WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. – La Salle Academy’s Marshall Vernon knows how special it is to have a rival like Portsmouth’s Sean Gray in his own backyard. Gray doesn’t take it for granted either on how important it is for him to face Vernon on a regular basis.
Saturday was just another example of the benefits of their fierce, and friendly rivalry.
On the challenging five-kilometer terrain of Bowdoin Park, the two gifted juniors utilized their talent and each other to push themselves to the limit and earn a coveted spot to the Nike Cross Nationals in two weeks. Their tickets were punched for the Dec. 7 meet in Portland, Ore., with their respective finishes at the NXR Northeast Regionals. Vernon finished fourth overall with a time of 15 minutes, 51.4 seconds. Gray was not too far behind, taking sixth with a 15:54.5 clocking.
It was the third straight competition that Vernon and Gray have battled against each other. The La Salle standout was able to get the best of Gray at the State Meet where they took the top two positions. Two weeks ago, they went 2-3 at the New England Championships.
It seems only fitting their seasons would continue together one last time with a date against the nation’s best.
“I’m just so excited,” Vernon said. “It’s been such a hard season to get here. I think having Sean pushing me and testing me this year has boosted Rhode Island and just got us to this amazing spot that were in. I am just so thankful.”
“I am so excited to go out to Nike with him,’ Gray said.
As was expected, pre-race favorite Christian Brothers Academy (NJ) and star runner Joe Barrett proved victorious on a cool and sunny afternoon. The Colts had three of their runners among the top eight and scored an insanely low 39 points, more than a hundred points ahead of the Nittany Lions (PA) Track Club, the runner-up with 142 points. Barrett, who is ranked No. 3 in the country, continued his unbeaten season with a winning time of 15:29.1 on the demanding 5K.
While it was all Barrett at the end, Rhode Islanders did their part to help dictate the pace. Gray led at points early in the race, including through most of the first incline near the 800-meter mark, the moderately flat stretch that would follow and parts of the long uphill climb to the midway point. Hendricken sophomore Colby Flynn forged to the front around two kilometers and held that position for about two minutes, before being passed by Vernon, who led for a short period of time on the descent before Barrett took over.
For Flynn, he finished a respectable 12th overall with a time of 16:08.3.
“I don’t know, I just felt good,” said the Hawks’ tenth-grader, when asked why he made his bold move. “It cost me in the end, though. I know my coach is going to be mad at me.”
With Vernon just a few seconds behind in a tight lead pack, Gray didn’t exactly do his pace-setting duties by design either. He admitted having the La Salle runner close by him for most of the race was a big help.
“I led for a good chunk of the beginning; not wanting to but being forced to. If I slowed down, everyone would have slowed down, and they didn’t want to,” Gray said. “I tried to pick it up a little bit and see if anyone would go with me by playing some tactics. Marshall was with me the entire race. It was nice to have him there because I knew exactly where I should be, where I have to be, if I knew where he was.”
“(Sean and I) definitely work off each other and Alex Fischer of Loomis Chaffee (second, 15:43.8). Just three of us juniors trying to work our way there,” Vernon said. “Barrett was being a little bit annoying with his race strategy, just sticking right with the leader and keeping us in check before he dropped us all.”
Like most in the field, Gray admitted the course took its toll on him in the late stages where he wasn’t able to get ahead of Vernon but still qualify for the nationals by gutting his way to the finish line.
“I didn’t have much left going into the last kilometer. He’s definitely a stronger runner. He has that mile speed, and all the 800 speed. He’s a lot stronger than I am,” Gray said. “I have a little bit more of the longer speed. We were together all the way until the last K, and he took off there.”
As a team, Hendricken was 13th and La Salle was 24 among the 31 squads that earned the invite to the regional competition. It’s now off to NXN for Vernon and Gray, who were able to accomplish what’s been a goal of theirs since the season began.
“It was awesome. A great day,” Vernon said. “There is just no way to describe it right now. I’m just so happy.”
