Welcome to the 2018 Fall Girls Cross Country Schedule.
We do not hold tryouts all runners are welcome from all grades and all abilities. We start the week of August 20th. The team will consist of three division a varsity, JV and Freshmen team. 

Girls CC Practice Schedule:
Mon. 8/20- Fri 8/24 5pm-6:30 @Sunken Meadow
State Park (SMSP)
Sat. 8/25 8AM -10AM @SAHS
Mon. 8/27- Fri 8/31 5pm-6:30 @ SMSP
Sat. 9/1 TBA
Tues 9/4 –Thurs 9/7 5PM-6:30 @ SMSP
Fri 9/8 3PM-5PM @SA
Sat 9/9 Meet TBA
Mon 9/10 - 3PM-5PM @SA

Once school starts, practice will be held at SA. We take a bus over to West Hills Youth Park a couple of days a
week on Tuesdays and Fridays. Wednesdays we have meets at SMSP.  Saturdays are invitational meets where the team may be split.

Detailed questions, reach out to, 
Head Coach Dee Hopkins at deehop13@hotmail.com

GO FRIARS

Team Scholar Athlete
Sr. Danielle D'Alonzo

?Team MVP
So. Larisa Dorian All league

Head Coach Delia Hopkins has coached at St. Anthony's since 1992. She has led the team to 6 CHSAA State titles and numerous NSCHSSA League Championships and has taken the girls to 14 State Federation Cross Country Championships including a top 13 finish in 2011. They ended the 2017 dual meet season 5-2, Finished 5th at the CHSAA State Championships and 21st overall at the State Federation meet.

All League: Larisa Dorrian, Jennifer Furmann, Kylie Maddalena, Kelly Parker, Lindsey Schwasnick 

Congratulations to All Academic recipients

By Sr. Friar Danielle D'Alonzo

The Manhattan College Invitational may be the largest high school cross country meet in the nation, but the Friars didn’t get lost in the crowd.

The St. Anthony’s girls’ team was one of over 350 teams to compete at Van Cortlandt Park on Saturday, October 14th. The Friars’ varsity squad made a strong showing, with top finisher Jennifer Furman completing the 2.5 mile course in 16:49, a time that placed her 37th out of 179 runners. In the sophomore race, St. Anthony’s tenth-graders worked together to create a “black wave,” with Ashley Eckhoff, Alexis Pares, and Siena Kahler finishing 6th, 11th, and 20th, respectively. Meanwhile, the star of the freshman team was Aine Mannion, who snagged third place in the 1.2 mile race with a time of 7:24.

The girls were pleased with their performances, according to senior varsity member Grace Regan.

“It’s the biggest meet in the country and the competition was really tough,” says Regan. “But our freshman team really stood out as our top finisher came in third in a very large race. Our varsity and JV teams stood out as well.”

As Regan points out, the Manhattan Invitational is notable for its size. The meet draws over 10,000 runners each year, including some from as far away as Kentucky, Florida, and Canada. There are 40 races on a tightly regimented schedule throughout the day, with some races going off less than ten minutes after the race before. The average race sees between 150 and 200 competitors on the starting line, so it’s important for runners to break from the pack early to avoid getting trapped.

“Manhattan is definitely a race where you have to know how to get out fast,” says St. Anthony’s girls’ coach Sharon Scubla. “There’s a wide starting line but it really narrows when you’re going into the woods.”

However, although the size and intensity of this meet offers a serious challenge, the Friars aren’t afraid to run with the best. The St. Anthony’s team attends the Manhattan Invite every year and they have always held their own, just as they did this year.

“We made our mark on this competitive meet,” says Regan. “Now we are looking forward to the championship season as our team continues to grow stronger.”

By Sr. Friar Danielle D'Alonzo

The St. Anthony’s Cross Country Invitational is always a memorable meet.

For the past two years, the athletes have had to contend not only against each other, but against the weather, too. In a remarkable coincidence, Long Island was hit by a tropical storm in both 2015 and 2016 on the day of the invitational. Superstorms Joaquin and Jonas, respectively, blinded the runners with rain, battered them with high-speed wind, and turned the course treacherous and muddy. Many teams withdrew their entries, and the St. Anthony’s Friars faced little competition.

