NEW PALTZ, NY — It is shaping up to be an exciting season for the Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Teams. There are a number of returning members from the 2006 teams and a crop of talented freshman on both the Men’s and Women’s side. Head Coach Michael Trunkes expects that SUNY New Paltz should turn some heads within the conference and the region in 2007.
The men have five returning athletes with sophomores Rob Grazier (West Islip), the 2006 MVP and Nick Avello (West Sand Lake/Averill Park) a very close number two man leading the way. Grazier and Avello will play a critical role in this season’s success and are both looking very strong in early season training. Senior Sean Brown (Verplanck/Hendrick Hudson), who spent most of last season side lined with a chronic ham string injury is slowly working his way back into race shape and could play a pivotal role in October at conference and regional championships. Faces to look out for are Alex Colucci (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) and Tim Ivancic (Churchville/Wheatland-Chili), both are returning sophomores who have put in a great deal of distance work over the summer which is already beginning to show in early season work outs. Trunkes expects both Colucci and Ivancic to have break-out seasons this year. There are two new faces on the men’s side with the addition of Daniel Caruso (Staten Island/Petrides) and Robert Webster (Central Islip). Both men are showing great promise and will play an important role in team scoring by displacing runners from our competition.
The women’s side has two outstanding returning young runners in junior Stephanie Albinski (Commack) and sophomore Lisa Cassaro (West Islip). They will help to lead the way to what may turn out to be one of the best seasons in recent history for women’s cross country at New Paltz. Albinski and Cassaro will be assisted by a deep contingent of both returning upperclassmen and incoming freshman. Christie Carlstrom (Newburgh/Newburgh Free Academy), Alyssa Jung (Albany), Rebecca Shuriff (Commack) and captain Erin Lavin (Poughkeepsie/Arlington) return from last season hungry to improve on last seasons’ performances. Incoming first years Danielle Harmon (Pearl River), Olga Stulov (Glenmont/Bethlehem), Shannon Wunderlich (Salisbury Mills/Washingtonville), Joanna Goldfarb (Harris/Monticello) and Millicent Guido (Thornwood/Westlake), all members of highly competitive High School Track and Cross Country programs, have begun to raise the bar in workout and look to make some serious in-roads into the top five scoring positions.
Trunkes is very pleased with the commitment and dedication that both teams are showing at this point in the season. Both teams open their season on Saturday September 8th at Vassar, which will be a clear indication of what the rest of the season has in store for New Paltz Cross Country.
