
appear to follow the "quality over quantity" philosophy, with team
members arriving at the start of the cross country season with good speed
honed through summer competition. Once in season, training and racing takes
place five to six times a week, with workouts usually short in nature (by
the time Mr. Lane and I had finished our conversation and moved outdoors,
the girls had already finished their workout for that day). Keeping everyone
mentally and physically fresh is a priority with both coaches.
Obviously one invitational does not a season make, but in this case Guilderland
appears to have been nothing more than a harbinger of better things to come.
Competing in the Waseren League against similarly-sized schools, the Scots
have used the league meets as building blocks leading to weekend competitions
on a larger scale.
The first Saturday in October found the team heading south again, this time
to the long-running Grout Invitational in Schenectady, a meet that also traditionally
assembles a deep field that includes a number of state-ranked teams. Competing
in Division II against the likes of 3rd-ranked Class A Columbia and Shenendehowa,
Argyle placed first again by a five-point margin, in spite of their usual
number five runner being out of the meet with a cold. Once again, team depth
had prevailed.
One week later it was south again, but this time to New York City and the
30th Manhattan College Invitational held on VanCortland Park's 2.5 mile course.
The college labels its meet as "the biggest and best" high school
invitational in the country," a boast that has some merit, but might
possibly be contested by a few others. Regardless, this year's addition featured
teams from 326 schools and fourteen states, and a total of 9,460 runners,
a new meet record. It also featured a course turned into a quagmire of ankle-deep
mud by a day of heavy rain. Oh, and one more thing….Saratoga and its
band of seasoned gazelles was also in the field. Heady stuff to throw a group
of relative cross country neophytes into the midst of.
Saratoga had its "A" race going from the start and, led by arguably
one of the top high school girl cross country runner in the country, freshman
Nicole Blood (who has been competing in - and winning - a number of TAR-area
races over the past two years), the Streaks took four of the top five finishing
places and had their fifth runner place 11th overall, with Blood winning the
race in 14:25.4.
However, stunning the remainder of the field was….Argyle, scoring 113
points to top third place Warwick Valley by 17, and Columbia by 27, as the
Scots once again used a tight group of runners to finish their top five between
8th and 48th place. Seventh-grader Caitlin Lane was their first finisher in
15:27.8, followed closely by Emily Fung (15:56.2-7th grade), Ashley Fung (16:03.4-7th
grade), Klara Varosy (16:26.7-9th grade), and Brittania O'Keefe (16:54.8-7th
grade). Yet another 9th-grader, Cassidy Norton, finished with a fine 18:10.2
in the treacherous footing. In their wake, the Scots left teams from New Jersey,
Vermont, Maryland, Massachusetts, and California wondering who this young
band of Washington County runners were, and how had they arrived so near the
top this quickly.
The answer, in simple terms, appears to be talent and depth - a deadly combination
in the world of cross country where any of the top seven finishers on a team
can individually make the difference between a team victory or a lower placement.
While the members of any team will obviously separate themselves into a hierarchy
of ability based on the individual's speed, endurance, experience, tenacity,
self-confidence and pain threshold, the teams that continually excel at high
levels of competition are those whose members closely mimic each other at
the high end of the ability and desire scale. Grouping runners together or
near each other throughout the race is a proven formula for cross country
success. Argyle, as with Saratoga, possesses team members who, even at a young
age, understand the role each plays in assuring team success.
In addition to the team members noted above, the Scots have rounded out their
talented varsity roster with Kim Pinkowski (12th grade), Juniors Suzie Fronhofer,
Katie McWhorter, and Krissy Rasanen, Sophomores Jen Caffarel and Colleen Fullerton,
9th-graders Maryann Caden, Amanda Davis and Kelsey Williamson, and 7th-grader
Hannah Davidson.
Waiting and running in the wings on the Modified Team are 8th graders Chelsea
Morehouse and Victoria Graves, along with 7th graders Samantha Valentine,
Sophie Varosy, Jessica LaPlante, Alexis Mazzochi, Mikayla Rivers and Kristen
Luce.
As we enter the latter portions of October, Argyle is currently ranked the
top Class D Girls Cross Country Team in New York, and they would be the second
ranked Class A school based on head-to-head competition. As of October 14th,
"Harrier Magazine," which ranks high school teams and individuals
nationally, lists the Scots the 4th best girls team in the Northeast Region,
regardless of school size, behind only Saratoga, Wyomissing (PA), and Cardinal
O'Hara (also PA).
Where do the Scots head from here? Well, as this article heads to press, they
have tuned up for their league's championship meet by winning the Schuylerville
Invitational on October 19th, an event based on total team time, rather than
the normal scoring system. Argyle's reported seven second victory over East
Meadow was a product of placing their finishers second, fourth, sixth, seventh,
and eighth.
Beyond that, and barring catastrophic injuries or illnesses, there is the
Section II meet that serves as the team and individuals qualifier for the
NYSPHSAA Championships to be held November 9th at Sunken Meadow State Park,
Kings Park, NY (girls Class D race at 10:30 AM). If good things happen at
the State Meet, they will move on to the New York State Federation Meet, to
be held on November 16th at Bowdoin Park, Wappinger Falls, NY (girls race
at 12:15 PM) where they would be pitted against the state's best teams, public,
private and parochial, regardless of class.
The meteoric success Argyle is experiencing is still under-appreciated by
the area surrounding its rural setting, and has been virtually ignored by
the local media in its high school sports coverage. Ironically, the Capitol
District papers have done features on the team, particularly the running-wise
and informed reporters at the Schenectady Gazette. Coach Lane, however, notes
that the Argyle community - individuals and businesses alike - have been highly
supportive of the team from its inception through the present.
oo0oo
Were Argyle's season to end today, it would still have to be considered a
surprising, unmitigated success. The fact that there is still a ways to go
before the final analysis is written of the team's accomplishments serves
only to prod the anticipation of those following the girls' ascent. What lies
beyond in the seasons and years ahead will be a function of their collective
will, patience, and dedication mitigated one way or the other by their individual
physicality, goals and feelings of accomplishment. The trip to the top, while
physically demanding, is an exhilarating, goal-filled journey. Fortunately
for the Scots, they have already separated themselves from most of the pack,
are focused on the future, and show few signs of bothering to look back.
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