The Great CBA Comeback!

by Elliott Denman

NEW YORK -  They'd flown across the country last December hoping to prove themselves - again - as America's finest cross country team .

  But they couldn't prove themselves the Wizards of Ooze.

  In mushy, messy, miserable conditions on the first of December 2012 at Portland Meadows Race Track, the lads of Christian Brothers Academy in the Lincroft section of Middletown Township, NJ, simply couldn't rise to the occasion as they'd done in 2011, as many of their most ardent fans had expected - and so wound up fourth in the Nike Cross Nationals.

   Three other top squads - Arcadia of California, American Fork of Utah and North Spokane of Washington state - had found a way to conquer the muck and mire and thus conquered CBA.   They proved themselves the superior mudders - and superior runners - and took home their NXN honors fairly and squarely.  All 22 teams in the race had run through the same mush, the same mess.

  Still, it rankled the CBA runners - competing as The Brothers Track Club of Lincroft - no end.  (Photo below shows CBA at the Great American Cross Country Festival earlier that fall)

   They flew back to Monmouth County, NJ, got all their messy gear washed, scrubbed and dried, and took the Douglas MacArthur Pledge - "we shall return."

   Well, not exactly to Portland Meadows - not until next December anyway - but to the top of the scholastic distance running heap just the same.

   Scene of this "return" was much sooner - 99 days - and much closer to home, some 60 miles from Lincroft.  This one took place at the 31st edition of the New Balance Indoor Nationals at New York's Armory Track and Field Center.

  The NBIN boys championship 4 x 1-Mile Relay, staged on the Saturday schedule of the three-day  NBIN  trackfest, is the longest event on the entire meet program. A 32-lapper staged on the Armory's world-class 200-meter banked oval,  it can be considered the closest relative of a big cross country team race you'll ever see run under a roof.

  As the starting gun was fired, there were even some elements of an outdoor race - those few pigeons who'd somehow found their way inside the former military drill-shed and were fluttering around the armory's upper precincts.

   And so this drama was on.

  For the first three legs, this seemed a two-team battle for NBIN supremacy.

  Cardinal O'Hara High of Philadelphia opened with Kevin James (4:25.75), Dan Savage (4:20.80) and Ernie Pitone (4:19.40.)  CBA countered with Billy Bragg (4:24.75), Aaron Liberatore (4:21.60) and Jack Boyle (4:18.40.)

  Just as you'd expect, with the splits that close (according to official meet stats), there was constant jockeying for position. And with both teams clad in red, the differentials were even tougher to discern.

   CBA had all of a 1.20-second lead as Boyle handed off to Tommy Rooney and Pitone delivered the baton to Jim Belfatto.

  Henderson High of  West Chester, Pa. - running as the Warrior Track Club - was at least 50 meters off the pace, in fourth, at this point, back of Northport of New York  along with the two front-runners.

  Soon, however, the heat was really-really-on.

   Henderson's Tony Russell had super credentials coming in and all the NBIN formcharters knew him as a major threat with the baton anywhere within reach.

   Meter-by-meter, lap-by-lap, the excitement mounted as the packed Armory crowd sensed the drama and announcer David Mitchell,  the unparalleled master of all stats and all scenarios, whipped up even more enthusiasm.

  Who'd win the Rooney-Belfatto duel up front?  Could Russell possibly regain all that ground? Could Northport continue to hang in there?  Could Saratoga Springs, NY - alias the Kinetic Track Club - rally into the fray from sixth place?

 It was all wonderful-wonderful-wonderful stuff, just what this sport is all about - high school lads, some who'd surely go on to star in college, maybe beyond, and others whose career highlights might never extend  beyond their scholastic deeds - having it out for the glory of their schools, the glory of their classmates and teammates, the glory to be won only with the approval of knowing Armory fans, those up in the balcony, others trackside.

 With little more than a lap to go, it was still Rooney and Belfatto duking it out up front, but Russell coming up on both of them far quicker than many thought possible.

And then, suddenly, Russell found the gear to charge right by the front-runners, as announcer Mitchell and his audience went rather bonkers. 

Belfatto was first to fade - just a bit.  And those who didn't know Rooney thought he might be pondering a concession speech, as well.  Mo-mentum was not on his side.

With some 90 meters remaining, though, all such notions were already in his personal trashbasket.

Rooney wasn't conceding, wasn't fading - not a bit. He was simply "gathering" for one final push.

What a push it was - with the finish line rushing into sight, he surged past Russell, who couldn't possibly find a new gear. 

And so the winner was....CBA in 17:22.67, fourth best time in NBIN annals, with Henderson at 17:23.43, #5 NBIN all-time, and Cardinal O'Hara (17:25.28), Saratoga Springs (17:27.31) and Northport (17:28.79) all nudging past the previous #5 NBIN all-time mark.

In short, this longest of all NBIN events had proved itself one of the meet's most exciting races - ever.

Rooney anchored in 4:17.92, for the win.  Russell's late charge, in 4:10.59, sufficed only for second.  Belfatto's 4:19.33,  was darn good, but darn good just for third.  Joe Verro's 4: 13.06 lifted Saratoga Springs to fourth.  And David Hatch's 4:17.65 got Northport only into fifth.

With other delegate-foursomes from Virginia, Tennessee, California, Utah, Michigan, Maryland, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and North Carolina, this three-section, 37-team race was a truly national event, just what NBIN is all about.

Arcadia, the 2012 NXN team champion at Portland Meadows?  Merely 10th place.

"I knew I was running against some awesome athletes," said Rooney, whose poise was rather awesome in itself.

"He (Rooney) just wasn't going to be beat," said Russell. "That (4:10.59) was my best, but just not good enough."

In the grand scheme of things, these CBA runners were just a fragment of the entire NBIN show, which will be remembered as a three-day spree of incredible talent, the best of the best young men and young women certain to be recognized on increasingly grander stages in the years ahead.   The meet featured record performances in races short and long, by hurdlers and leapers and throwers.

And lots more that were equally red-hot, yet near-misses in the record department.  Put the four-mile relay in that category and thank you again, Messrs. Rooney, Russell, Belfatto, Verro, Hatch, et al.

Good going, guys. Good show !

Our Partners