The Pearl River Cross Country team overcame its youth to finish second in Section 1 and 12th in the Federation championship a year ago.
Now the Pirates get to see what happens when those young guys add experience.
Pearl River returns six of its top seven runners, led by senior Brian Cook, an all-state competitor in 2012, and junior Ben McDermott, who was fourth-team all-state as a sophomore.
"The team has set very high expectations for this season," Pearl River Head Coach Mike Kiernan said. "The core of our team returns this year. We lose a key leader in Terence Hughes and a key scorer for four years in Brain Edsall. They are big shoes to fill, but this team could be the deepest we have had in the 11 years I've been here."
Kiernan said the team had problems with the fifth spot in the lineup last year, something that should change with improvement among the returning runners.
"We were very strong up front last year," Kiernan said. "Unfortunately, we got beat on the back end at the Section Championship. This year, that back end is a year older, stronger and faster. We will also have a number of guys that are interchangeable on that back end this year, as opposed to last year, when if one guy was off, the team suffered."
Senior Brian Ilie earned first-team all-league honors and second team all-county last season and juior Dom Fortino was first-team all-league. . Junior Mike Mahoney should contribute after injuries slowed him all of last season.
"The two who made the biggest jumps on the track and look fantastic in practice are (sophomore) Aidan Russell and (senior) Kyle Smyth," Kiernan said. "If they perform like they are capable of, this team could achieve big things."
Pearl River will be tested early, running at 4:15 p.m. Tuesday at Pearl River Middle School against Tappan Zee and Albertus Magnus. Tappan Zee returns four of the top five runners from the team that beat Pearl River at the county and section meets last year. The Pirates beat the Dutchmen in the league and Federation meets.
Pearl River 2013 Boys Cross Country Roster
Seniors
- Devin Boyko
- Kevin Conway
- Brian Cook
- Jimmy Duggan
- Nick Gucciardo
- Gary Healy
- Liam Higgins
- Brandon Ilie
- Liam McGarry
- Kyle O'Neill
- Ryan O'Neill
- Paul Owens
- Kevin Parnow
- Chris Prigge
- Jack Schwarz
- Kyle Smyth
- Luke Accettta
- Christian Cartensen
- Stephen Colodner
- Domenic Fortino
- Declan Kelly
- Mike Mahoney
- Sean Mahoney
- Ben McDermott
- Conor Riggs
- Timmy Boyko
- Tim Cartensen
- Greg Clark
- James Dowd
- Jack Fanshawe
- Joe Flynn
- Kyle Kondracki
- Ryan Murray
- Shane Riggs
- Mike Shine
- Paul Son
- Jack Iannucci
- Stephen Lappas
- Kyle Rooney
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