One more good performance separates the Marcellus boys cross country from an undefeated march through the OHSL Liberty division, and the girls Mustangs are still in the league race, too.
All this was a result of Tuesday’s meet at Skaneateles, where the Mustangs pulled off a total sweep of both the Lakers and Christian Brothers Academy.
It proved much closer on the girls side, where Marcellus had to squeeze past the Lakers (who is no. 12 in the state Class C rankings) 25-30 while also handling the Brothers 20-49.
Among individuals, Rachel Garn led the way, covering the Skaneateles Polo Grounds in 18 minutes, 39 seconds, 16 seconds ahead of Skaneateles’ Madeline Adams.
Maggie Dunn was fourth, in 19:45, but the real key was the fact that Molly McGuane, in sixth place (20:11), and Mary Morocco, in seventh place (20:12), both finished ahead of the third and fourth Skaneateles runners, Virginia Hamlin (20:34) and Jennifer DeRosa (20:44), giving the Mustangs an insurmountable lead.
No such drama existed in the boys meet, where the state Class B no. 9-ranked Mustangs hammered CBA 16-47 and took out Skaneateles 15-48.The Brothers were without Brendan Smith, who had just won his division at the Manhattan Invitational two days earlier.
As such, Justin Garn, Joe Fallon and Ryan Manahan could all run together and record a 1-2-3 finish in a time of 17:32. John Bell, in fourth place in 17:39, was close behind, while David Lilly was sixth (17:48) and Alex Zamojski was seventh in 18:05. Ben Powers (18:34) also cracked the top 10.
A day later, Westhill/Bishop Ludden’s girls team took a giant step toward first place by going to Cazenovia and knocking off the defending champion Lakers 25-30, while also beating Solvay 15-49.
It started with Jessica Curry winning the race in 18:37, with Betsy Black second in 18:51. That duo, plus Emily Washburn (18:51), all finished ahead of Cazenovia’s top performer, Michelle Karker, who was fourth in 19:21.
Cazenovia took every spot from fourth through eighth place, but Erin Morrell, who was ninth (20:52), and Erin Christensen, who was 10th (21:02), helped Westhill/Ludden clinch the win.
Jordan-Elbridge met Homer and Hannibal and earned a sweep on the girls side, edging the Trojans 29-30 and also topping the Warriors 22-35.
Phebe Alley, the Eagles’ top runner, was fourth in 21:43 as Homer’s Jade Auchmoody won in 20:43. Starting with Kerry Mack, who was sixth in 23:06, J-E claimed four of the next five spots, as Alexis Malvaso was seventh (23:29), Rachel Scott was eighth (23:21) and Brianna Byrnes took 10th place in 24:11.
J-E’s boys team split with Homer and Hannibal as it beat the Trojans 21-38 and lost to the Warriors 22-35.
Steve Slonosky nearly won, his time of 16:53 just three seconds behind Hannibal’s Ben Griffin (16:50), while Mitch Alpha was fourth in 17:29. All of the Warriors’ top runners finished before Alex Suslik (18:40) crossed the line in 10th place.