Boys & Girls Eastern State Championships Featured Races at Manhattan College Cross Country Invitational Presented by HOKA

49th Edition of Nation’s Largest One-Day, High School Cross Country Meet Returns October 9 to legendary Van Cortlandt Park

Bronx, NY – The prestigious Ed Bowes Girls and Peter Aquilone Memorial Boys Eastern State Championship scholastic cross country races will again be contested as the feature events at the Manhattan College Cross Country Invitational Presented by HOKA on Saturday, October 9 at Van Cortlandt Park in the northwest part of New York City.

Registrations are now being accepted for the Manhattan College Cross Country Invitational Presented by HOKA that also includes varsity, junior varsity, sophomore, freshman and modified/intermediate races for both boys and girls.  Full registration information can be found at manhattan.milesplit.com. 

There will be an Early Bird Registration window through September 1 of $55 per team per race.  On-time Entry fee increases to $60 per team per race from September 1 through September 24.  And after September 24, it increases to $65 per team per race with an entry cut-off on October 5, 2021.

“The Manhattan College Cross Country Invitational Presented by HOKA is proud to once again sponsor both the Ed Bowes Girls Eastern States Championship along with the Peter Aquilone Memorial Boys Eastern States race,” said Kerri Gallagher, Director of Cross Country, Track & Field at Manhattan College. “These two featured races give the best cross country runners and teams from around the USA a unique opportunity to test their skills on the legendary Van Cortlandt Park course at one of the biggest and best meets in the country.” 

Situated in the northwest corner of New York City, Van Cortlandt Park is renowned in cross country circles as one of the nation’s premier cross country courses, and the venue where harrier greats such as Steve Prefontaine, Marty Liquori & Matt Centrowitz first rose to prominence as high school and college runners. In more recent years, Mary Cain, Edward Cheserek and Katelyn Tuohy have established themselves over the challenging “Vannie” hills and flats.

The Girls Eastern States Championship was launched by Manhattan College Invitational meet director Ed Bowes in 1976 and the inaugural race was won by Columbia (NY) runner Barbara Oesterlin.  Famed scholastic cross country power Fayetteville-Manlius (NY) has won eight of the past ten Girls Eastern States Championships. 

Multiple individual winners include Saratoga (NY) HS & nine-time Oregon All-American Nicole Blood (‘02, ’03, ’04); Manchester (NH) and Penn State runner Erin Davis (’93,’94, ’96); Cornwall (NY) HS and two-time Stanford All-American Aisley Cuffe (’09,’10); Sayville (NY) HS and Dartmouth distance runner Jillian Mastroianni (’97,’98) along with current NC State and former North Rockland (NY) HS great Katelyn Tuohy(’17,’19) who holds the meet and Van Cortlandt Park course record of 13:21.8.

The Boys Eastern States Championship moved to the Manhattan College Cross Country Invitational in 2008.  Current Villanova runner Liam Murphy from Allentown (NJ) HS won the 2019 individual race with the team title going to LaSalle (RI) Academy.  Powerful NJ program CBA Lincroft has won six team titles since 2008.  St. Benedict’s (NJ) and former Oregon & current Kenyan middle distance ace Edward Cheserek holds the meet and course record time (11.55.4) and won the ’11 & ’12 races.  Another Oregon star Noah Affolder captured the ’15 & ’16 championships for Carlisle (NY) HS. 

Founded in 1972 by renowned high school coach and Manhattan College Hall of Fame runner Ed Bowes, the Invitational quickly grew into the nation’s largest, single-day, scholastic cross country meet with 10,000 runners competing in over 40-races at Van Cortlandt.  Lou Vazquez, one of the most accomplished and influential figures in NYC cross country, track & field circles was recently named as the new Meet Director of the Manhattan College Cross Country Invitational Presented by HOKA.