2009

The individual storylines dominated the 2009 race--and we'll get to them in a second--but for me, this will forever be the one that got away. With the window closing on our opportunity to break the deadlock with Albertus Magnus, tied for men's team titles with eight apiece, my Rams knew this might be one of our last chances to claim the record for ourselves. Not that we were ready to do so--as the years pass, injuries and attrition continue to take their toll, and even our youngest scorer has been out of school for over ten years now--but the team race looked pretty wide open, and we thought we might have a chance.

It did indeed play out that way, as the top ten to twenty runners were scattered among several teams, with noone putting together a tight pack. The scoring was up in the air for several hours, and we went home not knowing whether or not we had picked up that elusive ninth victory. The, late in the afternoon, the call came. Yes! We had done it. On the strength of a sixth-man tiebreaker, we had the win.

It took several weeks for the mistake to be corrected--Jamie's write-up even reported the Rams' big win--but an unofficial runner in 28th place wound up affecting the scoring, moving Jim Trautmann up from 29th and giving the Crusaders their second team title, by a single point. God, I'm getting sick just thinking about it. The closest race in history also produced the highest winning scores on both the mens' and womens' side, as Albertus took their first womens' title with 92 points as the only complete scoring team.

Julianne Littmann-Viscardo took her eighth victory, extending several of her own records; Nyack's Bert Rodriguez came through after several close calls in recent years to win the Indians' first individual title, male or female. But the biggest news on the individual side was the loss of one of the Big Three. Walt Johnston (Suffern '65), who had previously run all 26 Alumni Races, skipped the '09 event, leaving only two of the originals left: Albertus' Larry Beckerle and Pat Chambers.

Men's Top 30

1. Bert Rodriguez (Ny '97) 15:45
2. Niko Viglione (Somers '05) 15:57
3. Kyle O'Brien (MW '06) 16:04
4. Paul Lagno (Millbrook '08) 16:21
5. Dylan Kurten (Millbrook '09) 16:55
6. Armando Oliverro (New Rochelle '85) 17:04
7. Scott Dickover (Middletown '06) 17:11
8. Einar Brissing (Nan '01) 17:15
9. Brian Crowley (AM '82) 17:24
10. Tom Zarnoch (MW '08) 17:29
11. Tom Dillon (CN '97) 18:00
12. Michael Koral (Suff '07) 18:03
13. Brownin (Middletown) 18:06
14. Jason Friedman (CN '93) 18:12
15. Michael Pereira (Suff '09) 18:17
16. Jamie Kempton (AM '76) 18:19
17. Ed Ackerly (MW '86) 18:22
18. Mike Morris (CN '96) 18:28
19. Pat Driscoll (CN '98) 18:44
20. Thomas McCarney (CN '93) 18:50
21. Andy Kohlbrenner (PR '81) 18:59
22. Jamsel Reyes (NR '01) 19:01
23. David Blummel (MW '75) 19:10
24. Rich Barbera (Suff '09) 19:28
25. Matthew McKenna (CN '03) 19:31
26. Dominick Ponzio (NR '00) 19:32
27. Jim Trautman (MW '90) 19:38
28. James Attle (Suff '98) 19:53
29. Zack Berbitt (Suff '96) 19:54
30. Julianne Littman-Viscardo (MW '95) 19:58

Women's Top 10

1. Julianne Littman-Viscardo (MW '95) 19:58
2. Suzanne LaBurt (MW '81) 20:39
3. Dayana McLaughlin (NR '08) 21:51
4. Katie Ansorge (Arlington '01) 22:51
5. Tiffanee Hager (Fargo North, ND '97) 23:06
6. Leslie Ballantyne (Suff '92) 23:07
7. Melissa Ponzio (Somers '00) 23:51
8. Joann Hodges (AM '85) 24:07
9. Eileen Naylor (MW '94) 24:43
10. Jill Pietropaolo (CS '06) 25:01

Total Number of Runners: 206

Team Participation: 1. Albertus Magnus 49, 2. Suffern 22, 3. Monroe Woodbury 21, 4. Clarkstown North 13, 5. Pearl River 12, 6. Nanuet 10, 7. (tie) North Rockland and Clarkstown South 8, 9. Tappan Zee 5, 10. (tie) Arlington and Spring Valley 4, 12. (tie) Nyack, Millbrook, and Goshen 3, 15. (tie) Somers, Middletown, Newburgh Free Academy, and Beacon 2

Men's Team Scoring

1. Monroe Woodbury 81 (O'Brien, Zarnoch, Ackerly, Blummel, Trautmann)
2. Clarkstown North 82
3. Suffern 108
4. Albertus Magnus 153
5. Pearl River 259
6. Nanuet 392
7. Tappan Zee 620

Women's Team Scoring

1. Albertus Magnus 92 (Hodges, Reilly, Teetsel, Vota, Greenwood)

No other complete teams