A quartet of local cross country teams met up with each other as part of Wednesday’s Onondaga High School League Liberty division championship meet at Jamesville Beach Park.
From a team standpoint, the day belonged to Westhill/Bishop Ludden, who swept to both the boys and girls championships in similar manners.
On the boys side, Westhill/Ludden had 46 points, easily clearing runner-up Hannibal (69 points), while Solvay (96 points), Marcellus (106 points) and Jordan-Elbridge (135 points) rounded out the top five in a 10-team field.
Individually, it was Marcellus senior Ryan Manahan again making his way to the front, his time of 16 minutes, 27.7 seconds on the Jamesville Beach course well clear of runner-up Ryan Perry (Hannibal) as Solvay’s Matt Cregan was third in 16:54.4.
Despite the work of Manahan and fourth-place Justin Garn (17:02.6), Marcellus could not handle Westhill/Ludden’s depth, starting with Casey Bunce, who was sixth in 17:13.2, just ahead of Liam Rodgers, who was seventh in 17:16.2.
Peter Lynch also reached the top 10, getting ninth place in 17:30.5, while Kyle Fitch was 11th in 17:38.5. Dan DeMauro (17:44.6), in 13th place, rounded out Westhill/Ludden’s scoring column as Vincenzo Carr finished 15th in 17:47.1.
Behind Cregan, Solvay featured Cody McCarthy, who was 17th in 17:54.8, and Eric Goodrich, who was 19th in 18:08.9. Matt Battaglia was 24th in 18:22.6, with Nate Carr 36th in 18:41.8.
No one on the Marcellus side got close to Manahan and Garn as Pat McGuane, in 18:24.7, made his way to 26th place. Further down, Alex Zamjoski was 38th in 18:44.2 and Alex Stopen (19:02.3) was 43rd.
J-E’s Jack Gugel contended, finishing fifth in 17:06.8, while Eagles teammate Nick Parkolap ran to 28th place in 18:31 flat. Nathan Hollis (18:40.4) and Jacob Patterson (18:41.4) were 34th and 35th, respectively, ahead of Christian Marrero (18:48.4) in 40th place.
Moving to the girls OHSL Liberty meet, Westhill/Ludden had to fight off Skaneatlees, winning with 46 points to the Lakers’ 60. Marcellus, with 125 points, edged Chittenango by a point for fourth place as J-E claimed eighth place.
Ironically, it was the Eagles’ Abby Gugel that posted the best finish among individuals, covering the Jamesville Beach course in 19:28.1, second only to fast-rising Skaneateles freshman Kaitlyn Neal, who won in 19:15.6.
Westhill/Ludden started winning the meet when Annibel Coolican made her way to third place in 19:43.4. Emily Washburn, in 19:53.5, finished sixth, while Erin Morrell finished ninth (20:15.2) and Genny Corcoran earned 10th place in 20:18.5. Mary Kate Washburn clinched the title when she finished 19th in 21:04.3, ahead of Caroline Coates (21:18.9) and Erin Christensen (21:57.2).
Marcellus star Rachel Garn had a fifth-place time of 19:51.1, with Molly McGuane taking 21st place in 21:14.1. Eliza Bell, in 22:04 flat, finished 32nd, with Schuyler Stuart (22:15.6) and Dominique Weeks (22:16.9) in 35th and 36th, respectively.
For J-E, it was a long way between Gugel and Brianna Byrnes, who finished 44th in a time of 23:07 flat. Natalie Emerick was 57th, in 24:19.6, followed by Lauren Hubbs (25:13.7) and Jenny Hartwell (27:09.8) to round out the scoring column.
All of these teams and individuals will descend upon Vernon-Verona-Sherrill on Nov. 3 for the Section III championship meet, on the same course where the 2011 state meet took place.
