"The past means nothing," Aris said. "We celebrate it when we accomplish something, enjoy it a little while, then put it in a box and put it on a shelf. Every year is brand new.
"There's no assumption based on rankings or anything else. We have no delusions of grandeur by any means. Other teams improve, so whatever we may be ranked -- artificially so -- means nothing because other teams improve as well. If we have one clear path it's that, if we have the horses to do it, our goal is constant improvement and that's how we go about it."
More from Tully: Fayetteville-Manlius won the boys' large-school race over Cicero-North Syracuse, 36-54, with Chris Buchanan of C-NS taking honors in 16:18.3. Canastota (73) won a good small-schools tussle with Marcellus (82), Tully (88) and Clinton (99). Chris Stogsdill of Marcellus was first in 15:59.9.
Tully dominated the girls' small-school division. Allison Lasnicki of Canastota took honors in 19:07.1.
Grout Run: Alex Leuchanka, a transfer from Warwick, won in 13:17.67 over 2.75 miles, teammate Dan Harris was second in 13:35.48 and Shenendehowa won convincingly in Schenectady's Central Park.
"I was hoping to have five guys break 14 minutes and we had five guys at 13:50," Shen coach Mark Thompson said. "They exceeded my expectations today. Our first man ran incredibly well. A time of 13:18 is very, very good."
After a third-place finish a year ago, Niskayuna's Chelsea Trant hit the tape first in the girls' Division I race in 16:14.15. Guilderland's girls won the Division I title.
Southern Tier Invitational: East Aurora's boys and girls swept team honors at Allegany-Limestone.
The girls, ranked first in the state in Class B, won the large-school race as Kristen Weberg (18:57), Catherine Phillips (18:59) and Megan Hulton locked down the top three spots. The boys won the medium-school race with four runners in the first 10.
Lancaster's boys won large-school honors and Depew's girls edged Dansville, 52-53, for the medium- schools trophy.
St. Anthony's Invitational: At Sunken Meadow State Park, Nick Hughes of North Rockland (16:43.80 in Varsity A-1) and Dave Dewan of Warwick Valley (16:40.79 in Varsity A-2) were among those scoring boys victories.
North Rockland (33) topped St. Anthony's (57) and Scarsdale (77) among the large schools, and Dewan led a 32-40 win over Wantagh.
Freshman Caroline O'Hea (19:38.48) of team champion Ward Melville and Ursuline senior Katie Sullivan (19:42.85) earned wins in the girls' larger races. Northport (48) topped Monroe-Woodbury (54) and North Rockland (72) in Varsity A-2.
Brewster Bear Classic: Miriam Munn and eighth-grader Ariana Bottalico swept the top two spots and carried Brewster to the Varsity II championship. Mahopac's girls won Varsity I.
In the boys Varsity I race, Mahopac's James McDonough and Joe Abed El Latif pulled off the 1-2 finish and Mahopac won by putting two others in the top 10. Byram Hills' Joe Violone and Chris Cioffoletti went 1-2 in the Varsity II race as the Bobcats edged Brewster by one point.
Stock-Conwicke Invitational: Union-Endicott's boys and Vestal's girls scored victories. Will Mullen of Waverly took boys honors in 17:20 over five kilometers, and Sauquoit Valley's Sydney Williams set a girls course record of 19:33.
Extra points: Amy Marron scored her 100th career goal with 12:10 left in regulation as Westlake downed Putnam Valley in soccer, 6-0. She had three goals for the day.
