Each of West Genesee’s cross country teams had a strong showing at the Oct. 24 Marathon Invitational, winning on the boys side.
In that boys seeded race on a muddy Marathon course, the Wildcats scored 62 points to finish on top of a 15-team field. Holland Patent was second with 86 points.
Steve Houghmaster earned fourth place in 17 minutes, 32.9 seconds, just ahead of Billy Gabriel, who was fifth in a time of 17:44.6. Sam Reedy claimed 12th place in 18:20 flat.
Over in the girls seeded race at Marathon, eighth-grader Laura Leff continued her breakthrough campaign, finishing second in 20 minutes, 49.3 seconds. Only Lauren Mullins (Johnson City) fared better, winning in 19:55.7.
WG’s girls, no. 18 in the state Class AA rankings, finished fourth with 104 points. Newark Valley (89 points), Holland Patent (96 points) and Cicero-North Syracuse (99 points) claimed the top three spots. Behind Leff, Anna Leo gave the Wildcats a 17th-place finish.
This came two weeks before both of WG’s teams will run in the Section III Class AA championship meets on Nov. 7 at Jamesville Beach State Park.