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Newark Boys are league champs The Wayne -Finger Lakes Cross County League knew that the Newark Reds would be the team to beat this season.
The Newark juniors were considered the best 1-2 punch in the Section. Patrick Tellier, one of Newark's top five a year ago, was also returning. Given the improvement expected from Mike Griepsma, Dan Frey, and Jamie Bialek, it looked as though the Reds were the favorites to win the League title that they shared with Waterloo last season. Then, exchange student Gudeta Roba showed up, and the Reds were even better! No one expected one team to have three runners of that caliber. Through their regular League season, Roba, Contario, and Chambers finished 1-2-3 in every race they ran together and, in invitationals, Newark's top three outran the top runners from every other school in New York State. The Reds were a perfect 22-0 going into Saturday's Wayne-Finger Lakes Championship Meet at Silver Hilll Technologies Park (formerly Stuart Park). All 23 teams of the Wayne-Finger Lakes League were represented, and League Championships are determined by combining the regular season record with the results of the League Championship Meet. Competing in the unseasonably hot weather, Newark again beat every team in the League, to finish the season with an unblemished 44-0 record. Gudeta Roba won the 3.1 mile race in 17:01, with Jesse Contario just two seconds behind. Waterloo's Steve Higgins barely beat Chambers to the tape. Peter's fourth place time was 17:30. Tellier finished tenth in 18:23, and Griepsma was 10 seconds behind, in 12th place. Frey and Bialek placed 46th and 47th in the field of over 150 runners. Newark's top five runners were all named to the All-League team and Newark's score of 29 out-distanced runner-up Waterloo by 40 points. Canandaigua was third with 111 points. 'I think that we ran very well,' commented coach Joe Contario, whose teams have compiled a record of 102 wins and 10 losses since he became the skipper of the Cross Country Reds. 'To have your five scorers in the top 12 in a field of 23 teams is a rare thing! Patrick and Mike especially had great races. Twenty-nine points is an unusually low score to win this meet. Usually the League Meet winners score around seventy. Our score actually tied the rest of the field! I just hope that we run this well next Saturday at the Sectionals. If we do, we'll earn another trip to the State Championships!' Last year, Newark's boys were the Section V representatives to the State Meet. The Sectionals will be held tomorrow at Marcus Whitman High School in Rushville. The Reds, currently ranked 3rd among Class B schools in New York State, will seek to extend their Sectional win streak to 3 in a row. 'We'd love to 3-peat, and then do well at the State Meet,' said Contario. 'I know that our kids will come through.' Copyright © 1999 |
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After all, they were the defending, two-time, Section
V, Class BB Champions, and were returning their top two runners, Jesse Contario and Peter
Chambers, who had placed second and third in last year's Sectionals. Contario added the
State Championship in the two-mile run during last track season.