The Amsterdam boys finished tenth at the Section 2 Cross Country Championship races held last Friday at Saratoga State Park. According to Coach Kevin Wilary, the team has been seeing times get better since the beginning of the season. Jon Knack was the first to cross the finish for the Running Rams with a time of 17:54.13.
“Everybody improved,” said Wilary. “Jon’s time improved by 28 seconds.”
Knack was also the first AHS runner to finish at last weeks Foothills Council championships, and has one more season left to improve his times.
“Mostly just breaking my own personal records and going for medals,” said a determined Knack on what he will work on for next year. “You have to keep yourself in shape and keep dropping your times. Running indoor and outdoor track helps. We need to work on endurance and hills.”
Senior Teddy Picciocca (18:19.20) was the next to complete the course for AHS. He was followed by junior William Weinheimer (18:44.02), freshman Ryan Kamanu (18:48.70), and Thomas Knack (18:51.19), senior Alex Stewart (19:38.30), and freshman Antonio Spagnola (22:33.65). Overall the Rams finished tenth with 291 points and an average time of 18:31.45.
“We have a lot of potential,” said Coach Wilary. “We have three of our top five runners coming back. We have indoor and outdoor track coming up, and they will play a role in that as well.”
Reyers Brusoe finished the day for Amsterdam with a time of 24:26.81. The senior in his final race for Amsterdam High School had some words of encouragement for the future of the AHS cross country team.
“Run hard and get up those hills,” said Brusoe. “That”s what we do best is hills. Don’t let anything intimidate you. Any race you finish is a good race.”
The Boys Class B title was won by Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School with 46 points. Josh Faust of Averill Park High School was first with a time of 15:49.33.