The 2017 Invitational was a breath of fresh air for the Friars. Mild temperatures and a slight breeze ensured a much bigger turnout this year: nearly 60 teams, including some from New York City and some from out of state, showed up at Sunken Meadow State Park to run. The St. Anthony’s team was able to enjoy hosting their meet for the first time since 2014.

The St. Anthony’s girls’ coach, Delia Hopkins, was especially glad. She expressed relief that her team could focus on the race without the distraction of a superstorm.

We’re entering championship season now,” said Hopkins. “I want progress, progress, progress.”

The girls’ varsity 5000-meter race started at 5:20 p.m. It was an enormous race-nearly 300 girls competed-but the Friars managed to hold their own. St. Anthony’s top athlete was junior Jennifer Furman, who finished in 51st place with a time of 22:18. As a team, the Friars came in 15th place, while the team from Tappan Zee took first.

“We worked together to get through the course…Snake Hill and Cardiac Hill didn’t beat us!” said Furman. “We had a good race and had lots of fun hosting the meet.”

Although the varsity race went according to plan, it seems that the St. Anthony’s Invitational can never go off without a hitch. The junior varsity race was scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m., but 6:15 found the runners still standing on the starting line, wondering why no officials had arrived with a starting gun. Minutes later, it was announced that both the boys’ and the girls’ JV races had been cancelled due to a medical emergency during the girls’ varsity race and to concerns that the sun would set before all of the JV runners finished.

Sam Torre, a sophomore on the St. Anthony’s JV team, said that the announcement left her “shocked and surprised…because that was, like, the first time a race has been cancelled.”

Despite this bump in the road, the St. Anthony’s team is proud of the meet that they hosted. They only hope that next year, the weather will be perfect and all of the races will go off.

By Senior Friar Danielle D’Alonzo

The St. Anthony’s girls’ cross country team ran an unusual race on September 23rd

Instead of pounding the trails at their home sites—Sunken Meadow State Park in Kings Park and Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx—the team traveled to East Greenwich, Rhode Island to run at Goddard Memorial State Park. As part of the 2017 Ocean State Invitational, varsity and junior varsity runners competed in the 5000-meter race, while freshmen ran the 2.5 mile race. The girls faced a wide and varied opposition: teams from ten different states attended the meet.

For the Friars, Ocean State was remarkable for more than just its location. The St. Anthony’s varsity team was boosted by two newcomers: ninth-graders Áine Mannion and Kelly Parker, whose speed qualified them to move up from the freshman team. Parker said that she was “excited” to run varsity, while Mannion summed up her feelings with another word: “nervous.”

The 5000-meter course wound around a field, through the woods, and then to the finish line. This course is a favorite of many runners because it is mostly flat, which means the race turns out some fast times. However, the St. Anthony’s girls were thrown for a loop when they discovered that the course had been modified since they had last run at Goddard Park. The 5000-meter runners were not expecting to face a steep hill in the last half mile of the race.

“It was a bit of a shock to get to Rhode Island and find out the course we have been running the last three years had been changed,” said senior Meghan Hund, captain of the varsity team. “The hill at the 2.5 mile mark definitely slowed our times down, because the old course was all flat.”

When the last runners had crossed the finish line, meet officials processed the results. St. Anthony’s varsity team earned 13th place, while the junior varsity team came in 15th and the freshmen came in 7th. The top athlete for the Friars was junior Jennifer Furman, who finished the 5000 meters with a time of 21:13 and an individual placement of 46th. Right behind her was sophomore Larisa Dorrian, who ran a 21:19 and finished in 54th.

When asked how she felt about the outcome of the meet, Dorrian praised her teammates but pointed out that there is always room for improvement.

“Personally, I felt that I could have done better,” said Dorrian. “I wasn’t feeling that great, but I had so much energy left at the end of the race. As a team, I think we all tried our best, but we can all give a little more.”

 Danielle has run cross country and track since freshman year. She reads the sports section every day and also writes for school newspaper, The Paduan.

Practice will take place this week at Sunken Meadow State Park at 5:00pm Monday -Friday till school Starts.
It will be at least an hour and half.
We will meet at the big field between the two large parking lots. 

Week 9/4 - 9/8
Monday No Practice
Tuesday at Sunken Meadow @5:00pm
Wed. at St. Anthony's TBD
Thursday at Sunken Meadow 5:00 pm
Friday at St. Anthony's TBD

Lets Have a Great Season!
The Coaches