Cross Country Coaches Honored After Championship Seasons

Whether it's the veteran coach Roger Kauffman and his boys, or the young coach Vinny Ungaro and his girls, prestigious track record in cross country added another page in 2010 as both coaches were honored with coach of the year awards after very successful seasons.

Kauffman, whose boys won league, division and county titles while placing second in states, was honored as the Suffolk County Coach of the Year. Ungaro, whose girls also won league and county titles, was honored with both county and league coach of the year honors.

"We're extremely fortunate to have two coaches of this caliber leading our cross country programs," Bayport-Blue Point High School Assistant Superintendent for Personnel and Athletics, Timothy Mullins, said.  "These honors are a true testament to the time and effort that these gentlemen put into their programs. Year in and year out they get the most out of their athletes and continue to make these programs flourish."

Kauffman, who has been coaching the Phantoms boys cross country team since 1974, thanked his students for their hard work and dedication that resulted in such a successful year and thus, earned him these honors.

"This year was definitely a very special year," he said. "I only had three kids coming back from varsity this year and they worked very hard over the summer. A lot of the work was done before the season started. They also had a lot of success in spring track in particular with coach [Eric] Iberger (also the varsity football coach). They had a fabulous season so those two ingredients were really key and I had a lot to work with."

His team went a perfect 5-0 in League VII dual meets before winning division and county titles thank to great seasons by their top runners. Seniors Connor Crowley, who finished first for the Phantoms in every single one of their races this season, Joe Ray, who had his best meets in the state and federation finals, and Erich Grosse led the squad. Sophomores John Antonacci and Adam Lafemina were key pieces in the fourth and fifth slots and Jeff Byrne, another senior, became an important part of the squad late in the season.

"Another guy I have to mention because otherwise he won't get credit is John D'Ambrosio," Kauffman said. "He's more of a shot putter and disc thrower than a distance runner, but he was a great guy to have on the team has a great sense of humor. Even though he wasn't one of my front runners, just having him out there working hard and setting an example for the young kids was a great reason to have him on the team."

Although the team finished second in states to East Aurora, they exacted revenge by defeating them in the federation finals, which includes catholic, private and some top city schools, to cap off another spectacular season.

Coach Ungaro led the girls to a League VII and county title before placing seventh at the state finals. Ungaro was quick to credit his girls, who put in the hard work and effort over the summer in order to make this happen.

"It's more a testament to what the girls are running than what I'm doing but it's always nice to be recognized," he said. "The girls put in a lot of hard work. They're a very young team so a lot of it is just that they're very talented runners, and when you have talented runners putting in a lot of hard work you're always going to end up with a pretty good end product."

The girls were led by Katie Saroka, who finished second overall in counties and ran the fourth fastest 5K in Bayport history. Eight grader Taylor Darby ran two minutes faster in the county race than she had previously, which was a big reason for their county title.

"Six of the top seven varsity runners are returning next year so hopefully they'll be putting in the hard work again this summer and we can get another county title next year," Ungaro said.