Congratulations to the varsity Girls BNL XC team for a long lasting, hard-fought and successful season!  This past Saturday, our small-town schools made their way to Binghamton to compete in the XC State Championship meet against 42 other school’s individuals and teams in Class D. Despite the cold rain and muddy course, the girls were so excited and determined to take on this race. Chenango Valley’s course offered a variety of gravel, rolling hills, a path through the woods, and a ton of cheering fans. The duct tape was wrapped tightly around these girl’s spikes and the gun sounded! Allura Meizinger was focused on that front line spot. She pushed her way through the finish line earning 26th place out of 108 participants with a 21:19. What an accomplishment! With the rain coming down hard, right up next was Elsie Corbett taking 37th place overall with a 21:53. The next two runners, Sadie Giumarra (48th place) and Brady Hills (52nd place) came in as strong as always, forming that famous Berlin wall. For their first time ever as a varsity runner at the States Championships meet, Ava Noel opened her stride up and pushed her way into 59th place and Elaine Savaria came in to earn her spot in 82nd place. Right after came Samantha Rokjer in 89th place. We are happy to announce that the BNL team ranked 6th place in Class D in the entire state with 98 points! Not to mention, it was so competitive and so close that the girls were only a few points away from 5th (93 points) and 4th place (91 points). We have our eyes on the prize in the next 2022 XC season! We are SO proud of you all.

Last, but especially not least was our incredible BNL Boys Varsity runner, Gabe Kalisz, who individually qualified for the State Championships meet by earning 6th place in the Section 2 XC Sectionals Meet. Gabe endured the course at its all time worst! Ripped up by previous races, muddy, and with even more rain. Despite the conditions, Gabe went out there with his all and had fun along the way. He earned 63rd place overall against 116 other runners with an 18:47. Way to go Gabe!!

Thank you all for a long and incredible season! We appreciate all of the endless encouragement, cheering, and support we received from the staff and students!

-Coach Kelly, Coach Viner and Coach Noel