Bishop Hendricken coach Jim Doyle had two reasons to make the three-hour trip to Wappinger Falls, N.Y., for the annual Bowdoin Classic. First, he wanted to see how his talented Hawks matched up against quality regional competition from the Northeast. Second, he wanted his team to get familiar with the challenging five-kilometer course at Bowdoin Park—the site of the Nike Northeast Regionals, a late November meet his squad has had circled on its calendar since the start of the fall season.
The legendary coach got just what he was hoping for when the race reached its conclusion.
Junior Colby Flynn snared the individual title and with a gap of just 1:03 between its No. 1 and No. 5 runners, the Hawks captured the Varsity II team title with a 63-105 victory over Chaminade (NY). Hendricken’s 1:22.23 combined time was the fastest among all varsity races.
The top regional competition also proved successful for the Cumberland girls. Just a week after finishing third at the Manchester Invitational, the Lady Clippers claimed the team crown with a 49-62 decision over Princeton (NJ) in the Varsity II race. In the merged results, the Blue and White were also the best of them all with a combined time of 1:39.34.
***
Hendricken’s performance at Bowdoin bodes well for what’s in store next weekend when the top-ranked Hawks travel to New Jersey to match up against the likes of perennial power Christian Brothers Academy and Rhode Island rival La Salle Academy at the Shore Coaches Invitational.
“We came up here for the experience. We wanted to do well,” Doyle said. “We got a long way to go. We know we got to work. We’re going up against CBA next week in New Jersey. They’re better than us, but we want to have the experince of running against these guys.”
While the team focused on its collective effort, Flynn delivered a standout individual performance. He posted fas time of 15:51.6 on the difficult 5K to edge runner-up Clay Stevens of Manalapan (NJ), who crossed the line in 15:53.7. The multiple all-stater was in the race from the beginning. Flynn passed through the mile mark at 4:56. After battling with eventual eighth-place finisher Sean Loggle of Chaminade (NJ) for much of the race, he broke away with a little more than a half-mile remaining to earn the victory.
“He led the whole way,” Doyle said. “He controlled the pace and in the end he just pushed a little bit harder, and with a 1,000 to go, took off. It was outstanding.”
The Hawks remaining four scorers – senior David Hayes (tenth, 16:25.9), senior Brayden Saraichyk (12th, 16:28.9), senior Fred Russell (16:43.0) and sophomore Shepherd Russell 22nd, 16:53.5) – also went out aggressively with opening miles between 5:06-5:11.
“I am proud of what they accomplished,” Doyle said. “We’re a young team and, like I said, we came here to get some experience on a course that we have to perform at for the (Nike) Northeast Regionals in November.”
Cumberland was sixth in the race and ninth with the merged results. The Clippers were led by senior Noah Brown (17:08.2) and junior Ethan Libby (17:09.4).
Hendricken’s outstanding depth was prevalent in the meet. The Hawks also went home with the JV title with a 1-2-4-5-9 finish by their top five. Junior Andrew Williams claimed individual honors by posting a time of 17:51.2. He was just ahead of sophomore teammate Christian Nunez, who was timed in 17:55.5 for second.
***
Sophomore Cecelia Ludwig once again set the pace for the Lady Clippers, placing fifth overall in 19:07.2. Senior Charli McCue also dipped under 20 minutes, running 19:41.9 for ninth. Cumberland’s depth proved decisive, with just a 1:10 spread among its top five. Junior Gabriella Stoothoff (14th, 20:10.5), junior Anna Bianchi (15th, 20:16.5), and freshman Natalie Crawford (16th, 20:17.3) rounded out the scoring.
