Congratulations to Eric Stermer who broke 15 minutes for the first time indoors running 14:59.03 at the Valentine Invitational at Boston University over the long weekend.  In addition, Michelle Staiger ran 10:53.29 over 3000 meters at the Tufts Invitational, dipping under 11 minutes for the first time.  You make us extremely proud, people!!! 

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Three months after the fact, I finally loaded up some of the pictures that were taken at the State Championships.  There are others but I haven't as yet been able to figure out how to load them up.  I'll keep working on it.  SORRY!!!

In other news, both Sarah Krizan and Laura Haley achieved New York State Honorable Mention All Star Status for Class C.  Their excellent showing at states being probably what kicked them up into that elite company.  Still no word on the boys side of things.  Keep checking for more updates. 

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Eric Stermer finished 6th overall at the NCAA Northeast Regional Qualifier at Letchworth State Park on Saturday to lead his Cortland State Team to the victory stand.   We wish him and his Red Dragons teammates the best as they prepare to defend their Division III National Championship in two weeks in Berea, Ohio (Baldwin-Wallace).  Eric ran a time of 25:24 for the 8k course.   

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What a difference a year makes.  Last year at this time I was very disappointed that more Blue Devils hadn't made it to Sunken Meadows for the state championships.  This year you can't wipe the smile off my face.  What a great weekend we had in Plattsburgh (and Burlington) this year.  Even though the unseasonably warm and dry weather didn't hold off and the course wasn't all that interesting, our kids made it memorable. 

After a quiet ride up to the North Country (the kids either listening to their iPods or sleeping), we traded our Code of Conduct forms for our competitor bib numbers and shirts, previewed the course and visited with fellow Section IV athletes and coaches and even 2009 CF alum and Plattsburgh State student Drew Kachmor.  We then spent the next 75 minutes driving and being ferried across Lake Champlain to our home for the night in Burlington, VT.  After a scrumptious meal at the Olive Garden, we drove around Burlington for a bit and then turned in for the night, literally.  None of us saw the other side of 9:30 PM!  I was worried that we might stay up too late, that Laura was sicker than she let on or that we would oversleep and then encounter a traffic jam at the ferry dock and rush Colin's preparation for his 10:40 AM Class C Championship race.  I needn't have worried.  Everything went perfectly, including our ferry ride across a perfectly calm lake with our friends from Camp Owahta and the Greenwood Park workout (the Marathon team) aboard too. 

The weather had just started to deteriorate a bit as the gun signaling the start of Colin's race sounded.  He ran a very prudent race, finishing 39th out of a field of 130 of the state's finest Class C runners.  He and his Section IV teammates had the highest team finish of the day for our section, a third, behind the powerhouses from Sections 1 and 3.  

By the time the girls ran, the skies had opened up, soaking the contestants, spectators and the course itself, which became a mudpit in places.  They got off to a slow start, in the middle of the pack at the mile mark, but gradually moved up into the top 40 in the next mile or so.  They continued passing runners all the way to the finish.  Sarah garnered 32nd place and Laura, 33rd.  It is fitting that in a season where they took turns leading our team, they would run the whole race within 10 meters of each other and finish 3 tenths of a second apart, 20:10.2 to 20:10.5!  Had the weather not slowed the course so significantly (some of the hairpin turns were so treacherous, they literally had to tiptoe around them), they would both have easily broken 20 for the first time.  They led Section IV to a fifth place finish out of the 11 teams assembled.   

Aside from the 11 hours we spent in the car round trip, the steady rain in the afternoon and the less than stellar course, I couldn't have been more pleased with the whole weekend.  After all, we were in Plattsburgh, NY in mid- November.  It could have been dreadful, but it wasn't.  It was a great weekend for the Blue Line Express!!!!     

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Coach Brooks will be plenty busy next week as the Indoor Track season begins and thanks to the determined efforts of Colin Staiger, Laura Haley and Sarah Krizan, the Cross Country season marches on.  All three earned trips to Plattsburgh for next weekend's New York State Cross Country Championships.  James Allen will travel with the team as the first alternate after a valiant effort fell just short.  Colin and Laura were third overall and Sarah fifth in the Section IV Class C contest.  The boys race was won by last year's NYS Class C champion, Max Straneva.  The girls team claimed the runnerup trophy losing only to the state's 2nd ranked Class C team.       

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