What Wasaren sports program has been the most dominant over the last 15 years?  That question I’m sure produces a variety of responses. Cambridge or Hoosick Falls football. Hoosick Falls field hockey or Hoosic Valley in girls basketball quickly come to mind.

But the program that may in fact sit at the top of the list is the Greenwich girls cross country team.

On Friday at Saratoga Spa State Park, Section II held it’s Cross Country Championships on a wet course that covered 3.04 miles.  The weather nor the competition fazed the Witches as they claimed the Class C title in typical dominant fashion.

The first four runners and seven of the first nine wore the Greenwich green and white as the Witches with just 17 points won their 15th straight Section II cross country championship.

Greenwich junior Brynne Wright won her fourth straight Section II championship race covering the distance in 17:54 followed by teammates Nina Sgambelluri (18:30), Emma Cronin (18:30.94), and Teagan Wright (18:49).

Places 7-9 found the Witches Quinn Collins, Emily Skiff and Annabel Gregg, with Brooke Wright finishing 13th.

The runner-up squad was Greenville with 149 points.

Points in cross country equal the place where your top five runners finish.  First place earns one point, second place two and so on.  Obviously low score wins and the lowest possible score is to sweep the top five spots for a 15 point total.

Greenwich had 17 points and this isn’t a duel meet, it’s the sectional championship with 14 schools competing in the C classification. Complete dominance, as has been their run of 15 straight sectional championships.

This done in a sport with very little fanfare both in coverage and throughout the race itself.  Typically spectators cheer at the start and finish of the race with the runners covering the majority of the course out of site.

When my oldest daughter ran cross country at the Spa Park I would watch the start, run into the woods and pick a spot about halfway through the race where I could yell encouragement to Lindsay and her teammates, and then run back to catch the finish.

That being said I probably saw less than two minutes of a three mile race.

Cross country runners compete in a demanding sport where they can feed off a crowd for a very small part of the race unlike other sports where every minute played in front of , for the most part, vocal and supportive crowds.

As for Greenwich’s dominance at the state level how about these numbers.

The girls have won state titles in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2015, and 2016, while finishing runner up in 2004, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2017.

The Witches will look to add to those numbers on November 10th at Sunken Meadow State Park in Kings Park when they’ll compete in the State Cross Country Championships looking to do what they’ve done for nearly two decades.

Run away from the pack.