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Chatting away, Arlington's Ethan Green breaks course record at Brewster Bear XC Classic

nancy haggerty, rockland/westchester journal news
·6 min read

BREWSTER — Ethan Green is kind of a quirky runner.

During Saturday's 50-school, 44th annual Brewster Bear Cross-Country Classic, for instance, he was talking with the competition while in full stride during the boys Varsity 1 race.

This wasn't trash talking. This was chatting.

Some might think that nice but indicative of someone who doesn't really care about winning.

Think again.

The Arlington junior broke the course record of 15:23 set by former Mamaroneck star Sam Morton by more than four-and-a-half seconds.

Green ran 15:18.44 after distancing himself from Mamaroneck teammates Sam Young (second place, 15:30.9) and Matt Doherty (third place, 15:50.1).

"It's not just talent. He likes to compete. ... He brings that to the starting line," Arlington coach Steve Arnett said. "He has the look like he wants to find the way (to win)."

Green, whose team won the 18-school, 125-finisher boys varsity II team title by placing five runners in the top 20, was well aware he was facing two of Section 1's top runners in Young and Doherty.

He overtook both on the largely flat course's one major hill.

He said he wanted to distance himself from both because Doherty has a better kick than he does and Young has the ability to keep the same pace all race long.

"It was kind of a tricky race," he said of combatting them both.

Of Young, he explained "I knew if I didn't beat him early, he was going to beat me. It would be too late if I didn't take it on the hill."

Brewster's Ford brothers have brotherly competition

Liam Ford doesn't care if it's on a hill, a downhill or a flat but the Brewster sophomore has his sights set on beating his big brother, Pat.

That remained in his to-do list after Saturday's race.

After sitting out a week with a knee injury, Pat, a senior, led start to finish, clocking 16:09.1 to win the boys varsity I championship.

"Just being on my home course with a lot of a family and friends here motivated me a lot," he said.

It probably didn't hurt that he knew Liam, with whom he routinely does training runs, wasn't far behind him.

Horace Greeley's Matt Carnes slipped into the No. 2 spot, overtaking Liam with a 16:29.7 finish.

But Liam claimed the third spot in the 97-finisher race in 16:48.1.

Post-race, Liam's focus was squarely on his brother.

"I just want one race where I can beat him," he said, noting he plans to work on his endurance to do so.

Fox Lane's Morgan Eigel wants to be pushed

Fox Lane's Morgan Eigel already had multiple wins this season before picking up another in capturing the girls varsity I race in 19:05.1.

But winning, at this point, isn't as important to her as improving and, to that end, she noted she's looking forward to next Saturday's mammoth Manhattan Invitational, where some of the top runners from the northeast are expected to compete.

Saturday, Eigel led from the get-go and finished more than 55 seconds ahead of runner-up Riley Ward of Carmel.

But it was hardly a perfect race for the Fox senior.

"Every race I tend to go out way too fast in the first mile," Eigel explained. ... "I haven't quite got it," she said, referring to pacing herself.

While Ward didn't really challenge Eigel, she still ran a strong race, improving on last year's seventh-place finish at the Bear by running her best time on the course.

She followed her planned strategy to, "Get a good start and keep pushing from there."

Brewster claimed the team championship, as it did in its boys race.

The top Bear girl finisher, junior Maggie Rigano, who was seventh, noted the Bears won three team titles Saturday with the junior varsity boys also capturing their race.

"It feels good. ... I think it's a compliment to Brewster and will probably help us later on when we have bigger meets," she said.

Valley Central's Ava Carsley gets first invitational win

The girls varsity II race was noteworthy on a couple of levels.

Valley Central's Ava Carsley, a second-year varsity runner, captured her first-ever invitational title, beating Eastchester's Ava Pennachio to the line, 18:51.7-18:57.4, in the 93-finisher race.

Pleasantville, one of the smaller schools, also won the girls varsity II team title with 69 points, with 13 schools having the required five finishers to be in the mix for the title.

Particularly noteworthy for Pleasantville, which placed four runners in the top 20, was the fact among them were an eighth-grader (Catherine O'Brien, 13th place, 20:13.7) and two freshmen (Clara Shingler in fifth, 19:48.7, and Camilla Browand in 19th, 20:47.8). The other top Panther finisher was junior Genevieve Agati (12th, 20:11.5).

Carsley, who plans to run in college, said her goal this season is simply to "finish out strong."

Asked about qualifying for the state championship, she said, "It would be nice but I don't want to put a lot of pressure on myself."

Top five individual finishers by race

Varsity boys I

97 finishers

  1. Pat Ford, Brewster 16:09.1

  2. Matt Carnes, Horace Greeley 16:29.7

  3. Liam Ford, Brewster 16:48.1

  4. Mason Barlow, Horace Greeley 16:57.9

  5. Vincent Smaldone, Red Hook 17:18.8

Varsity boys II

125 finishers

  1. Ethan Green, Arlington 15:18.4

  2. Sam Young, Mamaroneck 15:30.9

  3. Matt Doherty, Mamaroneck 15:50.1

  4. Carson Darling, James O'Neill 16:08.8

  5. Seamus Reidy, Immaculate 16:15.4

Varsity girls I

49 finishers

  1. Morgan Eigel, Fox Lane 19:05.1

  2. Riley Ward, Carmel 20:01

  3. Meghan Guilbeault, Brookfield 20:20.1

  4. Brett Bergerson, Mahopac 20:33.9

  5. Erin Lee, Carmel 20:33.

Varsity girls II

93 finishers

  1. Ava Carsley, Valley Central 18:51.7

  2. Ava Pennachio, Eastchester 18:57.4

  3. Shaylen Goslar, Pine Bush 19:30.5

  4. Leah Richardson, James O'Neill 19:34.8

  5. Clara Shingler, Pleasantville 19:48.7

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Top team finishers

Note: A team's top finisher is noted if not previously mentioned as among top five individual finishers.

Varsity girls I

13-school field but only four teams with needed five finishers to compete for team title

  1. Brewster 30 (top finisher Maggie Rigano, seventh place, 20:54.2)

  2. Hen Hud 55 (top finisher Rhylee Adviento, 14th place, 22:26.9)

  3. Carmel 64

  4. John Jay-Cross River 78 (top finisher Grace Kenny, eighth place, 21:24.6)

Varsity boys I

12 teams scoring

  1. Brewster 49 points

  2. Horace Greeley 68

  3. Red Hook 82

  4. McKee/Staten Island Tech 128 (top finisher Justin Berka, 13th place, 17:50.8)

  5. Brookfield 148 (top finisher Evan Belles, ninth place, 17:33)

Varsity girls II

13 schools scoring

  1. Pleasantville 69 points

  2. James O'Neill 73

  3. Somers 83 (top finisher Julia Aquilino, 16th place, 20:22.7)

  4. Scarsdale 94 (top finisher Rachel Rakower, sixth place, 19:50.6)

  5. Trinity School 128 (top finisher Isabella Solomon, 14th place, 20:17.4)

Varsity boys II

18 teams scoring

  1. Arlington 49 points

  2. John Jay-East Fishkill 146 points (top finisher David Laubenheimer, 23rd place, 17:09.6)

  3. Mamaroneck 148 points

  4. Immaculate 157

  5. New Canaan 180 (top finisher Spencer Paine, 12th place, 16:52.5)

Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at both @HaggertyNancy and at @LoHudHockey.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Arlington's Ethan Green sets record at Brewster Bear Classic