Fine seasons are unfolding for both of Chittenango’s cross country teams, as reflected by the efforts they put forth in Wednesday’s sweep of a three-way battle with East Syracuse-Minoa and Mexico.
In the girls race, Anna Galbraith’s speed and some underrated efforts from her teammate helped the Bears defeat the Spartans 25-30, while also sweeping the Tigers 16-50 to move to 5-1 on the season in the OHSL Freedom division.
Galbraith steadily pulled away from ESM’s Natalie Marra and finished the race in 19 minutes, 50.9 seconds, while Marra had to settle for second place in 20:21.1, more than half a minute behind.
After ESM’s Cindy Brownson took third place (21:13.8), Chittenango took charge by having three of the next four finishers. Sarah Moon, in 21:28.2, grabbed fourth place, with Kaitlyn Swain getting fifth place in 23:36.6.
Only the Spartans’ Megan Vanderwarker, in sixth place (23:39.6), interrupted the Bears charge, but once Hayley Foran took seventh place in 23:41.8 and Brooke Busa (24:23.3) finished eighth, Chittenango had secured the win.
The boys seem had similar tones, Chittenango having little trouble with Mexico 20-41, and using a string of five runners to help defeat ESM 24-37.
Mike Capeling led the Bears, as his third-place clocking of 18:17 flat trailed Mexico’s Jacob Zedack (17:26.6) and ESM’s Jared Henry(18:08.5), but foretold a Bears charge.
And Karl Farber would lead it, getting himself to fifth place in 18:33.8, well clear of Robbie Howard, who was sixth in 18:53.6. Will Blanding finished seventh, in 19:13.2, just ahead of Grant Czarnecki (19:15.7) and Ben Seale (19:38.7), who were eighth and ninth, respectively.
Cazenovia would split its meet with Jordan-Elbridge at the Sean Googin Sports Complex, with the Lakers pulling away in a 24-35 decision on the girls side, but falling 25-31 to the Eagles in the boys meet.
Even though it was Senior Day, eighth-grader Clara Rowles again stole the show in the girls race, as her time of 18:43 helped her win by more than a minute over J-E’s talented Abby Gugel, who was second in 19:53.
Helping out Rowles, Meggie Hart made her way to third place in 20:51, while Caitlin Clonan finished fourth in 22:14. Then, starting with Katie Robbins in seventh place (22:43), the Lakers swept the rest of the top 10, with Adrien Owens (23:33), Alexa Tillman (23:45) and Whitney Dennison (23:51) taking those spots.
Kevin Ridings was victorious in the boys race, as his clocking of 17:22 was securely in front of J-E’s Nathan Hollis, who was second in 17:34, while Sean Satchwell made it to third place in 17:57.
The Eagles’ trio of Ethan Kinney (18:05), Austin Milton (18:06) and Hunter Brunell (18:17) followed, putting their side ahead for good, and though Brendan Coffey finished seventh in 18:40 and Matt Mistur was ninth in 18:44, J-E held on with Tyler Jackson eighth (18:43) and Jared Alpha (19:25) making it to 10th place.
