Wilton, Ct. and Sleepy Hollow, NY Join the 50th Anniversary Party

Over 500 runners will be party to the 50th anniversary run of the oldest and finest Invitational of its kind in Westchester County at Kennedy Catholic High School in Somers, New York, on this Saturday, September 25th, 2010.

Briarcliff, Byram, Fordham, Hen Hud, Kennedy, J J- Cross River, Ossining. PV, Regis, Somers, Westlake, & Yorktown Lead the Way to 50th Annual Sterling

The following local and NYC based teams lead the registeration to the 50th Annual Kennedy Catholic Sterling Invitational slated for 9/25/10. Thank you. Enjoy. Good luck and Godspeed to all!

Briarcliff
Byram Hills
Fordham Prep
Hendrick Hudson
Kennedy Catholic
John Jay - Cross River
Ossining
Pleasantville
Regis
Somers
Westlake
Yorktown

Armory Track: 2010 Kennedy Catholic Sterling Invitational

The following notice appears at the Kennedy Catholic Sterling Invitational webpage on the 2010 cross country calendar:

All hail! The running of the 50th Annual JFK Catholic Sterling Invitational is almost here. Be sure to fax the entry form to Sister Janet (who celebrates her 50th year of community service, 42 years as XC Coach, & 26 Years Section 1 Winter Track Co=Coordinator) at the fax number listed on the entry form. Thank you.

Join us for the oldest, finest, and continuous Cross Country Invitational of its kind in beautiful Westchester County, New York. As we approach our 50th year, we want you to know that we have a newly designed and tested course which highlights our scenic 70 acres of property in historic Somers, New York.

Visit ny.milesplit.us/meets/38990 to see information and photos from past Sterling Invitationals. Here you can see great pictures of many of our local runners, as well as runners from competitive teams like Fordham, Monsignor Farrell, Staten Island, Nottingham, Jamesville-Dewitt, George Fowler, and Wilton, Ct. that made the trip from a distance. From this webpage, you can click our Official Meet Website to see maps of our newly designed XC courses and explore more about the Sterling Invitational.

Visit our XC websites at Armory Track - JFK Catholic and at www.kchsxc.blogspot.com for more information about our XC, Winter Track and Spring Track programs. Go to www.kennedycatholic.org - click on news - to learn more about our school and recent events. For example, our XC and Track team members and coaches have recetly captured league championships gained state qualifying berths, and all-star and coaches of the year recogition.

We are fortunate to have supporters who come back year after year to volunteer for the Sterling Invitational (some for over 40 years). Our families and friends at JFK have worked hard to help our legendary coaching staff to upgrade our Sterling Invitational. We hope that you will join us. If so, we know that you will have a wonderful day.

...Posted by The JFK Cross Country Boosters. Thank you for your interest!

NCN, Armory Track: 2010 Spring Track All Stars: Kennedy Catholic - Kendzor, Schuck, Asaro, Mannion, Campobasso, Aprile, Kastberg, & Djerdjaj

Track All Stars

June 23, 2010, North County News, Page S11

Pentathlon
First Team
Dylan Schuck, Kennedy Catholic

800 Meters
First Team
Jessica Kendzor, Kennedy Catholic

100 Meters
First Team
Danielle Asaro, Kennedy Catholic

2,000 Meter Steeplechase
Second Team
Breeda Mannion, Kennedy Catholic

Triple-Jump
Second Team
Jesse Aprile, Kennedy Catholic

400 Meters
Second Team
Jessica Kendzor, Kennedy Catholic

110 Meter Hurdles
Second Team
Michael Campobasso, Kennedy Catholic

4X400 Meter Relay Team
Second Team
Kennedy Catholic (Jessica Kendzor, Danielle Asaro, Breeda Mannion, Katherine Kastberg)

200 Meters
Third Team
Danielle Asaro, Kennedy Catholic

400 Meters
Third Team
Anthony Djerdjaj, Kennedy Catholic

North Conty News: Coach of the Year - Larry Elliott and Jake Bergmeier, Kennedy Catholic

