Boys Cross Country Record Individual Bests in Loss to Walt Whitman

The West Islip boys cross country team matched up against Walt Whitman High School in a 5K race on a breezy Tuesday evening at Sunken Meadow State Park, and while the Lions failed to win, their performance left head coach Chris Kaigh very pleased.

"Walt Whitman beat us but that's the nature of cross country," Kaigh said. "They're just a faster team, but what was good was that our guys were with them and they ran faster because they were chasing those guys. We weren't worried about beating them; we represented very well and our good times show that so I'm very pleased."

Senior Ryan Tantone led the Lions with a time of 18:33, while fellow senior Skylar Ellison backed him up at 19:12. Teammates Joe Pinto (19:28), Steve Foppiano (19:51) and Bill Martin (19:54) rounded out the top five.

"Tantone led the team with a time that was about 30 seconds faster than he ran on Saturday," Kaigh said. "Everyone pretty much ran faster than Saturday and many of these times were personal bests."

Junior Mike Nowotarski just missed the top five with a time of 20:02, and Matt Carusillo finished off the top seven at 20:33.

"Nowotarski was just knocking on the door and everybody else ran quite well," Kaigh said. "I'm very happy with the results."

The team does not have much time to rest as they will return to Sunken Meadow State Park for the Bob Pratt Invitational on Thursday, Sept. 16. Coach Kaigh is confident his well-trained team is conditioned enough and ready to post more great times at the meet.

"It's a very short week and a quick turnaround for us but they've been training hard and we should continue to do well," Kaigh said. "This is a very tough part of the season because we have three meets in six days. We've got two down, one more to go and then we can take a breather, but we're looking forward to Thursday."