BERNE — Travis DeRusso crossed the finish line alone on Saturday.

DeRusso won the varsity boys’ Division I race at the Guilderland Cross-Country Invitational at Tawasentha Park. He finished with a time of 14:22.1. His closest competitor finished in 15:15.7.
"It’s a very tough course," DeRusso said after the race. "Especially with no one to push you. My time surprised me quite a bit."

DeRusso beat Chris Castellano of Wantagh to lead the Bulldogs. Jared Fink was the next BKW finisher, coming in seventh with a time of 15:57.5.

However, Wantagh won the team title with 57 points. BKW was second with 83 to edge out Dover-Sherborn of Massachusetts by two points.
"I’m thrilled," said BKW Coach Bill Tindale. "Our first two meets we were at we did very well. We have a lot of young guys and girls and a couple experienced kids. Our seniors are doing well and have a lot of running ability."

The Bulldogs competed in the Fonda Invitational the week before and DeRusso also won that meet.
"He set a course record," Tindale said. "He’s running very well. We’ll see how he’ll do with the competition we have coming up. We’ll be up in Queensbury and the whole state will be there."

The Queensbury Invitational will be a prelude to the state meet that will be held on the same site later this fall.
"It’s a good start," DeRusso said on Saturday. "They stepped up today. We had three guys in the top 10."

Tyler Messick finished 10th for the Bulldogs with a time of 16:09.8. Aaron Giebitz was the next BKW finisher, coming in 31st overall. Dave Haverly came in 34th and Tom DellaRocco came in 36th. Tyler Merrill rounded out the top seven for the Bulldogs, coming in 57th overall.

DeRusso is the only senior among the top runners. Messick is a junior; Finke and Giebitz are sophomores; Haverly is a freshman; and DellaRocco is an eighth-grader.

Also on the team are junior Rich Geist and freshman Josh Glick.
"Most of the guys are freshmen and sophomores," Tindale said. "That bodes well for the future."
"They will be really good next year and the year after that," DeRusso said.

The Bulldogs move up from Class D to Class C this year. The Bulldogs have won the Class D Section II championship for the last four years.
"I’m not really sure how that will work out," Tindale said. "I think we’ll have a strong year and will place in sectionals. We’ll be competitive in the long run. The big difference will be that we’ll go against Fonda at sectionals. They are an extremely strong team. But we run in the big-school races and the only difference will the the sectional race."

There is a lot of enthusiasm to try to build on the streak of championships the Bulldogs have garnered in the sport — including a state championship last year.
"We have a great group of young guys," Tindale said. "They’ll take a year to develop, but they are excited about the sport."

Girls’ team

The varsity girls’ team finished sixth at the Guilderland invitational with 138 points. Broadalbin-Perth won with 70 points.
"We are very young," said Tindale. "We have two seniors."

Sarah Furman and Katie Shoiniere are the only seniors on the team.
"They’ve been with the program since the ninth grade," Tindale said. "We have a solid top five. Katie is coming off an injury."

Ada Lauterbach is the top runner for the Lady Bulldogs. She went to the state meet last year and finished sixth at the Guilderland meet on Saturday. The sophomore had a time of 18:41.5.
"She is much stronger than last year," Tindale said. "She’ll be one of the top runners in Class C.

Junior Michelle Raymond and sophomore Katrina Yakel will be contributors to the team and in the top five all season. Raymond was 26th on Saturday and Yakel was 31st.
"Those two girls have improved drastically," Tindale said. "We have a solid top four. We have a lot of younger girls that are going for the fifth spot."

Christina Bartonicek, a ninth-grader, holds that spot right now.
"She has a lot of talent and potential," Tindale said. "She’s a steady runner and getting better everyday."

Tindale sees a lot of potential for this team down the road.
"We’ll be very strong in two or three more years," Tindale said. "We’ll be competitive every year."