Cross Country is one of those sports where statistics don't mean a thing, especially in the county meet. You can compare a team's top five with your top five, analyze one's improvement over the course of the year, chart their ups and downs, but no matter which way you put it, it all comes down to the big race in the end, where dreams are shattered, streaks are broken, and champions are born.

In the past two years, the Manhasset boys cross country team has shown significant improvement in the county race. In 2001, when the team barely made it to the county meet, Manhasset placed at the bottom of the race as a team. Their top runner did not place in the top 30, and the remaining top six were far too displaced to have any bearing on the scoring. In the 2002, however, new life seemed to be breathed upon the team, as evident by their third place finish in Class B of the County race, finishing behind South Side and Lynbrook. Manhasset's top three finished in the top 30, and, though three of the remaining four runners had sub par races, still placed respectively in the race.

Respectability and putting up a good fight were not of any concern to the Manhasset team in this year's County meet. Only winning was.

Each Manhasset runner had his own goal heading in to the race, and none of them had to do with times. Manhasset's main opponent in their Class was Lynbrook, a team that had won the Class B title in 2001 and 2002. Each of Manhasset's top seven, which included seniors George Ehrahdt, Anthony McLean and Ryan Drago, juniors Tommy Papain, Yousuf Qureshi and Brendan McDonough, and the lone sophomore Erik Lawrence, had made up his mind who he was going to stick with, and who he was going to beat. With their agendas set, their minds focused, and their legs primed with weeks and weeks of hard work, Manhasset was ready.

With an unusually dry heat and high temperature in the air on that November day, only a handful of people ran personal records, and if they did, it was by the slimmest of times. Coming the closest to a best time that day for Manhasset was sophomore Erik Lawrence with a time of 17:15, finishing first for Manhasset and 8th overall in the race. Coming in 2nd and 3rd and 15th and 17th respectively in the race were senior George Ehrahdt (17:32) and junior Tom Papain (17:34), each finishing in the positions they were expected to finish at the start of the race. Coming in fourth for Manhasset was senior Anthony McLean with a time under 18:30, and coming in fifth was junior Brendan McDonough with a time of 19:00 minutes flat. Rounding out the scoring for Manhasset were junior Yousuf Qureshi (19:58) and Ryan Drago (20:02).

The top three Manhasset runners, Erik Lawrence, George Ehrahdt, and Tommy Papain, all qualified for the state meet as individuals, assuming that Lynbrook won the Class.

With a gutsy performance by Manhasset runners (on what proved to be a sub par day for running), however, Manhasset beat Lynbrook by two points en route to first place in Class B and second place overall in the race. It was the first Class victory for Mr. Scott since the mid-1990s, and what a victory it was.