Sports

Pearl River Cross Country Teams Chase State Titles

The Pearl River boys and girls cross country teams will compete for NYSPHSAA state championships Saturday at Vernon-Verona Sherrill High School.

One week ago, the Pearl River girls cross country team faced the possibility of competing for a section championship without senior standout Molly Shine, who woke up the morning of the race with a sore Achilles tendon.

Shine not only recovered enough to run, she finished first overall as the Pirates won a state championship.

The Pearl River boys cross country team will hope for a similar recovery from senior Brian Edsall, who had to drop out of the section championship race due to the pain in his calf.

Find out what's happening in Pearl Riverwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Pirates are still hoping to have Edsall when they compete in the NYSPHSAA state championships Saturday at Vernon-Verona Sherrill High School. The boys will compete at 9:30 a.m., with the Pearl River girls running at 11:30 a.m.

"That's the million-dollar question," Pearl River boys coach Mike Kiernan said. "Right now, I can't give you an answer. He's a race-time decision. with him, the team is better. We can still be successful without him, but I think it would be a great boost if he runs. He'll do what it takes to run."

Find out what's happening in Pearl Riverwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to Kiernan, Pearl River actually dropped from first to fourth in the state Class B rankings this week, though they are among the favorites in Saturday's meet.

"We dropped to fourth in the state rankings this week, which is a good thing," Kiernan said. "It relieves some pressure on them. They can go after it. The preseason expectations were that Brewster would beat us (for the section title). We weren’t talked about for states. We relish the underdog role."

Tullyrunners.com does predictions for each state meet. The site listed Section 6 champion East Aurora as a slight favorite over Pearl River if Edsall runs, but projects the Pirates to fall in the standings without him in what should be a close race. East Aurora is the defending Class B state champion and placed five runners in the top 10 overall at the Section 6 championships - No. 3 Sean Phillips, No. 4 Elliott Martynkiewicz, No. 5 Gene Barritot, No. 6 Brendan Keany and No. Larkin Bohanon.

Tullyrunners projects the Pearl River girls to finish third behind top-ranked North Shore and Burnt Hills. North Shore won the Class A state championship in 2010 while Pearl River finished second to East Aurora in Class B.

North Shore seniors Samantha Nadel and Brianna Nerud are co-favorites to win the individual championship in Saturday's state meet.

 


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