In one of the more memorable road trips in the program’s history, the Canastota girls cross country team got the honor of making a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida to compete in the Oct. 6 Disney XC Classic.
Though the warm weather was, at the time, no different than the odd Ocober heat wave back in Central New York, the Raiders still had a first-rate experience — and ran well, too.
Competing in the 2A race in Orlando, Canastota finshed second, with 64 points. Only the Ursuline School fared better, with 44 points.
Allison Lasnicki continued to have a sensational sophomore campaign. Her time of 18 minutes, 44.56 seconds was good for third place among individuals and beat any time Tully (who ran in the 1A division) could put up.
Francesca Popple finished 11th, in 20:16.68, while Leah McDowell got 13th place (20:23.12) and eighth-grader Ashley Delaney finished 17th, in 20:32.39.
Brittney Goodwin earned 20th place (20:51.23), with Sarah Foran (36th, 22:29.74) and Tessa Gaglianese (42nd, 22:49.25) also claiming top-50 spots.
Back in the local ranks a week later, Canastota again ran into Tully, this time at the East Syracuse-Minoa Invitational.
Together, the Raiders and Black Knights had a close duel in the Division II portion of the meet, but Tully, with 38 points, edged out Canastota (42 points) for the crown. Canandaigua took the overall title.
Again, Lasnicki proved to be too much for a local field to handle, as she was the only girl to break the 19-minute mark on ESM’s Pine Grove course with a time of 18:49.6.
Behind her, McDowell ran to 14th place (20:23.6) and Delaney ran a 16th-place time of 20:30 flat. Gina Micaroni was 21st (20:47.9), just ahead of Popple, in 23rd place with a clocking of 20:50.9.
Canastota’s boys team finished third among Division II teams at the ESM meet, with 62 points, not far from the totals posted by South Jefferson (44 points) and Marcellus (58 points).
Aaron Walker ran his way to 11th place, in a time of 16:49.10, while Robbie Argentine earned 14th place in 17:14 flat.
Jason Rice, in 34th place (18:10.7), led the next wave of Canastota finishers as Derek Arner got 39th place (18:16.8) and Alex Spara (18:22.5) ran to 43rd place.
Both of Canastota’s teams will be present this Saturday for the Center State Conference championship meet at Oriskany’s Walbran Elementary School. Races start at 2 p.m.
