Manhasset's Bourguet wins Nassau XC title
Manhasset's Stephen Bourguet did not shy away from the "runner to beat" label. As the top returner from last year's county championship, that only served to fuel him during the arduous summer training months.
The junior lived up to the billing, taking charge in the opening seconds and leading wire-to-wire to win the overall Nassau cross country title in 16:04.3 Saturday at Bethpage State Park.
Taylor Titcomb of Port Washington, who caught up to Bourguet at the 1.5-mile mark but fell back late, took second in 16:10.9.
After taking sixth in the 2010 race, Bourguet had been fixated on ascending to the top. "Every mile I ran this summer, I had in my head winning this race," Bourguet said. "It's exciting to know that you are the top returner, but at the same time, you have to work hard to keep it up."
A pack of five runners chased Bourguet and Titcomb until they separated with about a mile to go. Once they reached the polo fields with roughly a half-mile remaining, Bourguet had taken a modest lead. On the final straightaway, he opened up with a blistering finishing kick that put an exclamation point on his afternoon.
"I've talked to Titcomb before, and he is kind of jealous of my finishing kick," Bourguet said. "So I knew if I opened it up with the finish line in sight, he would not be able to come after me."
Titcomb planned to take an early lead and extend it midrace to provide a large enough gap to neutralize Bourguet's late-race speed. When that failed to happen, Titcomb realized his shot had diminished.
"I knew that if I came on to the polo field at the same time as him, his speed would get me," he said. "I knew if I couldn't get a gap on him, he would beat me."
Port Washington won the overall and Class A team titles, qualifying for the state championship Saturday at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School. Individual qualifiers include Herricks' Aakaash Pillalmarr (fourth, 16:26.3), Syosset's Ryan DePinto (sixth, 16:38.4) East Meadow's Sean Grady (seventh, 16:40.8) and the Calhoun duo of Zachary Toner (12th, 16:46.9) and Christopher Landi (13th, 16:50.7).
Garden City (187 points) defeated Manhasset by seven points (194) to take home Class B honors. Anderew Morra (11th, 16:45.0) and Neil Quigley (39th, 17:25.4) led GC. Other Class B qualifiers included Clarke's Eric Ratner (fifth, 16:29.8), Manhasset's Charlie Morris (eighth, 16:41.8), Plainedge's James Sommer (ninth, 16:43.7) and VSN's Sam Catalano (14th, 16:54.1).
Friends Academy won the Class C title (374) over Oyster Bay (523) and was led by Glenn Lostritto (26th, 17:11.9) and Patrick Crowley (40th, 17:26.9).
East Rockaway's Jonathan Schloth and Nicholas Mavros of Oyster Bay were among the other state Class C qualifiers.
