Diana Vizza of North Shore wins Class B cross-country crown
Diana Vizza of North Shore after winning her race during the New York State Public High Schools Athletic Association boys and girls cross country championships at Monroe-Woodbury High School in Central Valley New York, on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015. Credit: AP / Adam Hunger
The balance of power in girls cross country has undergone a seismic shift in the last 12 months. The sport, previously dominated by upstate power houses, is no longer one that sees Long Island teams looking up at their northern counterparts. At least in the case of Class B, where Long Island rules the roost.
And this year, the crown belongs to North Shore's Diana Vizza. Vizza won the state Class B championship, running the challenging 5-kilometer Monroe-Woodbury High School course in 18 minutes, 15.6 seconds Saturday. Gemma Nuttal, of Cross River John Jay, was second in 18:45.
The championship is the second consecutive for a Long Island Class B runner. Shoreham-Wading River's Katherine Lee took the title last year at SUNY-Canton. Lee finished this year's race third in 18:54.7.
"This is pretty surreal," Vizza said, a smile as wide as her victory margin splashed across her championship face. "I'm still trying to digest it. I'm really honored."
Vizza is North Shore's second state champion, coach Neal Levy said. Samantha Nadel won the 2011 title.
Vizza's run at excellence began, in earnest, last Saturday when she ran a blazing 17:46.74 at Bethpage State Park at the Nassau state qualifier. She entered Saturday with the top speed rating in the race (144.80), a statistic used to compare times across different courses, according to tullyrunners.com.
"Having that high-speed rating gave me a lot of confidence," Vizza said. "I knew that my fitness was there. We just had to execute it and go in as a team and see what would happen."
Vizza was dominant most of the way. She said she took the lead at the half-mile mark and started opening a larger gap as the final mile began. Vizza said that she and her team worked out on the Monroe-Woodbury campus "four or five times" this season, giving them a distinct advantage on a course that is considered to be one of the toughest in the state.
"This is a race that is very strategic and very mental," Vizza said. "You really have to prepare for it and know that you have the strength to win in order to conquer it. I think we definitely had that strength."
North Shore finished fourth in the Class B team competition, scoring 111 points. Shoreham-Wading River was second with 74 points. Cross River John Jay won with 55 points.
When all four classes were merged, Sachem East had the highest Long Island team score, placing sixth in the state. Fayetteville-Manlius, a traditional powerhouse, finished first.
Sachem East's Alexandra DeCicco finished 11th in the Class A race, running an 18:43.7. Syosset's Reily Siebert was 14th in 18:48.8.
"We focused on being able to finish the last 1,200 meters hard," DeCicco said. "It's all downhill and you can pass a lot of people that run too hard on the uphills."
Mattituck's Melanie Pfennig was ninth in Class C in 19:36.9.
