On this day 47 years ago, the cross country team won a 14th consecutive Ivy League Championship.

During the 1967 spring season, the Blue and White track team had failed to win its 13th consecutive Ivy League title, something the 1968 harriers were not eager to emulate. Richie Shay and captain King Hollis were a stout duo up front, but after injuries to co-captain John Dahl and Nels Magnuson, the need for quality boys to fill the remaining five spots was desperately apparent. As the season began to unfold, Nick Mook, freshman S.T. Hsaio, and Jim Andrews proved they could be consistently counted on to score. The dual meet season commenced with victories over Syosset, Hackley (in near perfect fashion), and Riverhead. In mid-October the Brook invited two prestigious New England prep schools to run in a triangular meet on the home course. Choate and Cheshire Academies came to the North Shore of Long Island and did not escape unscathed. Choate was defeated 27-29 and Cheshire 18-47 as the Brook finished the head-to-head season 5-0, with its most important races still to come.

In the St. John’s Invite, Shay handed Denis Fikes of Rice High School his first defeat in two years, running away with the title, while Hollis came across the line in 9th. The following week Shay was again victorious, this time in the Eastern States Championship, becoming the third Brooker to win the race. Hollis finished in 6th, giving both him and Shay national recognition.

These two races proved adequate training grounds for accomplishing the perennial goal: taking home the Ivy League Championship. One week after the Eastern States Championship, the Brookers did just that in front of the largest contingent of Stony Brook fans to ever witness a race at Van Cortlandt Park. The Blue and White made it look effortless as Shay took home the title. Hollis finished in 2nd, Mook 4th, Hsaio 7th, and Magnuson 10th for a 24-54-62 victory over Horace Mann and Poly Prep.

SHAY OF STONY BROOK WINS IVY PREP HARRIER TITLE

Richie Shay of Stony Brook won the Ivy Prep School cross country title yesterday and led his squad to its 14th consecutive team championship.

~ New York Times article from November 10, 1968

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