VSN runners shine at counties

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Despite being edged out in the county championships last weekend, the Valley Stream North boys’ cross-country team still put forth a solid 2019 season with six all-county runners, including two seasoned seniors and several more up-and-coming stars.

The Spartans were in contention throughout the entire meet on Nov. 2 at Bethpage State Park before finishing second, 15 points behind champion Seaford. Even though VSN coach Tim Boyens called the result “disappointing”, he said it wasn’t because of a lack of effort from his team.

“The kids worked really hard,” he said. “It wasn’t because our guys ran so poorly, it was just that Seaford ran really well.”

Senior Christian Cicilia placed third in the Nassau Class III 5K final with a time of 17 minutes, 24.78 seconds. Sophomore Jack Schwabe (18:16.96) and junior Jake Cresser (18:20.95) finished 14th and 15th, respectively, while senior Matt Marrone (18:30.83) was not far behind in 18th.

But it wasn’t enough as Seaford had three runners finish in the top eight. Junior Matthew Leo (18:44.19) and sophomore Thomas Siatsis (18:46.15) also had respectable efforts by placing just inside the top 25.

“The kids are great,” Boyens said. “We just set really high expectations. Our motto is we’re going to outwork all of the other teams.”

Being one of the higher-ranked teams in the county did give North an invite to the state qualifier this Saturday at Bethpage. Boyens gave Cicilia and Marrone the best chances of advance, with the former making it there in cross country the past two years.

Marrone is ranked third in the county in the 2.5-mile category and seventh in the 5K, while Ciclia sits sixth and fourth best in those events, respectively. Both earned All-County honors this season, along with Cresser, Leo, Schwabe and Siatsis.

Each underclassman, according to Boyens, showed tremendous improvement as the season went along and were a big part of the team’s success.

“When you have two kids of the quality of the seniors on the team, it could be a little intimidating,” he said. “They shedded their intimidation a little bit and started to believe in themselves as runners. It took me a little time for me to get them to believe that they are as good as they are.”

The girls’ team also impressed at the county meet with a sixth-place finish out of the 19 schools that competed. The Lady Spartans also have a strong, young crop of talented runners, headed by sophomores Samantha Szabo and Katelynn Persaud (the ninth-ranked 5K female in the county) and freshman Melissa Innocent.

Persaud was ninth in the 5K final with a time of 21:26.6, Szabo placed 12th at 21:38.4 and Innocent finished 20th after crossing the finish line in 22:12.7. All three also were feted with All-County honors.

“The sky is the limit for them,” Boyens said. “They’re really bright girls, great students, disciplined runners [and] not afraid to work hard. [These are] the kind of girls that you want to have a whole team full of.”