The Indians’ regular season came to a close recently, but not before the boys locked up several more post-season honors to complete a highly successful campaign that brought an undefeated season as well as Division and Conference Championships. Manhasset headed into the post-season with high aspirations and battled it out with rival Wantagh High School for two weekends in a row—at both the Class Country Championships and the State Qualification race—coming up just short on both occasions, but achieving many milestones along the way.
At the Class County Championships on Oct. 26, both teams went out hard off the starting line, with Wantagh’s pack quickly moving up into the lead as they headed into the woods. By the time the athletes emerged back onto Bethpage State Park’s polo field, several Manhasset runners had surpassed Wantagh’s pack, which remained mostly intact, as the rest of the squad charged forward from just behind. As the boys began to cross the finish line, coaches, parents, and spectators began trying to crunch the numbers to determine who would emerge victorious in this tough-fought battle.
Matt Weilep led the Indian charge with a 6th place finish, followed quickly by Tommy Fruhauf (9th) and Willy McNamara (10th) who both set personal bests. Carter Paterson (18th) and Riley Barnes (24th) completed the scoring for Manhasset. Wantagh ended up taking the win by the narrow margin of six points as Manhasset claimed second place, setting the stage for the following weekend.
Both teams returned to Bethpage on Nov. 2, and this time Manhasset was the team to get out quickly to the front of the pack. However, despite their swift start, Manhasset was unable to overcome the strength of Wantagh’s pack, which had their top five runners finish within 12 seconds of one another. Their victory helped them clinch a trip to the State Championships the following week and sent the Indians to their 4th consecutive 2nd place finish in as many years. Weilep, as he has done all season long, emerged as the team’s top finisher, finishing 9th overall in a personal best of 16:59, breaking 17 minutes for the first time on the Bethpage course and qualifying as an individual to compete at the State Championships to be held at Queensbury High School near Albany on Nov. 9. Tommy Fruhauf also earned All-County honors, running another personal best – 17:13 – to complete his breakthrough season. Willy McNamara (18th), Riley Barnes (27th), and Russell Silva (36th) rounded out the scoring for Manhasset.
Manhasset’s varsity squad ran with pride and purpose in the pursuit of their goal, and though they came up just short, there are many reasons to be excited as the team looks forward to next season. The squad will return all but two of its top seven runners and has lots of depth behind it, including All-Conference runner Nicky Harris who finished the season as the 11th ranked 8th grade harrier in New York State at the 5k distance.
The following individual honors were achieved this season:
All-Division: Matthew Weilep, Tommy Fruhauf, Carter Paterson, Riley Barnes, Russell Silva, John Marcucci
All-Conference: Matthew Weilep, Tommy Fruhauf, Carter Paterson, Riley Barnes, Russell Silva, John Marcucci, Nicky Harris, Willy McNamara
All-Class-County: Matthew Weilep, Tommy Fruhauf, Willy McNamara
All-County: Matthew Weilep, Tommy Fruhauf
All-County Sophomore: Riley Barnes (Champion)
All-County Freshman: Nicky Harris (3rd)
