I was there to see that race. It was wet and very cold and quite windy and on his own Marius still went 8.57. Marius did the distance triple at state in track, which York won that year, and he was in tears when he took second in the 800, even though he won the 3200m just 40 minutes earlier (and ran the 1600 an hour after that). He felt he let the team down. He is now a medical doctor. I have a pic of him with Don Sage at Joe Newton's retirement party from a couple of years ago. Still looks good and I think still holds the Norwegian national record for 5K. He and Donald really did have good careers running after HS.
My vote for top 4, as a long-time York person is Sage, Bakken, White and Craker. I never met Ron Craker, but did meet Jim White years ago. Donald and Marius were contemporaries of my kids so I knew them pretty well. The others on the list are all also excellent runners.
The 1999 XC team is in my opinion the finest XC HS team that has ever been- ahead of Carmel, ahead of CBA or Mead or Lompoc. 25-sec split from 2-6. Jay McGrane placed 50th, but was a sub for Tim Hobbs, who was injured but later was state champ in the 800. 24 points! 4 in the top 10 and 5 in the top 12. 6 All-Staters. Sage ran for Stanford, Palumbo and Roche ran at Iowa, Cioni at Yale, and Stasiulis and Hobbs at Illinois.
