Yesterday afternoon, on a gorgeous autumn afternoon, the Bears hosted the 31st PSAA Cross Country Championships on the S. T. Hsaio home course. The boys’ and girls’ teams each won their third consecutive PSAA titles, giving them a perfect mark in the event since joining the league in 2018. It is the first three-peat in the PSAA since since Packer Collegiate won three boys’ races from 2009-11. Packer also earned the last girls’ three-peat from 2003-07.

The boys led off the afternoon with a comfortable 23-36 win over Portledge, the only other school with the minimum five runners. The Panthers’ Chris Lall led start to finish, though Colin Scanlon helped push him to a great time, never allowing him to settle in to a comfortable pace on the 2.53-mile course. The Bears took the next three spots, seven of the top ten, and placed eleven on the All-PSAA list (top 15 runners). In a show of the Bears’ depth, they placed twelve runners ahead of Portledge’s fifth scorer.

This was the boys’ first run of three victories in a championship race since winning the Suffolk County Championship from 2006-08. Head Coach David Hickey was a runner on the 2006 and 2007 squads.

Boys’ Top 10 Results

1.	Chris Lall	Portledge	13:49
2.	Colin Scanlon	Stony Brook	14:05
3.	Forest Kaplan-Walbrecht	Stony Brook	14:48
4.	Joe Barisic Cubillas	Stony Brook	15:23
5.	Alex Simms	Portledge	15:46
6.	Anthony Zajac	Stony Brook	15:55
7.	Tyler Wasserman	Portledge	16:03
8.	Paul Cesario	Stony Brook	16:10
9.	Tiger Wang	Stony Brook	16:30
10.	Marc Nichitiu	Stony Brook	17:12

The girls were dominant in their race as well as Sarah Wong and Evelyn Apazidis claimed the top two spots. Five Bears flooded the top ten places and all seven Stony Brook runners earned All-PSAA status. Despite being the only team that had the minimum five runners for a qualifying team score, the Bears placed all seven runners ahead of Portledge’s fourth runner, eliminating any debate as to whether the Panthers could have challenged the incumbent champs with an additional competitor.

Wong completed her outstanding Stony Brook cross country career as a three-peat PSAA Champion, the first PSAA runner, boy or girl, to accomplish the feat since Columbia Prep’s Natasha Knorr from 2005-07.

Girls’ Top 10 Results

1.	Sarah Wong	Stony Brook	16:44
2.	Evelyn Apazidis	Stony Brook	17:03
3.	Taty Neugebauer	Portledge	19:09
4.	Mia Trama	Stony Brook	19:54
5.	Ava Vissicchio	Portledge	20:01
6.	Norah Williams	Our Savior	20:16
7.	Anne-Sarah Nichitiu	Stony Brook	20:19
8.	Eowyn Jeffrey	Stony Brook	20:50
9.	Ramsey Cammerer	Portledge	20:56
10.	Marilyn Mahoney	Martin Luther	22:21

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