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New York Boys Preseason XC Rankings 2018Published by
F-M's Boys In Spotlight After Taking 2nd At NXN By Paul Schmitz of DyeStat Boys NXR New York Preview Fayetteville-Manlius has qualified for Nike Cross Nationals a record 10 straight years. In 2017 F-M took home its seventh New York regional title in nine years and saved its best race of the year for Portland, finishing second to Loudoun Valley VA at NXN. With a solid front line returning and a proven ability to reload year after year, Fayetteville-Manlius is back as the No. 1-ranked team in New York and will be highly ranked when the national ranking are released next week. Joining F-M as a highly ranking national team is the No. 2 team in New York, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake. Burnt Hills dominated the New York Class B state meet last year with a 25-point score but had a disappointing race at NXR and finished third, missing out on a automatic bid to NXN. The Spartans return six of their top seven runners and look to earn their first trip to Portland since 2009. New York has not been given an at-large bid to NXN for three years. Along with F-M and Burnt Hills, the team that has the best chance to break that string is the team from Corning. The Hawks finished strong last year, winning the New York Class A title over F-M by two points. They followed that up with a second-place finish at NXR New York and placed 12th at NXN. They lose two of their top three runners but the rest of team is eligible to return. 1. Fayetteville-Manlius NY. The Hornets are very strong up front, led by the trio of Garrett Brennan, Matthew Tripp and Geoff Howles. The three of them combined for 17 total team points at NXR NY in 2017. Coach Bill Aris has consistently proven that he can find runners and mold them into strong athletes to fill out the lineup. 2. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake NY. Senior Tyler Berg can run with Brennan and the other top runners at F-M, but the rest of the team is going to have to show significant improvement over their NXR performance last year to dethrone F-M. 3. Corning-Painted Post NY. Bryce Derick, Nathan Lawson and Torrey Jacobson-Evans lead a team with a lot of promise. Those three can build upon the great experience from their NXN trip in 2017 but the oveall group has some holes to fill. 4. Arlington NY. Led by Colin Waters and Tyler Locke, Arlington projects to have a strong showing within the state but the gap behind the top three is is challenging to say the least. 5. Smithtown West NY. This squad has a solid group of seniors at the top of its lineup, led by Nicholas DeFelice and John Cuff. Watchlist More news
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