1998

The Suffern men's three-year stranglehold on the field came to an abrupt end in 1998. With the college graduations of Brian Rubin in 1997 and Jim Gerhart and Frank Gagliano in the spring of '98, the core of the Mounties' dominance suddenly found themselves faced with the real world, where training hours were a bit more difficult to come by. The field was thrown wide open, making for some entertaining racing. The result: Clarkstown South's first title with 70 points, a new record for the most points scored by an alumni race champ. Parity ruled the day.

Not so for the individual racing, however. Art Gunther proved his near-invincibility with his third straight crown and fourth overall, breaking John Trautmann's record for most titles by a male runner and tying Rita Keahon of Nanuet for the most individual wins, period. Julianne Littmann was able to break through after several years of top-notch racing to claim her first title for the women.

As for the heroes of the Purple and Gold: the class of '98 brought us two fresh faces from the Rams' 1997 Section I champions, and yes, we did think it was our year. Without Tom McCarney, though, who sat out the race with a stomach flu after having been our number one runner the previous two years, we were forced to settle for the runner-up spot. We would have to wait another year for that elusive victory.

In an interesting twist, for the first time in the 16-year history of the Alumni Run, there was a tie. Suffern and Monroe Woodbury each scored 120 points to tie for third in the men's race. The race was decided by the sixth man for each squad; the two happened to be a mere four seconds apart. Duke star Matt Diglio (MW '96) ran 17:54 for 42nd place, while Suffern's Mike Antonelli ('98) ran 17:58 to place 45th, giving Monroe Woodbury their fourth consecutive top-3 finish.

Men's Top 30

1. Art Gunther (TZ '89) 14:49
2. Jim Trautmann (MW '90) 15:09
3. Jamie Kempton (AM '76) 15:19
4. Paul Sklar (CS '89) 15:24
5. Mike Kiernan (PR '97) 15:28
6. Brendan Howell (Suff '95) 15:38
7. Steve Sutton (TZ '90) 15:43
8. Mike Morris (CN '96) 15:45
9. Andy Kohlbrenner (PR '81) 15:50
10. George Buckheit (AM ''75) 15:51
11. Brendan Sullivan (CS '97) 15:57
12. Brian McKnight (MW '98) 15:58
13. Josh Greitzer (CS '95) 16:02
14. Bert Rodriguez (Ny '97) 16:09
15. Todd Sinclair (NR '80) 16:09
16. Mike Euell (NR '98) 16:10
17. Pat Gruber (CS '98) 16:12
18. Frank Visingardi (Nan '86) 16:14
19. Pat Driscoll (CN '98) 16:16
20. Jason Friedman (CN '93) 16:21
21. Tim Cox (Suff '91) 16:22
22. Matt Kohlbrenner (PR '79) 16:26
23. Shawn Gallagher (Dumount, NJ '78) 16:27
24. Brian McGillick (CN '98) 16:29
25. Pete Modafferi (CS '95) 16:33
26. George Newsome (CS '92) 16:33
27. Rose Eppler (La Cuerva, NM '97) 16:39
28. Jered Haag (MW '89) 16:47
29. Frank Gagliano (Suff '94) 16:21
30. Steve Goldblatt (CS '98) 16:52

Women's Top 10

1. Julianne Littmann (MW '95) 18:16
2. Alessandia Lynch (JJ '82) 18:49
3. Katie Baloga (NFA '92) 18:50
4. Christine Bibbo (MW '93) 18:53
5. Kim Newsome (CS '88) 19:17
6. Elizabeth Wilson (Houghton '94) 19:34
7. Linda Pederson-Higgins (Nan '80) 19:55
8. Kathy Mahoney (NR '80) 20:25
9. Erica Malm (TZ '96) 20:26
10. Peggy Caffery (Ram '90) 20:35
    

Total Number of Runners: 237

Team Participation: 1. Clarkstown South 30, 2. Monroe Woodbury 29, 3. Pearl River 20, 4. Suffern 19, 5. Clarkstown North 17, 6. Albertus Magnus 15, 7. Nanuet 14, 8. Warwick 9, 9. Tappan Zee 8, 10. Nyack 7, 11. North Rockland 6, 12. Ridgewood (NJ) 3, 13. (tie) Spring Valley, Ramapo, Arlington, Washingtonville, Saddle Brook (NJ), Bronx Science 2

Men's Team Scoring

1. Clarkstown South 70 (Sklar, Sullivan, Greitzer, Gruber, Modafferi)
2. Clarkstown North 103
3. Monroe Woodbury 120
4. Suffern 120
5. Pearl River 144
6. Albertus Magnus 225
7. Nanuet 285
8. Nyack 286
9. Tappan Zee 335
10. Warwick 378
11. North Rockland 413
    

Women's Team Scoring

1. Nanuet 60 (Pederson-Higgins, Walter, Tuchband, Zoda, Lundgren-Visingardi)
2. Monroe Woodbury 95
3. Clarkstown South 101