Gatewood pulls away from Fusco twins at Sunken Meadow

By Brian Towey for DyeStat

King's Park, NY -- Mason Gatewood and the Fusco twins, Greg and Matt, turned in an exciting race Friday at the St. Anthony's Invitational at Sunken Meadow Park on Long Island.

Gatewood, of St. Anthony's NY and the brothers from Somers NY emerged from the first mile running together. They had a slight lead on Danbury CT's Daniel Nichols. 

The trio of seniors were still close when Gatewood broke away near the 2-mile mark. He crested Cardiac Hill in the last mile and easily won the race in 16:03. Matt Fusco was second in 16:39, Greg Fusco third in 16:42, and Nichols was fourth in 16:51.

According to St. Anthony's coach Tim Dearie, Gatewood's time is second on St. Anthony's all-time list at Sunken Meadow, behind only former Olympian Johnny Gregorek (15:32). Gatewood had finished second Sept. 23 at the Ocean State Invitational in East Greenwich, R.I., in 15:32.

Monroe-Woodbury NY won the boys team title with 106 points, led by sixth-place finisher Michael Hannon (17:08). Amity CT was second with 138 points and St. John the Baptist NY was third with 141 points.

Monroe-Woodbury's win struck another blow for New York's powerful Section 9, which includes schools like Warwick, Cornwall, Goshen and Washingtonville.

"Warwick is the powerhouse in that area," Hannon said. "We haven't won sectionals in 25 years."

In the girls varsity race, Maggie Maier of Sacred Heart Academy NY and Alexandra Thomas of Tappan Zee NY handled the pace-setting early on, coming through the mile mark shoulder to shoulder. Maier began pulling away in the second mile on the uphills, then strode to a 19:39 win. Catherine Farrell of Smithtown East NY was second in 19:51 and Thomas was third in 19:55.

Tappan Zee won the team title with 110 points. Danbury was second with 116 points and Sacred Heart was third with 182.