No. 3-Ranked Eagles Scored 24 Points To Dominate Eastern States At Manhattan, Find Success With Team-First Mentality

By Mary Albl of DyeStat

Photos by John Nepolitan

The first question the Bethlehem Central High girls cross country team hears is typically not about them. 

“It’s always the first question any of the girls get asked when they run a good race. It's always about the other team,” coach Tucker Chrapowitzky said with a laugh. “We are kind of used to that around here.” 

When you’re a program from Delmar in upstate New York, located about 40 miles from Saratoga Springs – home to one of the most established and successful girls cross country programs in history, you tend to fall in the shadow.

With three Nike Cross Nationals titles and and four runner-up finishes, Saratoga (or Kinetic, in the postseason) has served as a measuring stick for many programs not only in upstate New York, but across the country.

Chrapowitzky, who took the helm at Bethlehem in 2020, has steadily put Delmar on the map and made a winner there.

Coming off a dominating team win at the prestigious Manhattan Invitational, Bethlehem is No. 3 in the latest DyeStat rankings and kicks off its postseason this Saturday, Oct. 26 with the  Suburban Council Championships at Saratoga Spa State Park.  

“Well coming in, I think I just wanted to have a program that was going to be competitive year in and year out,” Chrapowitzky said. 

Chrapowitzky, a New York native, played collegiate soccer at Clarkson University in Potsdam, his vision was to cultivate a team-first environment and mindset. 

“Running is obviously such an individual sport, but for me, with a team sport background, my thought was we get them thinking of it more like a team sport,” he said. “(It’s) changing that mentality and at the end of the season they are running with each other, for each other.” 

His first year at Bethlehem started during the pandemic. The team finished eighth at the Suburban Council Championships and the New York State Federation Championships were canceled. That season was spent establishing a solid base and navigating the nuances of COVID-19.

Since then, the focus has been on the creation of the team dynamic. 

“The team has changed over time but our team is very team-oriented,” senior Charlotte O'Meara said. “We do pasta dinners, team bonding things, and work together; everything is for the team. We push each other, and I know if I go, I know one of our teammates is going to go with us.” 

In 2021 the team won the Manhattan College Invitational Eastern States race with 62 points, four points better than Ridgewood NJ (66).

In the postseason the Eagles finished runner-up in the Suburban Council Championships and Section II Championships and were third at the Federation Championships, all with Saratoga claiming first.

The following year, with 2022, results were similar, with second-place finishes at Suburban Council and Section II, and second at the Federation Championships with a top three that crossed the line within five seconds of one another. 

At the Nike Cross New York Regional, the team had a strong team showing with their 2-through-5 runners all crossing the line within less than 20 seconds apart on the challenging Bowdoin Park course. The team finished with 77 points to qualify for the NXN meet in Oregon.

Chrapowitzky said the team had never set NXN as its goal. 

“I think you're looking at where are you in 2020, and how much better can we get in 2021, and how much better can we be each year,” he said. “(We) look at it as an exploratory process, more than we have to accomplish this goal or we fail. It's just a constant how much better can we get.”

Added O’Meara: “We try to focus on ourselves at our practices and if one of us is getting better, then the rest of us are getting better.”  

Beside a culture shift to a team-oriented mentality, Chrapowitzky said the team has run more mileage, but nothing drastic. The biggest shift from a training standpoint has come from the little things: weight lifting, focusing on form, doing drills correctly. All of it wraps into the idea that you can get a little bit better each and every day.

“I think coach Chrapowitzky is a great coach and he does a really good job of giving us base training, so the more years he’s with us we just have a better understanding and so all the girls can continue to improve and do better,” O’Meara said. “And all of the girls are coming back each year.”

Last fall the team defeated Saratgoa Springs for the Suburban Council Championship with O’Meara leading the way in fourth place, while Kate Bannigan was sixth and four other teammates placing 8-12. The team tallied 37 points, while Saratoga was second (50). 

“I think it meant a lot,” Chrapowitzky said of the win. “Obviously it’s been a very long time since that had happened and in (the runners') memory that wasn’t a thing that happened because it was so long ago. It was really exciting for them to have that to accomplish. That was a big deal for sure and to them kind of reaffirmed the type of things they were capable of doing.”

Bethlehem finished the season qualifying for NXN again, placing second at NXR – only 20 points behind winner Saratoga Springs. At NXN, Delmar finished 11th, but were only five points outside of the top 10. 

Chrapowitzky said after a strong spring track season the team was really excited to get after it in the summer and see what they could do this fall. Led by O’Meara and Bannigan, it’s a fun, but competitive group that has embraced the team-first mentality. 

“Honestly, it's a pretty easy team to lead. Everyone wants to be there and wants to be getting better,” O’Meara said. “Really as long as we are doing what we need to be doing, everyone tends to follow.”

This fall, the results have indicated just that. On Oct. 13 at the Manhattan Invitational, eighth grader Sophia Chromczak led the team with a third-place finish in the Eastern States Championship clocking 14.40.3. The next four runners for Bethlehem finished within four seconds of one another, as the team had all five in the top 11 to score an impressive 24 points. Champlain Valley Union of Vermont was second with 103 points. 

“I think that timing-wise being just before these postseason meets is always a great place to go and see some other top quality teams, we were really happy with how that race played out for us,” Chrapowitzky said. “The girls still feel like there's progress to be made even though that went as well as it did.”

With the championship meets approaching, Bethlehem is is forging ahead and focused on what it can do.

This year in New York, the best team isn't Saratoga Springs and it isn't 11-time NXN champion Fayetteville-Manlius, located two hours west.

“We are not worrying too much about a team we are not seeing until we see them,” Chrapowitzky said. “One day at a time, one race at a time. When we are competing, we feel like we can compete with anybody. I don’t know if we are necessarily looking to make a name for ourselves.

"If the girls that live 30-40 minutes away can do it, why can’t we do it, too?”