NYSSWA: New York State Sportswriters Association

NYSSWA rankings are updated weekly.
See the latest plus the earlier weeks'
updates on our rankings page.

Cross country runners from all over New York State endured the sweltering heat that drained the energy out of most in Week 2 of the season.

At this point, the top female runners in the state, regardless of class and section, are Suffern’s Shelby Greany (Section 1), Jenna Hulton of East Aurora (Section 6), Paige Mullins of Johnson City (Section 4), Jamie Wallace of Alden (Section 6) and Morgan Roche of Shenendehowa (Section 2).

At the Windsor Invitational on Sept. 8, the long-winded Mullins cruised to a first-place finish with a 10-second lead in 19:51 and helped her Johnson City squad to a first-place finish. Mullins' younger sister, eighth-grader Lauren Williams took third place in 20:05.

Greany competed at the Washingtonville Wizard Invitational on Sept. 8, winning with ease in 18:18.3 on the 3.0-mile course, 26.8 seconds ahead of the field. Greany, like Mullins, helped her team to a first-place overall finish.

So far this season, there has not been much talk about the winged-foot females from Section 5, and that may be because of the graduation of Liz Deir (Honeoye Falls-Lima) and Allison Sawyer (Hilton).

However, keep an eye pealed on Canandaigua's Jeannie Sauter, a junior. As a sophomore, Sauter finished ninth in Class A at the NYSPHSAA meet, running a time of 18:42.4, and completed the McQuaid Invitational course in 18:13. The other top Section 5 female this season will be sophomore Amanda Moreland of Bloomfield . As a freshman, she competed in the state meet and finished fifth in 18:56.2. After overcoming mono during this year's pre-season, she posted a time of 20:31 in the Clyde-Savannah Invitational on Sept. 7.

Leading the pack for the New York State boys so far are Matt Flint of Queensbury (Section 2), Chris Stogsdill of Marcellus (Section 3), Mike Danaher of Shenendehowa (Section 2), Louis Serafini of Niskayuna (Section 2) and Lee Berube of Ticonderoga (Section 7).

Berube not only helped his team to an overall first-place finish at the Saranac Lake Invitational on Sept. 8, but he also ran to a 17:47.4 finish, beating all competitors by roughly 49 seconds.

Courses all over the state will start heating up even more this coming weekend, so stay tuned for more results and scores. In the meantime, take a jog to www.tullyrunners.com for some speed ratings, invitational results and a database of times for runners throughout the state.

9/6/24: Lawsuit takes aim at N.C.'s NIL ban

9/5/24: New York's Week 0 football intrigue