Just a few days removed from its second-place finish at the Sept. 30 E.J. Herrmann Invitational in Utica, the Skaneateles boys cross country team saw its challenge grow when it made a trip east on Route 20 to meet its fellow Lakers from Cazenovia.
At home on Senior Day, Cazenovia held off Skaneateles 23-32, in large part because it swept the top two positions, James MacPherson taking the race in 16 minutes, 28 seconds and Jon Marecek getting second place in 16:40.
Behind them, Luke Rathgeb led Skaneateles, getting to third place in 16:54, while Joe Norris finished fourth in 17:57. A close race for fifth place saw Cazenovia’s Ian Marshall rally late to edge out Caleb Bender, though both finished in 18 minutes flat.
Then two other Cazenovia runners, Zach Wendel (18:01) and Jack Gabor (18:02), beat out the work of Skaneateles’ Nate Azzam, who was ninth in 16:11, and Tyler Lewis, who got to 10th place in 18:16.
For the Skaneateles girls, it proved too tough as it lost, 20-36, to state no. 20-ranked Cazenovia, though it did salvage a split by topping DeRuyter 17-51 in the three-team contest.
Natalie Condon ran quite well, as her time of 20:45 was third behind the Cazenovia duo of Meggie Hart and Clara Rowles, who both finished in 20;06. Leading the next Skaneateles pack, Elyse Osum was sixth, in 21:47, with Georgia McSwain getting sixth place in 22:23. Hope Cross-Jaya finished 10thin 23:34.