Track All Stars

June 23, 2010, North County News, Page S11

Boys

Coach of the Year

Larry Elliott and Jake Bergmeier, Kennedy Catholic

Coach Larry Elliott and Coach Jake Bergmeier co-coach both teams and led the boys back to prominence in Section 1. The Gaels placed third in a tough league and placed an impressive sixth at the Class B sectional meet. The team also placed well at the Somers Lions Club Meet and the Mamaroneck Relays, winning trophies at both meets. Dylan Schuck won the County Title in the pentathlon with an excellent score of 3,005. Elliot and Bergmeier had three individual champs at the Class B Sectional meet with Jesse Aprile (triple jump), Schuck (pentathlon), and Michael Campobasso (110-meter hurdles). The team also sent Campobasso (hurdles) and Schuck (pentathlon) to the state meet. Jesse Aprile also almost made the team. Both Schuck and Campobasso medaled in sixth place at states in their events respectively. In addition to their success with the boys, Jessica Kendzor and Danielle Asaro also qualified for states giving Kennedy four athletes at states.

*Please note, this online article has been corrected as it had an error in the newspaper version. Campobasso was not mentioned for earning a medal at the State meet. (Coach Bergmeier)

Roy Arnesen, North County News: Kennedy’s Campobasso, Schuck Medal

North County News, June 16, 2010, Pg S11

Kennedy picked up two medals at the New York State Track and Field Championship, with senor Dylan Schuck and sophomore Mike Campobasso both placing 6th in the Division II competition. Campobasso qualified for the finals of the Division II 110 meter hurdles final with a time of 15.90 to qualify in the sixth position in the trials. In the finals, Campobasso earned a state medal with a sixth place finish in a time of 16.01. His goal going into the state meet was to win a medal and he started that he knew he could do it if he just ran near his best.

Senior Dylan Schuck also won a medal with a sixth place finish in Division II pentathlon, with a score of 3005, just a few points off his personal best. Schuck ran a time of 16.36 in the 100-meter hurdles and cleared 5-4 1/4th in the high jump. He also had a very solid leap of 20-2 1/4th in the long jump and a personal best throw of 38-6 ¾ in the shot put. Schuck finished his day with a clocking of 4.52.13 in the 1500 meter run. Schuck, who thought he could compete for a top three medal going into the meet, scored well in every event in a very deep field. He placed 17th overall in Federation scoring (overall for Division I and II and private schools)

Danielle Asaro of Kennedy Catholic recorded two personal bests in the state meet in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. In the Division II 100-meter race, Asaro dashed to a personal best time of 12.88, which put her in 12th place. The junior recorded her second personal best time of the weekend with a clocking of 26.37 in the 200-meter dash to place 14th in Division II.

Jessica Kendzor of Kennedy Catholic placed ninth in the Division II 400-meter dash with a time of 59.14, coming within 1.26 seconds of a medal. Kendzor, a senior, had an ambitious schedule, as she only had 45 minutes of rest between the 400-meter dash and the 800-meter run, for which she also qualified. Kendzor raced to a time of 2:19.144 in the 800-meter run, which placed her 13th in Division II and 25th overall in the Federation competition.

Chuck Slater, North County News: For State Track, Kennedy has the Numbers

Taken from June 9th, 2010, North County News, Page S7

When it comes to advancing to state competition in the ultra-competitive world of high school track and field, any team would be proud to send two representatives. This weekend, however, little Kennedy Catholic is sending four athletes – in six events - to face the best the state has to offer in the Binghamton suburb of Vestal.

Competing for the Gaels in the small-school (Division 2) showdowns will be Jessica Kendzor in the 400- and 800-meter runs, Danielle Asaro in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, Michael Campobasso in the 110-meter hurdles and Dylan Schuck in the pentathlon.

And any or all of the Somers school’s representatives could wind up on the Division 2 medal stand. Schuck off his overall performances looms as the favorite in the pentathlon. Kendzor is no worse than #2 in the 800.

