Last year's winner of the Section Eight or State Qualifier interscholastic high schools cross-country championship, Charles White of Garden City, repeated the same honor once again.

White, a sophomore at Garden City High School, prepared well, putting in about 60 miles a week, for the top race in Nassau County. He took the 5K course at Bethpage State Park to his liking just like last year and didn't feel any pressure before or during the race under sunny and warm conditions last Saturday afternoon.

Showing confidence all the way, White went out fast with a pack, took the lead half a mile into the 3.1 mile race and coasted to the finish line in 16:20.3, way off his personal best of 15:33 set in September at the Queensbury High School Invitational, site of the state meet.

In the process, he defeated Richard Schmitz, a Port Washington junior, who was timed at 16:37.1, for second place, in a field of 168 harriers in Class A, Class B and Class C.

"It means a lot to win two county meets back-to-back," 16-year-old White said.

Overall, Sean Mullooly was timed in 18:09.3 for 45th place, Tim Logan was clocked in 18:39.7 for 71st, Matt Osterman ran a 18:41.7 for 73rd, Frank Chiodo completed the course in 19:27 for 103rd and Paul Chilelli was clocked in 19:44.8 for 115th for Garden City.

After the race, the 5-5 White, who is undefeated in Nassau County meets this season, fell but soon recovered and was very satisfied with his performance. He could have run faster if it wasn't for the warm weather. His strategy coming into the race was to finish and not to fall down at the end, like he did.

"He has a great future ahead of him," his coach, Bob Bush, said. "He probably will be one of the best runners in the state before he's through. He wants to do good in every race that he runs. I told him today (prior to the running of the county meet) that he wasn't going to get a good time because of the heat. The only pressure he gets comes from himself. There aren't too many runners in this county who could run with him. A couple of runners have been close."

White has been running since grammar school and gave up lacrosse as a freshman to concentrate on running. Now he wants to just keep going, do well in the upcoming Footlocker Northeast Regional meet and prepare for the indoor season. He is ranked among the top five runners in Class "A" and 12th in the state.

Overall, in the Class "A" meet, Garden City finished in sixth place.