VERONA — Even as the easy sectional champion, as someone who’d already done this before, as the star runner against whom virtually nobody had come within even a minute of this season, there was pressure.
And that was understandable.
After all, this was going to be Angelina Napoleon’s stiffest competition of the season. Then, too, she was carrying the weighty expectation that anything less than another state title would be a disappointment. Unlike in years past, however, Napoleon had a teammate with her this time around, Lilianna Peters. And that allowed her to ease in and do what she does best — which, of course, is dominate.
Napoleon more than realized what seemed a foregone conclusion all fall, winning the individual Class C championship, and securing back-to-back crowns, at the New York State Cross Country Championships at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School on Saturday.
The Allegany-Limestone star completed the 5K course in 18:14.1, taking first of 129 runners, and again breezed past the field, as second-place finisher Erin Boler, of Albany Academy, checked in a full 1:15 behind in 19:29.1. She also placed third overall, as only Class A champion Zariel Macchia (William Floyd, 18:02.6) and B titleist Karrie Baloga (Cornwall, 17:49.0) had better times, and helped Section 6 to the intersectional title with 203 points, 80 more than Section 2.
And though her time wasn’t a personal best, it was 30 seconds faster than when she competed at VVS in a pre-state meet on Sept. 9 — and on a difficult, hilly course in worse weather.
“Honestly, it really does mean a lot because people put a lot of pressure on these meets,” Napoleon said of her back-to-back titles. “My teammate actually made it with me this year, which was awesome. It’s really awesome to be out here, and she kept the pressure really low for me, and all the support kept the pressure of going out here and trying to win again super just relaxing and fun.”
Given those rainy and chilly November conditions, Napoleon and her coaches chose not to set a time goal. The plan was simple: Just, again, take care of Class C. And she did that, leading to her fifth state crown in the last two years, alongside last year’s in cross country, one in indoor track and two in outdoor track.
“We weren’t necessarily completely focused on that time goal,” A-L coach Kathy Stamets said, “because knowing the conditions can impact that significantly. Our goal was kind of, let’s just focus on Class C and doing what we need to do in Class C. For her to come out the other side with the third-fastest time of the day was a great success.”
Peters, meanwhile, had a strong showing in her state debut, taking 28th in 21:07.7. She was also a key cog in Section 6’s intersectional title. East Aurora won the Class C team title, and the Gators finished only eight points behind the Blue Devils at last week’s sectional championship, an indication of just how close A-L might have been to team glory at Vernon-Verona.
“At the end of last season, Lilianna kind of set herself a goal that she really wanted to make states the next year,” said Stamets, whose squad ranked as high as No. 3 in the state in Class C. “She really trained hard over the summer and as we went through the season, it was looking to be possible. And for her to qualify last week and become a part of that intersection state championship team was really exciting for her.
“The fact that Lilianna was able to go and still have that great achievement with Angelina and for them to be there and do that together was a special time for them.”
The Big 30 had two qualifiers, and both fared well as West Valley’s Olivia Harmony took 18th in Class D girls in 21:07.8 and Franklinville/Ellicottville’s Grant Cornell was 45th in 18:44.5 in Class D boys.
For Napoleon, this was another kind of culmination for her career, her fifth and final time (excluding 2020) of qualifying for states.
“It was really special,” she said. “This was my last cross country states. It feels like yesterday I was in eighth grade, you’re lower (at the start), you’re on the line, you’re nervous. Today I came out, I felt confident and it feels good to go out on a high note like this.”
But her high school career isnt quite finished, as she’ll return to the next week’s federation event,which includes runners of all classes from both private and public schools, at Bowdoin Park in Wappinger Falls, where she’ll look to improve upon a seventh-place finish from last year.
The last box to check.
“We’re actually really looking forward to that race,” Stamets said, “because now she’ll be grouped in with some of these other girls to really have a challenge. Most of her races this year, she’s been a standout, so it’ll be great to see what she can do as we get to this part of the season.
“When we went last year it was, ‘let’s go see what we do.’ But now this year we go and we look to see how close we can get to the top of that.”
