Hauppauge's Colabella wins Class A title
Hauppauge High School senior Ryan Colabella legs out the final stretch of the Suffolk County varsity boys cross country Class A championship race at Sunken Meadow State Park. He won with a time of 16:14.20. (Nov. 4, 2011) Credit: James Escher
Ryan Colabella was confident in the days leading up to the Suffolk cross country championship and state qualifier at Sunken Meadow.
The Hauppauge senior, who set a personal and school record at the Suffolk Division championships last week, put his best foot forward Friday as he topped that mark with a first-place finish at the Class A county championship in 16 minutes, 14.2 seconds.
"This season's been more than I could've hoped for," Colabella said. "Over the summer I knew I was in great shape. But once I started racing I felt like a totally different runner."
Whitman, led by Zachary Cammer and Michael Damato with second- and third-place finishes, won the Class A team title for the second time in four years.
North Babylon's Kris Moran, Ryan Scarpelli of Sachem East, Colin Eberhardt of Sachem North and Northport's Tim McGowan all finished in the top seven to qualify for the Sept. 12 state meet.
The Class B championship came down to a tiebreaker as Shoreham-Wading River edged Harborfields, 48-47, for its seventh county championship in nine years.
John Lee, who won his second straight county title, cruised to a first-place finish in 16:37.2 for the Wildcats. Teammates Tyler Keys (3rd), Ryan Udvadia (8th), Dan Purschke (17th) and Evan Purdy (18th) also had fine performances.
Naming the winner came down to the sixth-place runners. And Shoreham-Wading River sophomore Jack Kelly (18:05) defeated Harborfields' Connor Pulvidente (18:09.7) by four seconds to give the Wildcats the win.
"I really owe it to the team," Kelly said. "It wasn't just me. We all ran really strong. "
Bayport-Blue Point's Adam LaFemina, Nick Hirdt of Miller Place, Austin Keys from Harborfields, Jeremy Miekley (Miller Place) and Harborfields' Ty Gamble also qualified for the state meet in Class B.
Jonathan Rempe won the Class D title in 19:17.5 as Southold also needed a tiebreaker to beat Stony Brook for the team championship, 29-28.
Southold's Griffin Quist, Frank Cone, Ryan Hanrahan and Ian Toy finished third, fifth, eighth and 11th, respectively.
But the race came down to sixth-place finishers as a tiebreaker and senior Matthew Reilly, who finished 12th, made the difference.
Stony Brook will still be represented at the state meet as Jacob Brummeler, William Tseng, Jemal Hudson, Jeffrey Fung and Terry Huang all made the grade.
Cole Conte, Andrew Keresztes and James Burke swept the top three spots in Class C as Port Jefferson won a county title for the third time in four years.
Class C state individual qualifiers were Mattituck's Corey Zlatniski and Casey Grathwohl, John McMahon of Center Moriches, Tyler McGarvey of Babylon and Southampton's Eric Whittenberg.
