Cross Country
Sacred Heart closes season at Federation race
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Missing three starting runners, Sacred Heart's cross country team finished 27th at the New York State Federation race on Saturday at Bowdoin State Park in Wappinger Falls, N.Y.

Starters Brittney Gibbons and Jackie and Jenna Piecuch did not compete. Anna Ministero (238th, 24:35.5), Carly Hall (246th, 26:09.2) and Mary Russell (249th, 26:32.9) filled in. Kim Patterson led all Sacred Heart runners, finishing 208th in 22:46.2. Kerry Hurley was second (229th, 23:32.9), Amanda Zanghi was third (236th, 24:15) and Stephanie Smith was fifth (245th, 26:09) for the Sharks.

"We were hoping for better results but Patterson, Zanghi and Hurley raced what I expected them to," said Sacred Heart coach Rod Sarkovics. "They knew they had to pick up the slack. Ministero ran a better race than what I expected."

"The girls kind of gutted it out and did the best they could," he added. "It's a team effort and if someone is injured and can't race that day then I expect the next girl in line to step into the spot and that's exactly what they did."

In other cross country news:

Sweet Home's Jacob Hagen finished seventh in the boys race at the All-Western New York Checkers/Runners Roost Invitational Sunday at East Aurora High School. Hagen finished in 18:12 and earned All-WNY First Team honors. Teammate Ryan Poley was 15th in 19:18. Williamsville North's Dave Johnson (35th, 20:24), Geoff Hurley (37th, 20:30) and Jon Adler (47th, 24:10) also competed.

Sweet Home's Megan Niblock finished 14th in the girls race in 22:41. Her younger sister Katie was 23rd in 24:06. Amherst's Brenna Symoniak (15th, 22:41) and Arielle Januszkiewicz (32nd, 26:09.19) also ran.

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