The 2009 Cross Country Team earned the Shamrocks' second State Championship for its Novi Campus, the first of six Wooden Mittens for the school year. It was a fitting capstone to a season that began in August at the Pinery Provincial Park on the shores of Lake Huron with the team’s annual camp, logging hundreds of kilometers collectively over the span of two weeks.
During the regular season, the team won the Michigan Catholic Invitational, Sturgis Invite, Oakland County Championship, and Catholic League Championship before winning the Division I Lower Peninsula crown at Michigan International Speedway.
The State Championship race was the first meet since the first week of September that the Shamrocks had been able to field their varsity starting lineup. Viktor Puskorious, John-Paul Zebrowski, and others were out at various times over the season.
Ricardo Galindo, Andrew Garcia-Garrison, and Viktor Puskorius earned All-State honors, while Austin Zebrowski and John-Paul Zebrowski rounded out scoring for the champions. Mackenzie Boyd and Sean Carney finished 6th and 7th, respectively on the Varsity.
“It was just a total team effort from the first to the last guy. Viktor started it off by setting the pace for us,” said Coach Magni on the win. “The guys ran great; they ran their race.”
It was the 5th State Championship for the legendary Coach Tony Magni, as the Shamrocks raced to a remarkable 68-point total in the final, outdistancing runner-up Ann Arbor Pioneer.
First Row: Assistant Coaches Brian Wilson and Kevin Mason, Austin Zebrowski,
Andrew Garcia-Garrison, John-Paul Zebrowski, Ricardo Galindo, Viktor Puskorius,
Sean Carney, Mackenzie Boyd, Head Coach Tony Magni, A.D. Aaron Babicz.
Second Row: Evan Caramagno, Tommy Doot, Matt Koziara, Daniel Folk, Peter Cernak, Ryan Doyle, Mike Flanagan, James Haapala, Anthony Russel.
Third Row: Mark Karabajakian, Benedict Hilado, Nick McGovern, Thomas (TJ) Fagan, Mark Buzzy, Colin Fifer, Joshua Bindon, Jake Spuller, Steven Turzewski.
Fourth Row: Jimmy Glynn, David Marnell, Kevin Mills, Daniel Savard, Jacob
Connell, Kyle Gaule, Michael Drouillard, Gunner Gail, Sergio Troiani.
Fifth Row: Liam Schilling, Brian Nordstrom, Mitchell Vitez, Matt Carney, Dominic
Russel, Joseph Obarzanek, Patrick Folk, Nathan Wilson, Matt Solarz.
Sixth Row: Cole Forfinski, Andrew Toloff, Ryan Mercier, Ryan Hurley, Alex Slavsky, Eric Zughaib, Evan Dillon.
Seventh Row: Kyle Thompson, Derek Schira, John Rahill, Preston Felty, Shawn Buzzy,
Jeremy Moniz, Nicholas Lanzetta.
Not Pictured: Robert Cernak
