After the injury problems of a season ago, Canastota girls cross country senior Allison Lasnicki is going at full speed now — all the way to the state championships.
Lasnicki continued her fall of dominance by pulling away from the field at last Saturday’s Section III Class C championship meet at Jamesville Beach Park.
Taking the lead from the start on the 3.1-mile Jamesville Beach course, Lasnicki enjoyed perfect running conditions (50 degrees, sunshine) and quickly got clear of all the other top Class C contenders.
At the line, Lasnicki had a time of 18 minutes, 53.6 seconds, more than a minute ahead of Holland Patent’s Leah Rice (19:56.2) and better than anyone in the entire girls sectional field — with the exception of six runners from national powerhouse Fayetteville-Manlius. Other individuals qualifying with Lasnicki included Rice, Cheyenne Petrillo, Jen MacMillan (all from Holland Patent) and Katie Brislin (CBA).
As a whole, the Raiders finished sixth in Class C with 140 points, despite the work of Lasnicki and eighth-grader Marissa Williams, who was 11th in 21:14.4. Francesca Popple worked her way to 25th place in 22:13.5.
The other big girls individual effort came from Vernon Verona Sherill’s Lauren MacDonald in the Class B race. All MacDonald did was finish second, in a time of 19:57.7, behind Mexico’s Tia Bullard (19:47.6), and earn a trip to the state meet.
On the boys side, Canastota’s Aaron Walker will join Lasnicki in the state meet this Saturday at SUNY-Plattsburgh by virtue of his effort in the boys sectional Class C race.
With a time of 17:04.8, Walker took sixth place, but was fourth among individuals outside the winning squad from Holland Patent, and the top five individuals advance. Walker joins Calvin Davis (Skaneateles), Mike Marrero (Jordan-Elbridge), Ohure Sam (Tully) and Tom Voorheis (CBA) in that group.
Canastota’s boys team was sixth with 202 points, as it proved top-heavy. Walker was strong, as was Alex Spara in 12th place (17:38.5), but Zach Szkolnick took 43rd place (18:59.5) as Frank Slaunwhite was 51st in 19:48.3.
In other sectional races, Chittnenango was fourth in the boys Class B division with 135 points, with Vernon Verona Sherrill ninth and Oneida in 11th place.
The Red Devils’ Seth MacDonald just missed advancing to the state meet, taking 11th place in 17:59.1, as teammate Nathan Faherty was 33rd in 18:56.1. As for the Indians, Conor McCarthy stood out again, as he claimed 13th place in 18:08.8. Pat Markle was 46th in 19:21.5.
None of the Bears’ runners fared as well as MacDonald or McCarthy, as Bruce Gondeck took 16th place in 18:28.5, with Josiah Durfee battling to 21st place (18:37.1), just ahead of John Durfee (18:37.3) in 23rd place. Kevin Carr (19:08.4) and Jason Ceresoli (19:15.2) were 39th and 41st, respectively.
Despite Lauren MacDonald’s fine work, VVS was only sixth in the Class B field with 151 points. Chittenango took seventh place (166 points) and Oneida (218 points) was 10th.
Kerry Miley gave the Red Devils a 20th-place finish in 22:13.4, while the Bears had Rebecca Sager in 25th place (22:29.2), Jordan Donnelly 29th (22:53.6) and Hannah Murphy 31st in 23:01.6. For the Indians, Sara Rifendifer finished 34th, in 23:11.7, while Erin Durdan took 37th place in 23:20.0. VVS had Brooke Waite in 40th place (23:30.5) and Becky Talbot 45th in 23:45.5.
