Friends Academy's Aislinn Frazer qualifies for state public school and Federation cross country championships with Nassau Class B victory
Aislinn Frazer of Friends Academy wins the Class B race at the Nassau cross country individual championships and state qualifier on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. Credit: Derrick Dingle
When one runs in the Nassau cross country state qualifier, they typically have one of two goals: earn one the five spots to compete for the individual championship next week at upstate Queensbury or help propel their team into the field for a state crown.
Aislinn Frazer showed up at the 5-kilometer course at Bethpage State Park with something a little different in mind.
The Friends Academy senior hit the trails looking to put up the best girls time of the day and not only earn a trip upstate, but also secure a berth in the state Federation race two weeks from now. And that’s exactly what she did when she won the Class B race in 18 minutes, 12.80 seconds Saturday.
“My goal today was to make sure I’m on the bus for the Federation meet, so that when I go to the state [public school] meet I want to be focused on that race alone,” she said. “I checked one of my season goals off the list today.”
Frazer’s desire to get everything off her plate and focus on next weekend is rooted in the disappointing ending to last season. After finishing ninth at state public school race as a freshman and sixth as a sophomore, last season’s finale was one to forget. She was plagued by mental health issues all season – including depression, anxiety and panic disorders – that affected her performance.
“I don’t even remember ‘states’ from last season,” she said. “I want one to remember this year. I want a Top-5 finish.”
She suggested ‘redemption’ as the word of the day to Dave Frazer, her father and coach, and they used it oftenSaturday. Though she ran the course virtually alone - pacing ahead of everyone - Frazer kept pushing herself to go faster and achieve her goal. She was nine seconds ahead of second-place finisher Chloe Connolly of North Shore.
“Today was not just about completing the circle and getter her back to who she was as a runner,” Dave Frazer said. “It was about her being whole again.”
The fantastic finish of the day came in the Class A race where sisters Zaria and Anaya Hall of East Meadow and Isabella Spagnoli of Great Neck South all came in within six-tenths of a second of each other. Just as she did a week earlier at the county championships, Zaria Hall was first, crossing the finish in 19:13.40. Spagnoli was three-tenths of a second behind and Anaya Hall’s time was 19:14 flat.
The trio are close friends and Zaria Hall said, “We’re always at the front for most of the race and we end up working well with each other.”
The three were in a pack that included Port Washington’s Ashley Carillo and began to pull away around the midpoint of the course. When they made the turn at the baseball diamond – about the two-mile mark – they were able to peak back and see they’d pulled away.
“We looked back and we were all alone,” Anaya Hall said.
There was a different tone to this race than a week ago – when the county individual title was on the line – because the top five finishers are all guaranteed spots at Queensbury. As Spagnoli said, “what mattered today was making ‘states’ so we were all going to be happy.”
Cold Spring Harbor senior Sofia Mulada won Class C by pulling away from teammate Ariana Madiera to finish in 19:51 flat Their 1-2 finish was the cornerstone for the Seahawks – fresh off last week’s Nassau team championship – to earn a spot in the state public school championships team competition. There were five CSH runners among the first 11 finishers.
Syosset had five finishers among the first 11 in the Class A race – including Ariana Sadrarhami (19:40.1), Rin Furukawa (19:41.1) and Linda Lin (19:43.1) taking fifth, sixth and seventh – as it won the Class A team title. South Side’s Fayola Allison (19:06.6) and Maeve Nawrocki (20:22.2) both had top-10 finishes for South Side, as it edged Bethpage by one point for the Class B team title.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
