Boys and Girls Take the Big Red Cross Country Invitational

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On Sunday October 13, Somers hosted the school’s annual Big Red Cross Country Invitational, and while ongoing construction could be distracting, the disruption didn’t take away from the more important sights, according to Mia Sandolo. “I like how the team is looking,” said the senior, and the imagery was even better on the run.

The boys and girls both came in first place and are looking forward to doing more damage in the postseason.

At the top, 19.51 was good enough for Sandolo’s first place finish. “I was kind of out front with Lily Day from Lakeland pretty much the entire race,” said the senior.

Not too far, she paced for a while with the second place finisher until reaching the main upturn. “I pulled away coming out of the hill,” said Sandolo.

New to the running course, the steep incline was missed by not one runner. “Coming out of the woods, I tried to drive with my knees and push with my arms to get up it,” said Sandolo.

She didn’t mind the final turn, though. “Last year, it was flat to the finish, and now there’s a nice gradual downhill,” said the runner.

Up next, Julia Aquilino had a different take on the finish. “The stretch is shorter, so you definitely have to push it quicker,” said the fourth place finisher (20.49).

On the lead up, the senior maintained proximity and ultimately kept her eyes on the gage. “I wanted to stay close to Mia and then see what I had left,” said Aquilino.

Brooke Fazio relied on the herd too. “I try to use my teammates to keep on pace and then try to push myself for the best time,” said the sixth place finisher (21:16)

Of course, she also needed inspiration on the hill, and the past and present were on the ready with the cheers. “Our team atmosphere is great, and then to have some graduates come to support us, it’s super nice to see,” said the senior.

On the boys side, Aidan See and the rest of the field didn’t really get much of a look at Owen Staley of Sleepy Hollow. “Like 800 meters in,” See said the winner became a blur.

A full ninety seconds separated Staley from second place. Still, See had no problem settling for third (18:13) and the same goes for running the new course. “We added a lot more hills, but I think overall it went pretty good,” said the sophomore.

The downhill didn’t hurt, though. That’s where I made up most of the ground, he revealed.

As for Christian Lobasso, familiarity helped fuel his 8th place finish (18:28). “We definitely have home field advantage,” said the sophomore. “We know when to push and when not to push.”

Unfortunately, he didn’t have much choice on the major incline. “My arms were hurting, and my stomach cramped up,” said Lobasso.

The pain in the mind couldn’t be denied either.. “The hill is very humbling,” said Gianni Bernardi.

Conquering enough to finish in 19th, his beginning was a lot less uncertain. “I like to aim for the middle,” he said. “If you’re too far behind, then you waste a lot of energy trying to catch up. But if you’re in front, I feel like you exert a lot of energy to get up there. So I think the middle is just enough,” assured the junior.

So were the first place team finishes. “We are all very proud,” concluded Bernardi.

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