Both the Marcellus and Westhill cross country teams found success during Saturday’s Vernon Verona Sherrill Invitational, which kicked off the 2009 season for both squads. The boys Mustangs began life without Chris Stogsdill with a third-place finish in the “White” division on the VVS course where the 2010 Section III and 2011 state championships meets will take place. Marcellus had 60 points, just behind Jamesville-DeWitt (59 points) as Baldwinsville won with 32 points. Yet no individual could catch Jesse Garn. The Mustang junior began his season by covering the tough VVS course in 16 minutes, 52.6 seconds, just enough to hold off B’ville’s Shaun Thompson by half a second at the line. Tom Riccardi gave the Mustangs a 10th-place finish in 17:45.3, while Mike Quercia, who played football last fall, got 11th place in 17:47.9. Freshman Ryan Mannahan finished 14th in 18:00.7. Up in the boys “Red” division, Westhill was fourth, with 103 points, well behind national power Fayetteville-Manlius (16 points) at the top. Kevin Zych was fifth among individuals in 17:01.5, the best time among those not from the Hornets’ squad. Peter Clark was 16th (19:00.2), while Joe Savastano landed in 19th place (19:03.3). Dan Vadnais (19:57.9) and Andre Remillard (20:00.6) were 31st and 32nd, respectively. Westhill had its girls team right near the top in the Red Division, taking second place with 76 points behind F-M, who had nine of the top 10 runners in the field. Katie Powers led the Warriors, finishing 12th in 21:38.7, while Lissa DiPaola was 14th in a clocking of 22:05.7. Catherine Coon earned 18th (22:52.3), with Katie Lenkiewicz (23:26.5), Claire Purcell (23:33.8) and Susan Lopez (23:40.2) also in the top 30. Marcellus claimed fourth place (118 points) in a girls White division where Tully (50 points) went to the front. Just an eighth-grader, Rachel Garn announced her presence, taking second place among individuals in a time of 20:30.5, beaten only by Canastota star Allison Lasnicki (19:16.5). Further back, Maggie Dunn took 21st place (22:26.5) and Molly McGuane was 24th (22:34.8), while Laura Quercia (23:02.2) finished 33rd.