“I’m kinda confident with all of them,” said Larry Elliott, the co-coach with Jacob Bergmeier, in what has been a resurgent year for the Gaels’ track program.

Kendzor, who is a regular at state competition indoors and out as well as in cross-country, has spent her time at Kennedy amassing high marks and high performances. She has written rewritten and again revised the school’s running records and currently holds *eight of them: 300, 400, 800, 1,000, *1,200, 4x400 *(indoor), 4x400 *(outdoor), and the *3.0 mile (XC). The Lehigh-bound senior, who plans to study environmental engineering, won the D-2 state qualifier 400 in 58.96, but actually ran better in the 800, with a personal-best of 2:14.52 in losing to longtime rival Henrietta Miers of Bronxville by a quarter of a second.

“Jessica has been very focused this year,” Bergmeier said. She would sometimes let things bother her. And, I think in college, where she will be working out with some kids better than her, she will improve even more.

But first comes states this weekend. And it’s not who – Miers – but when the 800 is held that concerns Kendzor.

My two events are 50 minutes apart, with the 400 first,” she said. “I’m a little nervous about that. But if I want to go out with a bang at the end of my senior season, I’ll have to deal with it.

“Jessica has a really good shot at the 800,” Bergmeier said.

Kendzor actually had nine school records until recently.

Asaro, who surprised everyone with a 26.53 victory in the 200 at state qualifier, had claimed the 200 mark.
“She blew them away in the 200,” Elliott said.

“She’s a front-runner,” Bergmeier added. “She thrives on hearing those footsteps.” The diminutive junior, Bergmeier said, is “always smiling. When she won that 200, she burst out laughing. She’s short in stature, but not strength.”

“I’ve really worked on my form; on what I needed to do on turns,” Asaro said. “Making the 100 is really what I was aiming for (second in a qualifying time of 13.12). Winning the 200 was shocking at first; when it sunk in, I was excited. Winning (at states) would be amazing.”

Asaro has turned a 12.2 100 and a 26.1 200.

Also “very surprised and extremely excited” was the youngest member of the Kennedy quartet, Campobasso. The sophomore captured the 110-meter hurdles in 15.89 seconds.

“He’s one of the most driven and dedicated kids you will ever meet,” Bergmeier said of the 100-plus student who plans to study engineering at MIT. “His abilities are incredible-he’s a former ranked gymnast and keeps getting better.”

While his time is out of medal range, Campobasso is undeterred.

“Everyone has a chance on any given day,” he said. “My goal is to go under 15 seconds (medal territory). If not this year, then next.”

Schuck, the slashing halfback and determined linebacker who turned games around in leading Kennedy to the football playoffs, shows equal versatility in track and field. While he won the state qualifier with 2,851 points in the five events of the pentathlon, he has a personal best of 3,009. The 6-1, 185 lb-pounder has had efforts that would have made states individually in the long jump – which he did as a junior – the 110-meter hurdles and is quite fast in the 1,500 meter run, the bane of many pent-athletes.

“He is tremendously strong, “ Bergmeier said.

Which makes it something of a surprise that his lowest-scoring event has been the shot put, where the two-sport athlete bound for Union College has a 34-9 best.

“We’ve been working on his shot put,” said Elliott who brought in an outside shot put coach to help Schuck last week. “Right now, we’re hoping for something close to 40 feet.”

If he gets it, the gold medal should follow.

“Just making states is such an honor,” Schuck said, “and I’m going with great teammates.”

Actually, Kennedy has had five standout athletes who helped the boys’ team finish first in their league indoors and third outdoors, while the girls finished second in both. But senior Jesse Aprile, hoping to wind up his high-school career at states, just missed out. He was a half-inch short of winning the D-2 long jump qualifiers (automatic berth) and five inches short of the qualifying distance. He also missed the triple jump by those same five inches.

“He was heartbroken,” Kendzor said, sympathetically.

*Corrections made