Xavier CT boys keep momentum rolling at NXR

By Brian Towey for DyeStat

WAPPINGER'S FALLS, N.Y. -- Chris Stonier, the coach at Xavier CT, spent Thanksgiving hosting a few former runners and graduates of the all-boys school. When conversation turned to his present team, he realized just what he had.

"This team lost the state class championship," Stonier said. "Then they came back to win the state open championship. These graduates said 'Coach, we wouldn't have done that.'"

On Saturday, Xavier's roll continued when it won the Nike Cross Nationals Northeast Regional at Bowdoin Park.

"We had to come back from losing that meet," senior Owen Lally said. "We won the open (state championship), then we kept going. We won the New England Championship, then we kept going."

Next stop: Portland. Xavier finished first in the boys team championship with 112 points, outflanking Christian Brothers of New Jersey (123 points), which earned a regional-record 10th trip the national championship by finishing second.

"When I saw them in the first mile they were all in the 50s," Stonier said. "They just kept moving up, moving up."

The Hawks Track Club (Bishop Hendricken R.I.) finished third with 175 points. Kingsway (N.J.) finished fourth with 198 points.

Chris Romero of Voorhees NJ won the individual championship in 15:56.2. After Andrew Mah of Newton North MA (third place, 16:03.2) seized control of the race with a bold move at the 2-mile mark, Romero was able to reel him in.

"I heard people in the crowd say, 'He's dying,'" said the University of Pennsylvania-bound Romero, who earned his first trip to a national championship. "Then I was able to reach him."

Romero was followed by Pennsylvania's Liam Conway of Owen J. Roberts High (second, 16:02.1) and Mah, each of whom earned their first trips to NXN.

"Last year I ran at Foot Locker Regionals," Mah said. "We came to NXN this year to run as a team."

William Hare of Princeton NJ (fourth, 16:13.3) and Spencer Smucker of West Chester Henderson PA (fifth, 16:16.6) also qualified for Portland individually.

"It's pretty cool that I'll be able to represent my team in Portland," said Hare of Princeton, which finished fifth with 223 points. "Hopefully I'll make these guys proud."

North Hunterdon NJ, running as the Hunterdon Lions Track Club, earned its second straight trip to Portland, winning the girls championship with 137 points. 

Led by sophomore Chloe Gonzalez, who was fourth overall (19:04.5), and junior Emily Nugent, who finished ninth (19:32.7), Hunterdon, which won the New Jersey Meet of Champions title Nov. 18, is headed back to NXN.

Kingsway NJ earned its first trip to a national championship by finishing second with 171 points.

"It was one of those moments when all of the hard work we'd done from now (going back to) July came down to one (meet)," senior Kyliee Anicic said. "It all paid off."

Fox Chapel Running Foxes, representing Fox Chapel Area, the Pennsylvania AAA State Champions, finished third with 189 points. Wellesley MA, which finished second Nov. 18 at the Massachusetts Division I State Championship, was fourth with 206 points.

Julia Robitaille, a junior from Manchester West NH, won the girls race in 18:25.2, running unattached. She earned her first trip to the national championship after placing seventh in the regional meet last year.

Maggie Donahue, a junior from Wellesley MA running in her first cross country season, finished second in 18:34.6.

"Knowing that our boys team is so strong we wanted to prove that the girls team could be just as strong," Donahue said. 

Katie Dammer, a senior from Abington Heights PA, finished third in 18:36.1. Dammer, who will run at Georgetown next year, earned her first trip to a national championship.    

Monica Hebner, a senior from Northern Highlands NJ, finished fourth in 18:49.1. Nikki Merrill, a junior from Portsmouth RI, was fifth in 18:51.8.

"I wanted to qualify because I think Portland's such a great running city," Hebner said. "It's like running central."