1987

As the race establishes an identity, the results begin to look eerily similar; the same names keep turning up again and again, changing finishing places only slightly. George Buckheit becomes the first two-time men's champion; his 50-second margin of victory is the largest in race history. Nancy Sayre becomes the second women's repeat winner. The Albertus men nail down their third straight team title with a customarily easy victory. Combined scoring is introduced for the first time, but yours truly has duly separated the scoring into men's and women's. We are uncomfortable with the unfamiliar. North Rockland thus drops from second to third in the men's race, as Sayre would have counted as the Red Raiders' fifth runner.

A couple of individual notes: this is the only race that Albertus legend Jamie Kempton has ever missed. He can explain, and does:

"There's been only one year when the race did not go off at noon. That was in 1987, when the starting time was 11 a.m. I'll have to take the blame for the change in starting time. My motives were a little selfish. That year, the national cross country championships were held at Van Cortlandt the same day as the Alumni Run, and I had committed to running at nationals (the only time I've ever missed an Alumni Run). But I still wanted to see the Alumni Run. So I asked that the start be moved up by one hour, to 11 a.m., and my request was granted.
"Big mistake. A number of people showed up expecting to run at noon, only to learn that the race was over and people were well into their celebratory mode at the Bear Mountain Inn. Boy, did I take a lot of flak for that! Needless to say, the race went back to its traditional noon start and has remained so ever since."

Despite never winning an individual title, Jamie has finished in the top 10 in every other Alumni race (ed. note: at the time of this writing), and scored for seven of Albertus' eight championship teams. From another individual standpoint, note the appearance of my old high school coach, and Clarkstown North alumnus Bob Dillon in 27th place. I have to credit him, not only with being an excellent coach, but also with forming the foundation of our now-successful Alumni team.

Men's Top 30

1. George Buckheit (AM '75) 14:54
2. Steve Francis (Arlington '77) 15:44
3. Mike Collins (Mepham '78) 15:51
4. Harry Carle (Bergen Catholic '86) 15:54
5. Pat Chambers (AM '76) 15:59
6. John McNulty (Nan '75) 16:03
7. Barry Braun (TZ '76) 16:12
8. Bret Watzka (Nan '76) 16:29
9. Martin Carle (Bergen Catholic '74) 16:32
10. Jim Dinan (Nan '87) 16:33
11. Larry Beckerle (AM '73) 16:36
12. John McNiff (AM '75) 16:44
13. Ed Roper (CN '84) 16:46
14. Michael Coakley (CN '87) 16:47
15. Scott Allan (CS '84) 16:47
16. Gene Foley (Nan '78) 16:59
17. Pete Algert (TZ '83) 17:06
18. Jay Kaplan (SV '67) 17:24
19. Al McAlpine (Arlington '76) 17:33
20. Andy Moss (CS '87) 17:36
21. Pete Merena (NR '78) 17:38
22. Bob Hudson (TZ '74) 17:41
23. Tom Donohue (CS '75) 17:51
24. Gary Wirchansky (CN '84) 18:02
25. Dave Feuer (NR '80) 18:24
26. Dan Murray (CN '87) 18:26
27. Bob Dillon III (CN '71) 18:28
28. Craig Goldberg (NR '87) 18:36
29. Greg Kirsch (Ny '70) 18:38
30. Mike Angarola (Blessed Sacrament '69) 18:48
    

Women's Top 10

1. Nancy Sayre (NR '86) 19:18
2. Julie Mintz (Ram '82) 20:18
3. Dawn Newsome (CS '86) 20:39
4. Ann McGrath (Elkhart '78) 21:13
5. Christine Balvo (AM '85) 21:30
6. Laura Hudson (Old Tappan '77) 21:55
7. Barbara Noyes (TZ '75) 24:26
8. Jean Rucco (PR '79) 24:33
9. Wendy May (PR '87) 24:33
10. Diane Iriarte (PR '83) 24:41
    

Total Number of Runners: 101

Team Participation: 1. Pearl River 14, 2. Albertus Magnus 12, 3. Tappan Zee 10, 4. Clarkstown South 9, 5. North Rockland 8, 6. (tie) Clarkstown North and Ramapo 7, 8. (tie) Nanuet and Nyack 5, 10. Spring Valley 4, 11. Bergen Catholic (NJ) 2

Men's Team Scoring

1. Albertus Magnus 61 (Buckheit, Chambers, L. Beckerle, J. McNiff, Mulligan)
2. Clarkstown North 128
3. North Rockland 134
4. Clarkstown South 136
5. Tappan Zee 153
6. Pearl River 207
   

Women's Team Scoring

1. Pearl River 50 (Rucco, May, Guerci, Iriarte, Gulla)
   

No other complete teams