GUILDERLAND — The youth will be running wild for the Guilderland girls’ cross-country team.

Head Coach Dave Kosier has a team made up mostly of younger runners and it showed at the 37th Annual Guilderland Invitational meet on Saturday.

The varsity team finished in third place in the large-school race but got first-place finishes from the junior varsity and freshmen teams.
"It was a nice day over there," Kosier said of his home meet. "We had a lot of good personal records. Everybody ran real well. I’m excited about this year. We’ll get better and better at each meet."

The top runner for the Lady Dutch varsity was Lynley Joynt. She finished 18th in a time of 18:02.

Erin Mossop was close behind as she finished 19th in 18:05.

Jen Madsen was 21st, Casey Doak was 24th, and Shannon Doherty was 40th for Guilderland. Annie Herkenham also ran in the varsity race for the Dutch and came in 46th.

The Lady Dutch finished with 112 points to come in third. Burnt Hills won the meet with 40 points. Colonie was second with 66 points.
"I can’t complain"
"Burnt Hills is a quality team," Kosier said. "Colonie returns everybody and they are a talented team that ran at Federation last year as well. I was hoping for and I’m excited about the third-place finish. I can’t complain, I’m seeing progress. The young kids are gaining more confidence."

Mossop is a sophomore and Madsen, Joynt, and Doak are juniors.
"Our front four are mostly juniors," Kosier said. "We’re young; we’ll be a tough team for a few years. I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do."

Most of those runners ran on varsity last year.
"Erin Mossop first ran on the freshman team last year," Kosier said. "But she ran real fast and she’s a competitor. She wanted to move up right away. She has a lot of potential and she can do a lot of scoring for us.
"But this year," Kosier added, "we’ve had three meets and three different runners were top finishers. Casey Doak was our first at the Shaker Invitational, Jen Madsen was first at Colonie, and, on Saturday, Lynley Joynt was first."

Kosier is looking for runners who can score points in the fifth, sixth, and seventh spots. He thinks that Doherty can fill in as well as some of the runners on the junior varsity. Annie Dimura finished third in the junior varsity race and Emily Cure was fourth.

Lea Cure, Kelly Camardo, Anna Pickett, and Michelle Fish were the top four runners in the freshmen race for the Lady Dutch.

Cure, Pickett, and Camardo are all eighth-graders and Fish is a seventh-grader.
"They are in the top four most of the time," Kosier said. "I could see them moving up during the season. They are progressing and have lots of potential."

Of course, moving them up will be difficult since the junior varsity team has had a good start to the season. The junior varsity beat Burnt Hills and Ballston Spa in a dual meet last week.
"A lot of potential"

The varsity team split their first dual meet of the year. The Dutch beat Ballston Spa but lost to Burnt Hills in a three-way meet.
"The JV team is running well as well," Kosier said. "They are filled with a lot of potential."

The line-up changes will come over time as the season goes on. But Kosier has one singular focus for his team.
"We want to go to the Federation Meet at the end of the season," the coach said. "We want to do well at the Section II meet but going to the state meet is tough. Only one team goes and Saratoga has had a hold on that for years."

Kosier said that going to the invite-only Federation Meet would be a big accomplishment for his team of young runners.
"The Federation meet is an invitational and to get to go down there would be great," Kosier said of the meet held in Wappingers Falls a week after the state meet. "It means that you are one of the top teams in the state. And there will be some good teams and tough competition. That’s our number-one goal and we are working toward getting there.
"As the season goes on, we’ll continue to improve," he added. "The younger kids will grow up and we’ll be pretty good toward the end of the season. We don’t want to peak too soon. We’ve done a lot of miles, but not a lot of speed work. The girls are asking me about doing speed work, but we are holding them back. We want to be our best for the Suburban Counil Meet and the Section II meet. That will have the biggest influence on getting a Federation bid."