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2000
After two years of wide-open racing, producing the two highest winning scores in race history, the Alumni Run underwent another transformation this year. Yes, North and South had basically raced each other in 1998 and '99, but neither team had been able to fill the dynastic void left by the Suffern men of 1995-97, a stretch that included the sixth- and seventh-best Alumni teams ever. Suddenly, in 2000, both teams decided that they wanted to wear the crown of the Next Great Dynasty. What followed was the best two-team race in Alumni history.
I have to admit: I thought we had it. As the defending champs, I thought we had an advantage; I knew we were all coming back in better shape than we had been the year before. Even after I pulled a hamstring in September I knew we'd get around it. My training came back to form and I figured we had no problems.
During the race, however, we seemed to run as if not to lose rather than to win. All five of us ran a little bit more conservative than we should have, and we all counted spots. When Tom and I crossed the line, we were fairly certain that we were ahead of South's fourth man. My teammates up front agreed; they also counted three South runners in front of us. Unfortunately, we were each counting different people. Our young guns up front didn't recognize South's Paul Sklar (class of '89), who came home second overall, and Tom and I didn't know Brendan Sullivan (class of '97), who was third.
After we realized that South had gone not 2-4-10 or 3-4-10 but 2-3-4-10, it was pretty obvious that we were sunk. Despite placing five in the top 15 and having a cumulative time of 79:30 for our five runners--the sixth-fastest total in race history--we lost out to what I consider the second-best team in Alumni history. (I rate our 2000 squad eighth overall, the only non-champion in my top 10.) The 16-point margin of victory was, at the time, the third-closest in race history.
On the women's side, Monroe Woodbury took their second straight team title, as Julianne Littmann continued to build a resume as the top woman in Alumni history.
Men's Top 30
Women's Top 10
Total Number of Runners: 271
Team Participation: 1. Monroe Woodbury 71, 2. North Rockland 38, 3. Suffern 22, 4. Clarkstown North 19, 5. (tie) Albertus Magnus, Clarkstown South, Pearl River 16, 8. Warwick 14, 9. Nanuet 13, 10. Tappan Zee 7
Men's Team Scoring
Women's Team Scoring
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