UTICA-Cooperstown senior Steve Carlson ran the race of his life last Saturday, and when it was over he had joined the rarefied air of qualifying for the state championship for the second straight year. Carlson will return to the Utica Tech campus this Saturday for the state meet, which will be run at 12:30 p.m.

"It was an incredibly competitive day, with the first nine runners from Class C across the finish line breaking the course record," Cooperstown cross country coach Jessie Ravage said. "Steve ran the race of his life. Last year, he qualified with a time of 18 minutes flat, and he took 47 seconds off that time this year to finish in 17:13. He is an extremely smart, analytical runner, and he's already thinking of how to improve his time at the state meet."

Carlson's experience should help his performance, and nerves.

"This year I'll be able to focus on the race," Carlson said. "Last year, I was nervous and I want to have a better performance this year."

Carlson finished 46th out of 127 competitors last year, but has bigger goals this year.

Five Class C runners qualified for states, and Carlson was the fourth to qualify. Ravage said Carlson's goal for the state meet is to qualify for the Federation race, which will include about 10 percent of the 220 runners.

"To make it, he will probably have to break the 17 minute mark, so it's a challenge," Ravage said. "The Section III runners have an advantage because they are going back to the same course two weeks in a row, so that may help Steve as well."

Plus, Carlson said he has no choice but to come up with another clutch perforamce Saturday.

"You either keep up or wilt," he said. "When the competition is that tough, you have to do your best."

Carlson is believed to be just the second boys runner in close to 40 years to qualify for the state tournament in consective years. The benchmark for all runners is Cooperstown's John Sheffield, who not only went to states four years in a row, he was a state champion from 1962-64. As a freshman in 1961, Sheffield was part of Cooperstown state hampionship team, which included Cooperstown's Larry Smith, now an assistant coach with the cross country team.

The only girl in Cooperstown history to go to states in consecutive years was Liza Gray, who did so in the late 1980's.

Carlson's performance helped the Cooperstown team take a fifth place finish in the Section Three meet. Jake Conklin also broke the 18 minute mark, finishing 19th with a time of 17:50, while Jared Tallman was 29th with a time of 18:01. Other Cooperstown finishers included Sam Stultz, 34th (18:10); Allan Guiney, 41st (18:26); Jimmy Stergas, 51st (18:42); Kenny Stergas, 89th (19:56); Nathan Richman, 90th (19:56).

The Cooperstown girls team finished 13th in the Section Three Class C meet, with Amanda Hickey the top Cooperstown finisher with a time of 22:42, good for 40th place.

The rest of the Cooperstown girls results are as follows: Sarah Deane, 53rd (23:05); Chantelle Heroux, 74th (24:06); Jessica Otis, 76th (24:18); Karen Phillips, 87th (24:42); Ellen Hanson, 95th (25:04); Jenny LaBudde, 98th (25:26); Carlie Hosnedl, 108th (26:22).