With a fair amount of ambition, the Marcellus boys cross country team went in hot pursuit of a state Class B championship.
However, the Mustangs, despite great runs from Ryan Manahan and Jesse Garn, could only manage a fourth-place finish.
Marcellus tied with Maine-Endwell with 108 points, but lost the tie-breaker for third as East Aurora won (72 points) and Bayport/Bluepoint (92 points) finished second.
Manahan, a sophomore, kept close to the leaders all race long on the 3.1-mile Lakeside Park and ultimately took third place in 16 minutes, 32.8 seconds. Not far behind, Garn, a senior, finished in 16:38.8 and claimed fifth place.
Both Manahan and Garn finished before any East Aurora runner, but all five of the Blue Devils’ top competitors got to the line before the Mustangs’ third finisher, Joe Fallon, who was 39th in 17:23 flat. John Bell finished 67th, in 17:59 flat, while Justin Garn (18:22.0) and Mike Epp (19:44) rounded out the scoring. Eric Morris finished in 19:30.8.
Westhill finished 10th in the boys state Class A race. Peter Lynch was 79th, in 18:20 flat, ahead of teammate Jonathan Moore in 88th (18:36.9). Casey Bunce (18:57.3) and Mitchell Lamb (18:57.7) finished close together ahead of Will Downs (19:13.0), Zach Van Ornam (19:27.0) and Alec Walsh (19:36.9).
In Class AA, West Genesee’s Billy Gabriel had a strong showing, as he ran to 24th place in a time of 16:37.9. Just behind, Wildcat teammate John DeLallo was 55th in 17:06.2 as, at the top, Cicero-North Syracuse’s Chris Buchanan (15:55.9) edged Saratoga Springs’ Sam Place by less than a second.
Jordan-Elbridge’s Greg Bader proved to be a major contender in the Class C individual race, as he claimed 12th place in 17:06.8 as Holland Patent’s twin threat of Dylan Racha (16:05.5) and Cody Racha (16:05.8) went 1-2 and CBA’s Brendan Smith was third in 16:22.1.
Moving to the girls state meet, West Genesee’s Laura Leff had a superb effort in the Class AA race, streaking her way to fourth place in a time of 17:59.2. Leff finished behind Fayetteville-Manlius teammates Christie Rutledge (17:31.0) and Jillian Fanning (17:46.1), with Cicero-North Syracuse’s Maria LaMontagne third in 17:46.1
Westhill/Bishop Ludden’s Jessica Curry finished 38th in the girls Class A race in 20:06.7, with Betsey Black 45th in 20:23 flat. In Class B, Marcellus freshman Rachel Garn earned 24th place in 20:25.8, with sophomore Maggie Dunn 36th in 20:44.5 and sophomore Molly McGuane 74th in 21:55.4.