Everyone on the Skaneateles cross country team felt quite good at the end of Wednesday afternoon’s head-to-head meet against Christian Brothers Academy at the Polo Grounds.
Not only did the girls Lakers prevail 20-41 to stay tied for first with Cazenovia in the OHSL Liberty division, the boys team won, too, in a 29-29 match with the Brothers that came down to which side would have better depth.
CBA had three of the top four boys runners, including Brendan Smith, who won in 17 minutes, 15 seconds. Only Sam Kriever broke that string, giving the Lakers a third-place time of 17:48.
The decisive move began with John Watt III earning fifth place in 18:40, one second behind CBA’s David Carey. Danny Sakal was sixth (18:44), while Nick Smolenski was seventh (18:53) and Ethan Johanns took eighth place in 19:02.
This left Skaneateles and CBA tied in points, so it would come down to which side’s sixth runner would cross the finish line first. And Matt Delasin won that battle, holding off the Brothers’ Sid Perkins by four seconds, 19:23 to 19:27, to clinch the Lakers’ victory.
No such theatrics were required in the girls race, where Maddy Adams and Morel Malcolm polished off a 1-2 finish, each of them finishing in a time of 20:03, more than a minute ahead of CBA’s Maire Kate McGlynn (21:19).
In the pack that followed, Blair Gage earned fourth place in 21:27, while Virginia Hamlin (21:45) edged out teammate Shannon Byrne (21:46) for sixth place as they both closed out the Lakers’ scoring column. Ellis VanSlyke was eighth (21:55), two seconds ahead of Maria Schillace in ninth (21:57) as Dani Mazzeo finished 10th in 22:04.
All this leads to Wednesday’s big showdown between Skaneateles and Cazenovia, with Westhill serving as the third team and the host, as the league title is decided.
