Though it has certainly enjoyed success in seasons past, the Christian Brothers Academy cross country has reached a new plateau with both its boys and girls programs earning prestigious titles on a regular basis.
And that included the Brothers going to Long Branch Park and pulling off a clean sweep of Wednesday’s Onondaga High School League Liberty division championship races.
For the CBA boys, no. 4 in the latest state Class C rankings, claiming the league meet meant defeating two rivals just behind them in the state poll, no. 5-ranked Skaneateles and no. 7-ranked Westhill.
With 45 points, the Brothers claimed that overall title ahead of the Warriors (63 points) and Lakers (76 points) by placing all five of its top runners within the top 20, three of them in the top 10.
Sophomore Michael McMahon’s time of 17 minutes, 3.8 seconds was second only to Skaneateles’ Caleb Bender (16:31.6), while senior Rliey Nash made it to fifth place in 17:23 flat.
Another CBA senior, Riley Nash, got to eighth place in 17:35.7, while senior Joel Gaffney was 12th in 17:52.4. When sophomore Cooper Groat crossed the finish line 18th in 18:15.4, the Brothers locked up the team crown as Kyle Gaffney, in 19:35.4, was 39th, two spots ahead of Christian Balistreri, who posted 19:40.8.
Moving to the girls OHSL Liberty race, CBA, who sits at no. 12 in the state Class B rankings, found itself in a narrow battle with Chittenango for top honors in both the overall and American division races.
Led again by Olivia Morganti, the Brothers won those battles, with 42 points in the American division to the Bears’ 46 and, overall, 72 points to fend off Chittenango by two points.
Morganti turned the individual race into a showcase, her blistering time of 19:04.5 on the Long Branch course more than a minute and a half ahead of the second-place 20:35 flat from Homer’s Emma Anderson.
Just as important, though, were the top-five finishes of senior Lea Kyle and sophomore Isabella Cannizzo as Kyle made her way to third place in 20:53 flat and Cannizzo gained fifth place in 21:05.2.
Though the other CBA runners could not quite keep up with that trio, freshman Mia Kirch did get 30th place in 23:27.3 and junior Annie Toole was 33rd in 23:43.6 to help the Brothers hold off Chittenango, the pair finishing 16th and 18th, respectively, among American division runners. Eighth-grader Abby Nash was 41st overall in 24:08.6, two spots ahead of Rachel Farrela’s 24:14.8.
