Already with some fine efforts in the books, the West Genesee cross country team’s next assignment would be Saturday’s Vernon Verona Sherrill Invitational, held on the same course where the Section III championships will be contested Nov. 6.
The results exactly mirrored what took place in the Chittenango Invitational a week earlier, on both the male and female sides.
Once more, WG would beat Cicero-North Syracuse in a boys race, taking the Varsity 2 contest with 37 points as the Northstars (51) claimed the runner-up spot.
It proved a thrilling individual race, with Billy Gabriel challenging CNS’s Chris Buchanan all the way to the finish line before Buchanan won in a time of 16:16.1, leaving Gabriel second in 16:17.5, just 1.4 seconds behind.
Martin Leff claimed fourth place in 16:32.6 and John Delallo finished sixth in 16:55.3 to put the Wildcats in front, while Matt Byrnes kept it up with his ninth-place time of 17:15.2. But CNS had the next four runners across the line and held on despite Matt Serrao getting 20th place in 17:57.4.
Again, Laura Leff would leave a major impression on the girls side. Not only did Leff win the Varsity 2 race at VVS, her time of 18 minutes, 31.6 seconds was the best of the entire meet (four races in all) by more than a minute as Waterrud (19:37.5) had the closest time.
Yet as with the week before at Jamesville Beach, the Wildcats still finished second (again) behind CNS (again), 62 points to the Northstars’ 49.
Anna Leo had a sixth-place time of 20:59.3, with Abby Kastick 13th in 21:31.8. All five CNS place-finishers crossed the line before Kelly Powell took 18th (22:04.2) and Amy Hannahan was 22nd in 22:42.9.
Many others local teams would also go to VVS. Marcellus landed in second place in the boys Varsity 3 race, earning 76 points, edging out Holland Patent (77 points) for that runner-up spot behind Arlington (34 points).
Ryan Manahan claimed fourth place in 16:50.1, Jesse Garn getting seventh place in 17:01.3 as Joe Fallon took 20th place (18:05.0), just ahead of John Bell (18:08.5) in 21st. Justin Garn was 35th in 19:00.7.
Jordan-Elbridge finished third in the boys Varsity 2 race with 103 points. Greg Bader stepped in to finish 10th in 17:16.9, with Jack Gugel 15th in 17:35.2 and Steve Slonosky getting 17th place in 17:49 flat. Tom Poppe finished 26th (18:28.8) and Scott Sullivan, in 43rd (19:15.3), rounded out the Eagles’ scoring grid.
Solvay was sixth with 160 points, thanks to the work of sophomore Cody McCarthy, who worked his way to sixth place in a time of 17:55.4. Nate Carr was 28th (19:11.7) as Pete Ciafratta got 34th place in 19:27.5.
Moving to the girls side, Marcellus took fourth in Varsity 3 with 100 points. Rachel Garn was eighth in 20:53.4 and Maggie Dunn got ninth place (21:15.1) as Molly McGuane rose to 19th place in 22:21.5 and Eliza Bell finished 34th (23:24.1). Jennifer Linn was 40th in 23:37.5. J-E was ninth in Varsity 2, with Phebe Alley 41st in 23:41.1 to lead the Eagles’ effort.
