Westbury's Skeete wins Nassau cross-country title
Westbury's Owen Skeete, right, led from start to finish at the Nassau High School cross country championships, held at Bethpage State Park. (Nov. 6, 2010) Credit: Errol Anderson
Owen Skeete does not enjoy running in a crowd.
The Westbury senior looks to separate from the starting pack with a sprinter's burst that leaves his opponents in the rear view. Sometimes, he goes out too fast, only to surrender his sizable early lead.
This time, Skeete never relented, as he led from start to finish to win the overall Nassau cross-country title in 15:47.9 at Bethpage State Park.
James Panetta of Calhoun (15:57), Great Neck South's Daniel Siegel (15:59.9) and Andrew Valenski of Massapequa (16:04.1) were the next three finishers. None of them, however, could close on Skeete.
"When I take it out, and as soon as I get away from everyone, that's my best mental phase in a race . . . when I can't hear anything," Skeete said.
Skeete heard nothing as he emerged from the woods with little more than a half-mile left. After letting an early lead slip away in last week's Conference II race won by Siegel, Skeete acknowledged the butterflies as the race wound down.
"I was a little nervous because usually somebody catches me at that point," Skeete said. "I was just trying to stay focused on what was in front of me."
Calhoun took home its second straight overall county championship. Led by Panetta, Tim Campbell (fifth, 16:10.7) and Brendan Abrams (14th, 16:34), the Colts (51 points) defeated Class AA rival and three-time defending AA champion Port Washington by 63 points. This meet, which doubles as the state qualifier, earned Calhoun a trip to Saturday's state meet at Lakeside Park in Pawling.
Great Neck South took home team honors in Class A and had five finishers in the top 52.
Valley Stream North, with 303 points, was the top Class B team. Visal Mohanan (38th, 17:27) was the Spartans' top finisher.
Manhasset ran Saturday's race with a heavy heart after they learned that their longtime coach, Don Scott, died on Thursday after a battle with cancer.
Scott taught and coached at Manhasset for 42 years and ranks second in New York state history with 510 cross-country wins. According to Scott's longtime assistant, Steven Steiner, Scott made it to every meet until two weeks before his passing.
Manhasset placed second to Great Neck South in Class A.
"These kids wanted to be there for each other," Steiner said. "They wrote 'DS' on their shoulders, and it's always been the same. They always wanted to make him proud. He was just the most selfless guy."
