Taking a large step toward claiming top honors in the OHSL Liberty division, the combined Westhill/Bishop Ludden cross country teams both earned victories over Marcellus in last Wednesday afternoon’s neighborhood battle.
In the boys race where the Warriors prevailed 24-37, The Mustangs’ Ryan Manahan earned the victory in 18 minutes, 3.6 seconds, and teammate Justin Garn was third in 18:16.3.
However, Westhill/Ludden countered with Casey Bunce earning second place in 18:10.1, and swept the five spots behind Garn to move out in front for good. Liam Rodgers took fourth, in 18:36.9, with Peter Lynch fifth in 18:54.3 and Kyle Fitch sixth in 18:56.7.
Dan DeMauro was seventh in 19:09.9 to round out the scoring column, edging out Alec Walsh (19:01.7) in eighth place. Marcellus teammates Mike Clark (19:17.1) and Alex Zamojski (19:36.4) followed.
It was the same in the girls meet, where Westhill/Ludden won 23-33 over Marcellus even though the Mustangs’ Rachel Garn pulled away for the individual title in 20:58.9. Five of the next six spots belonged to the Warriors, only broken up by Molly McGuane, who was fourth in 22:08.9.
Emily Washburn led Westhill/Ludden, finishing second in 21:27.9, with Annibel Coolican third in 21:50.6. Behind McGuane, Erin Morrell was fifth in 22:19.5, with Genny Corcoran (22:41.1) and Caroline Coates (22:51.5) getting sixth and seventh, respectively. Marcellus saw Schuyler Stuart finish eighth, in 23:34.5, and Eliza Bell (23:37.5) slide into ninth place.
Now they all went to Durgee Junior High School for Saturday’s 61st annual Baldwinsville Invitational, where Manahan had the fastest time of the meet, posting 15:21.4 to beat Southern Cayuga’s Michael May (15:37.6) by more than 16 seconds in the Small Schools division.
Marcellus finished fourth with 234 points and Jordan-Elbridge was sixth with 253 points in the boys team event. For the Mustangs, Justin Garn was 16th in 16:56.4, with Zamojski in 54th (17:51.8), ahead of McGuane (18:07.0) and Alex Stopen (18:49.3) among the point-earners.
J-E’s Jack Gugel again ran well, claiming fifth place in 16:05.5, less than a minute behind Manahan. Nathan Hollis was 49th in 17:48 flat, two spots ahead of teammate Jacob Patterson (17:50.9), with Nick Parkolap (18:14.9) and Bill Direnzo (18:37.3) close behind.
In the girls Small School race at B’ville, Marcellus claimed fifth in the team standings, with 202 points, as J-E made its way to 10th place with 303 points.
The Mustangs’ Rachel Garn would beat J-E’s Abby Gugel for third place, Garn finishing in 18:14.8 and Gugel crossing the finish line in 18:23.9.
Also for Marcellus, Molly McGuane was 16th, in 20:15.6, with Stuart (21:41.6), Bell (21:59.0) and Emily Townsend (22:31.4) further back. J-E had Brianna Byrnes make her way to 48th place in 21:32.6, while Emily Kuehnle (22:20.6), Lauren Hubbs (23:24.7) and Sarah Knapp (24:41.5) trailed.
West Genesee’s cross country teams went to Auburn last Wednesday and improved to 2-0 in league meets, sweeping the Maroons 19-44 on the girls side and 17-46 on the boys side.
Laura Leff, refreshed from a week of rest (she didn’t compete in the Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Invitational on Sept. 15), finished in 19:02, nearly two minutes ahead of Auburn’s Destiny Parks (20:58), who finished second.
WG filled in the next seven slots, starting with Sara Ferranti, who was third in 21:42. Lindsey Weaver was fourth in 22:02, with Eva Young fifth in 22:24, just ahead of Lauren Brieant (22:27) in sixth. Elise Dunshee and Alycia Andolina both finished in 22:42, with Annie Baker ninth in 22:57.
Moving to the boys meet, WG’s Kal Strickland, with a winning time of 17:13, led a top-three sweep that included Nate Conroy in second place in 17:20 and Jack Erhard (17:26) fitting into third place.
Mike Lannon, who was fifth in 17:58, led the next pack of Wildcats. Ethan Osborne (18:10) edged Will Randall (18:11) and Nick Garty (18:12) for the sixth spot, both of them in front of Alex Cuttler in ninth (18:28) and Matt Romano, who was 10th in 18:37.
