By S. Quinn DeJoy and J. Murrer

Nov. 16, 2016:  Two Bronco teams, field hockey and girls' cross country, boarded buses last Friday and headed west to the New York State Championships. The girls' cross country team, the Section 1 Class C Champ, placed third at the state meet, and the field hockey girls, who won both the sectional and regional championships, lost in the state semifinals to Section 3's Cazenovia.

Senior Kaitlin Ryan finished her high school cross country career with a third-place finish in Class C in 19:09.60. It was the fifth state appearance for Ryan, who surpassed her sixth-place finish from last year. At Chenango Valley State Park, the Bronxville team scored 84 points and was edged out of second place by Canton, which scored 82. The first-place team, Section 6's Newfane, scored 75 points.

It was also the last high school cross country race for senior Sydney Coddington, who finished 62nd in a field that included the best 128 Class C girls in the state. The remaining members of the team return next year, including sophomore Emma Mandanas, who finished 42nd, eighth-grader Avery Widen (43rd), sophomores Gigi Chrappa (57th) and Lyric Abbott (67th), and junior Lindsay Nobles (73rd).

In the field hockey state semifinal game at Maine Endwell High School, Cazenovia dominated possession in the first half and took a 2-0 lead, but a goal by Mia Bettino, with an assist from Ellie Walsh, with less than forty seconds remaining in the half, put the Broncos on the board. In the second half, the Lakers went ahead 3-1. The Bettino-Walsh duo scored a second goal for the Broncos with just under eight minutes left, but the Lakers' defense kept the Broncos from scoring again.

The Bronxville field hockey program has carved out a name for itself as a top competitor in the state. The Broncos have competed in the state semifinals three times in the last six years, losing to state champ Whitney Point in 2014 and state champ Cazenovia in 2011. This 2016 team finished the season with a very strong 16-4 record.

Members of the Bronxville-Tuckahoe swim team are headed to the New York State Swimming and Diving Championships at Ithaca College this Friday and Saturday. The 400 free relay team, Alisa Fominykh, Georgia Veru, Emily Gjersten, and Caroline McGrath, placed fourth in Section 1, qualifying for states with a time of 3:40.12. Fominykh and Gjersten also qualified as individuals. At sectionals, Fominykh qualified for states by placing third in the 50 free (24.42) and sixth in the 100 free (53.58), and Gjersten qualified by placing fifth in the 500 free in 5:09.05.

Go Broncos.

Pictured here (rotating): The Bronxville girls' field hockey team after winning the regional championship (photo by S. Bettino); the girls' cross country team after winning the sectional championship (photo submitted by J. Mitchell).