PV Come s Up One Point Shor t of Ossining at League Championship Meet

PUTNAM VALLEY—The Putnam Valley High boys and girls cross country teams ran twice this week. Saturday the Tigers competed in the Green Mountain invitational in Pawling, Wednesday Put Valley ran in the league meet at Croton Point Park.

The Green Mountain Invitational at Lakeside Park went well for the Tigers. “I was pleased with the way they ran,” said Coach Jerry Zupan. “We are going to come back to Lakeside Park in two weeks for the Northern County Championships and I wanted to give them a chance to run here before then.” The Tigers were missing a few runners but still managed to end up with a sixth place finish out of 12 teams.

Fortunately for Putnam Valley, Jim Hertzel was there, and he led the Tigers, finishing third with a time of 17:12. Richie Cianelli came in 19th with a time of 18:33, Logan Bagarozy finished 25th with a time of 18:47, Max Ringbom finished 63rd at 20:59, Austin Levesque finished 68th at 21:13 and Robert Tendy finished 74th at 21:51.

The girls did not have enough runners to place in the event, but Casey Leake paced the team and finished with a time of 27:11.

At Croton Point Park, the girls finished fourth out of four teams. “I was very pleased with the girls times,” said Zupan. “We have a young girls team. I am excited to see how we grow the rest of this season and next year as well.”

It was not exactly a great finish, but all five girls who participated turned in career best times. Casey Leake finished 12th at 25:25 and Soibhan Divernieri finished 14th with a time of 25:35, both won All-League honors. Audrey Malek’s time of 26:40 was good for 17th, Shelley Sperling finished 22nd with a time of 27:55 and Amanda Hefner was 25th at 30:14. The boys ran well in the race for the league championship. Putnam Valley beat out Hen Hud, Croton and Peekskill, however they could not beat Ossining. 49-48 was the final score to a great race between the two teams. “We had a great lead over them,” said Zupan. “But Ossining has a great pack running mentality and that gave them the win.”

Hertzel, who has been strong all year for the Tigers and is shooting for a second straight state championship appearance, notched a first place finish with a time of 17:10. Richie Cianelli placed third at 17:58, Logan Bagarozy finished 5th with a time of 18:02. Tom Faraone finished fourth at 18:55.

The Tigers will compete in the Coaches’ invitational at Bowdoin Park on Saturday.