By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

Field cross country coach Ed Conroy has seen a lot of races in his 18-year career.

The performance his Falcons gave on Saturday at the Ashley White Invitational, hosted by Marlington High School, ranks up there as an all-time best for the veteran mentor.

In the program’s first major invitational of the season, Field won the Division II-III race championship.

“This year’s effort was maybe the best I have seen from our prior Field teams in my 18 years as a head coach,” Conroy said. “We are very excited about our finish, but we realize it is just the start of a long season of racing.”

The Falcons are rebuilding to form from the 2021 season, when they placed ninth ovrerall at the state championship.

To get there, Conroy continues to place challenges in front of them.

“I told the boys that a good goal for Saturday would be if they could run a strong race, with a 45-second difference between our first runner and our fifth runner, starting at 17 minutes. The boys nailed that expectation.”

Field’s pack-running approach started with Sean Silk as the top runner at 16:57, with his brother Billy Silk as the team’s fifth runner in a time of 17:42.

In between, Parker Shutty ran a 17:04, Lucas Pollard a 17:10 and Evan Pruszynski came in at 17:31.

In total, all five of Field’s runners placed in the top 11 of the Division II-III Silver Division and compiled a score of 37 points. The total bested runner-up South Range (70) and St. Vincent-St. Mary (83).

“This is a great start for our season, but the boy sunderstand that they have a great deal of work ahead of them to be ready to compete in the challenging district and regional meets,” Conroy said.