2007

Can you believe it's been 25 years? I can't. Easy for me to say, though; I've only been eligible for the last fifteen. And yeah, they have flown by. The silver anniversary edition was indeed something special. Cold temperatures did not deter the 283 finishers--second-highest total in race history.

The North men came in looking to make history. A win this year would have vaulted us past Albertus into the top spot of the most hallowed category of them all--all-time men's team victories. The record once thought unassailable was about to be broken! We put our record six-year winning streak on the line and set off to rewrite the record books.

The opening pace felt suicidally fast, or maybe I'm just getting old. I certainly couldn't keep track of the various teams splayed out in front of me. The legendary Art Gunther led the charge from Tappan Zee, as we had known he would. North Rockland appeared to have several runners stacked up front. There were a few Monroe Woodbury contenders, and I recognized Albertus' Brian Crowley running his customarily strong race. And then there were several runners in red whom none of us could identify.

By the finish, though, these new challengers revealed a painful truth--we had lost. Somers High School, which had never before put a full scoring five together, became the first Westchester school to win the Alumni race, putting four collegians and five runners in the top 21. We had to content ourselves with being the first Rockland team and a record-setting 14th top-3 finish--cold comfort on this frigid day.

Ours was not the only streak to fall at the hands of the youngsters. Jamie Kempton's amazing run of 19 consecutive top-10 finishes came to an end, though he did record his record 24th top-30.

Art Gunther, as usual, was not to be denied; he turned away a strong challenge from Nyack's Bert Rodriguez to take his record seventh men's title and lay claim to the #1 all-time ranking. Monroe Woodbury's Julianne Littmann-Viscardo displayed her usual dominance, breaking her own records with her fifth consecutive and seventh overall women's title. Her 69-second win propelled the Lady Crusaders to their fifth team title, second all-time to Pearl River's six.

In other news, my daughter Lexi, after celebrating her second birthday the week before, made her eagerly anticipated debut in the toddler race. Her DFL finish makes me wonder if maybe she was adopted. She has blue eyes, too. Hmmm.

Men's Top 30

1. Art Gunther (TZ '89) 15:26
2. Bert-Justin Rodriguez (Ny '97) 15:34
3. Kyle O'Brien (MW '06) 16:05
4. Doug Swiatocha (Somers '06) 16:15
5. Niko Viglione (Somers '05) 16:17
6. Nick Roosa (TZ '03) 16:18
7. Josh Kneer (Somers '06) 16:23
8. Brian Crowley (AM '82) 16:24
9. Mike Morris (CN '96) 16:29
10. James Kopcsay (Yorktown '01) 16:39
11. AJ Savoia (NR '07) 16:48
12. Anthony Calingo (CN '01) 16:51
13. Kevin Wippel (Pine Bush '07) 16:52
14. Armando Oliveira (New Rochelle '01) 16:57
15. Greg Swiatocha (Somers '02) 16:59
16. Tom McCarney (CN '93) 17:02
17. Justin Kopunek (TZ '04) 17:04
18. Sean McNulty (West Windsor '07) 17:09
19. Jason Friedman (CN '93) 17:12
20. Kevin McCarthy (Nan '04) 17:14
21. James Scheuelmann (Somers '07) 17:22
22. Jamie Kempton (AM '76) 17:24
23. Andy Kohlbrenner (PR '81) 17:28
24. TJ Ciccone (Suff '94) 17:34
25. Brian Horowitz (Suff '06) 17:34
26. Pete Modafferi (CS '95) 17:50
27. Anthony Copicotto (NR '01) 17:53
28. Unofficial, 18:01
29. Orlando Rivera (NR '04) 18:03
30. Christian Mendez (NR '07) 18:05
    

Women's Top 10

1. Julianne Littmann-Viscardo (MW '98) 19:01
2. Laura (Bergen) DiMarino (Nan '84) 20:10
3. Brianne Scott (NR '02) 20:20
4. Meghan Howell (Suff '99) 20:28
5. Suzanne LaBurt (MW '81) 20:39
6. Kim Newsome (CS '88) 20:40
7. Joy Romulus (Wash '02) 20:58
8. Joanne Smith (MW '05) 21:06
9. Jessica Petrina (TZ '00) 21:23
10. Jenna Naglieri (NR '06) 21:29
    

Total Number of Runners: 283

Team Participation: 1. Monroe-Woodbury 48, 2. Suffern 34, 3. North Rockland 25, 4. Clarkstown North 23, 5. Pearl River 20, 6. (tie) Albertus Magnus and Clarkstown South 19, 8. Nanuet 18


Men's Team Scoring

1. Somers 52 (D. Swiatocha, Viglione, Kneer, G. Swiatocha, Scheuelmann)
2. Clarkstown North 96
3. North Rockland 141
4. Suffern 158
5. Monroe Woodbury 168
6. Tappan Zee 176
7. Pearl River 179
8. Clarkstown South 296
9. Albertus Magnus 353
10. Nanuet 408
    

Women's Team Scoring

1. Monroe Woodbury 51 (Littmann-Viscardo, LaBurt, Smith, Keys, Kosowicz)
2. North Rockland 64
3. Suffern 101
4. Nanuet 164
5. Clarkstown South 180
6. Pearl River 228