By Matthias Fontao ’27
WAPPINGER FALLS, NY – The annual Bowdoin XC Classic is one of the area’s biggest early season meets. Taking place in Wappingers Falls, New York, hundreds of teams from all over the East Coast compete at the prestigious course every year in late September. This year was no different, as teams from New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Connecticut were all running at this year’s edition of the race. Headlining some of the attending teams were Rhode Island’s #1 team La Salle, along with nationally ranked CBA from Lincroft, New Jersey. The Ironmen Cross Country squad was also in attendance, looking to build on a good start to the season.
Bowdoin Park is known across the country as a very difficult course. Deemed one of the hardest courses in the country, Bowdoin is a tricky course to run. With the first half of the race being uphill with a steep mountain at the 1.5 mile mark, countless runners expend all of their energy during the first half, leaving nothing in the tank for the remaining 1.5 miles. Bowdoin is also the course where Nike hosts its Nike Cross Regional race for the New York and Northeast regions, a race where teams attempt to qualify for Nationals in Portland, Oregon. Countless State Champions, National Championship teams, NCAA contenders, and Olympians have run on this course, as history is quite literally embedded in the terrain.
Don Bosco made its way north to Dutchess County Saturday morning, hopeful for a good performance at such a well-known course. Both Varsity and JV teams were attending, and both squads were eager to race against runners from all over the surrounding area. The Varsity team was led by Senior Jack Dowd and Sophomore Matthias Fontao, who finished 19th and 20th, respectively. Junior Matt Maguire also put in a good performance. However, the team was beaten out by a couple of other squads, and the Ironman had to settle for a 9th place finish in the Varsity race. Coach Kevin Kilduff stated that the performance was “mediocre” and that the team had to learn to “trust their training.” Nonetheless, Bosco broke into the State’s top 20 rankings for the first time this season, a positive sign of growth. As for the Junior Varsity team, that squad did not disappoint. Junior Ryan Pelosi came 2nd in his race, and led the team to victory over CBA in the JV division after CBA failed to put five runners across the finish line. The runners was ecstatic with their result, but Ryan Pelosi knows that there is more to come: “It was a good race, but we just have to keep working. It doesn’t matter what we did, but rather what we are going to do in the future.” The Junior will make his Varsity debut next week at the Big North United League Meet, which is the team’s next race on October 7th at Darlington Park.
