by Justin Barger
The Irvington Cross Country Team won the Section 1 Class C Championship on Saturday.
The race took place in Bowdoin Park and the course had a length of 5,000. With 14 teams competing for the title and the ability to move onto the State Championship.
In just over 17 minutes, senior Ethan Gartlan, one of the stars of the team, became the first person to cross the finish line. Although it was a fantastic start, Pleasantville and Bronxville came charging back, with their runners finishing out the top five.
Photo by Davin Milun
Eventually, it became a duel between Bronxville and Irvington, with finishers five through ten alternating between the two squads.
Bronxville held a two point lead with each team needing just one more runner to finish. Cross Country awards points to the top 5 runners for each team. The placing of those runners is added up, and the lowest score wins. The Bulldogs last runner needed to beat out Bronxville’s by three places.
Junior Glen Feng finished in 11th, beating out the next two runners by less than three seconds. This would prove to be enough for the Bulldogs, as with Bronxville’s last runner finishing 16th, the team could now call themselves champions.
The Bulldogs finished with a final score of 36, three better than Bronxville’s 39, and eleven better than Pleasantville’s 47.
Although the other runner’s scores did not officially count, the Bulldogs demonstrated consistency and depth, with three more runners finishing in the top 25.
This is the team’s first section championship since 2021. They will head to the State Championship races on Friday, November 14th. There will be a clap-out for the runners going to the meet.
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