by Anton Dedvukaj
The Irvington High School cross country team ran at the Regis Invitational competition this past Saturday. In the boys varsity race, Irvington placed 7th. In both the boys sophomore and freshmen races, Irvington finished 5th. Irvington placed third in the girls freshman race, 21st in the girls varsity race.
Two of Irvington’s top freshman runners — Luciana Forte and Ryan Carron — had impressive finishes. Forte finished first in the girls freshman race and Carron came in third in the boys freshmen race.
Are you surprised with how you guys did today?
Luciana Forte: Very much so. I thought I would be, maybe in the top ten girls, but I went out a little fast and I was surprised that I kept the pace.
Ryan Carron: I think I did well. I mean, I didn’t expect to do as well as I did, because there are a lot of good teams. So, I just did my best.
What did you guys do to prepare?
LF: I went to practice every day and I tried my hardest, so I guess practice pays off!
RC: Same thing.
What are you guys going to do to prepare for future meets and possibly do better?
LF: Well, probably stretch more. I definitely have to stretch, and stretching is also good for running. So I definitely have to do more of that.
RC: Just practice more and ramp up the training as I get better.
Do you have any advice for future Irvington runners or the current team?
LF: Have fun! This is all about having fun. And, don’t beat yourself up if you don’t get the time or the place that you want. The reason why you would do this is to have fun.
RC: If you like to run and if you don’t do a sport that you like to do yet, you should do it because a lot of people can do it and it’s fun. For the current Irvington runners, most of them are older than me and probably have been doing it longer than me, so I should probably be taking advice from them.
Before the Regis Invitational took place, the IHS cross country team ran a dual meet against the Hamilton and Croton teams to warm up their runners and get in shape for what the rest of the season will bring.
Ryan Flanagan and Ronan Cypher finished together and were among Irvington’s fastest runners.
Are you at all surprised by how well you did in this meet?
Ronan Cypher: No.
Ryan Flanagan: You know, I’m a little surprised, because I didn’t think Ronan and I would hold hands. So, I felt really connected to him when we held hands and we crossed the finish line together. It was like, kind of a true team bonding experience and you could really get the thrill of winning as a team. [editor’s note: they did not actually hold hands]
What are you going to do to prepare for future races?
RC: Well, we’re just going to keep on training, listening to our coaches, and doing the workouts that they have planned for us, as well as making sure that our nutrition and diet are on point so we can be physically strong and healthy for our future races.
RF: Yeah, Ronan covered it pretty well right there. The one thing I would add is, we got to make sure we keep our sleep, you know? Can’t be doing all that homework, if we have too much of it.
Did you set a PR (personal record) in this race and do you think it made a difference if you did?
RC: Today, in this race, I personally did not set a PR, this wasn’t really a race to go for a PR. We were just kind of getting ready for the meet on Saturday. It was just kind of a shake-out run. You know, just something to get in the books. So, me personally, I did not PR today.
RF: I did not PR personally, but it was a PR holding hands with someone. My PR, though, is on this course. This is a very fast course. I like it.
Coach Barry on the bus ride back to IHS discussed his reaction to the performance IHS gave in the meet.
Are you impressed with how the students did in this particular meet?
Coach Barry: I am impressed. It was a very hot, humid day and nobody complained. You could see people suffering a little bit with the humidity, but the plan was to go a little easy today, and everybody did that, everybody survived. But, yeah, impressed that they toughed it out under the conditions.
Do you think that this was among the better meets that IHS had this season?
CB: I think we did fine, and you’ll see, as we go on, we’re lucky enough to have a program where a meet like this, a small meet against two teams, we don’t have to go all out. We can take care of business. Today was really more of a workout. Saturdays are the days we care more about. Saturday, we should be ready to run well at the Regis meet.
Do you have any advice for the students that are preparing to run for future meets and for the rest of the season?
CB: Hydrate. Drink a lot of water, especially after a day like today, you have to drink a lot of water. And, you got to get your rest. The biggest problem I always have with Irvington runners is they don’t sleep enough because you’re all studying all the time. Or going to a cello concerto and then studying. You got to rest to recover. If you don’t get enough sleep, you get sick or you get injured. So the biggest thing is rest and recovery.
