Three days after winning its opening meet at Central Square, the West Genesee cross country team came back to that same venue for the Central Square Invitational – and had a strong showing on both sides, nearly sweeping the top spots.
In fact, the girls Wildcats did prevail, with 37 points, holding off Cicero-North Syracuse (51 points) for that top spot as the host Red Hawks finished third with 73 points.
Continuing her fast start, Laura Leff roared to a time of 19:37 and won the individual championship, 10 seconds clear of CNS’s Nicole Waterud in second place.
Meanwhile, Anna Leo finished fifth, in 21:50, while Abby Kastick worked her way to ninth place (22:05) and Kelly Powell was 10th in 20:10.
Kaitlyn Richards (22:58), in 22nd place, rounded out the scoring and clinched the title, with Katie Riley (23:03) and Amy Hannahan (23:21) close behind. Jordan-Elbridge’s Kim Foltz took 20th place in 22:50.
The roles were reversed in the boys race at Central Square, with West Genesee in second place with 45 points and CNS (37 points) claiming the top spot.
Billy Gabriel finished in 17:15, faster than his time earlier in the week, but second to the Northstars’ Chris Buchanan, who won in 16:52.
Sam Reedy took fourth, in 17:34, but CNS had three of the next four high finishers in between Martin Leff’s eighth-place time of 17:53. Matt Gonnella was 13th (18:12), as John Delallo was 18th (18:26), a second ahead of Matt Serrao.