Some of the area’s high school cross country teams used the first Saturday in September as a starting point for what promises to be a fun and exciting 2013 season.
Jordan-Elbridge, in fact, hosted one of the opening meets, the Kamikaze Challenge, in which 11 boys and eight girls teams ran through a shorter course (2.4 miles) that featured two climbs up “Kamikaze Hill” and nine hay bales to jump over, among other obstacles.
Better yet for the home fans, J-E won the boys edition of the meet, the Eagles picking up 58 points to easily defeat runner-up Westhill/Bishop Ludden, who was second with 98 points.
Among individuals, J-E’s Jack Gugel finished second, edged out at the line by Auburn’s Jordan Middleton, though both finished in 13 minutes, 54 seconds.
Nathan Hollis was sixth for the Eagles in 14:20. Nick Parkolap took 11th place with a clocking of 14:37, while Dylan Whittico (15:01) was 18th and Jacob Patterson got 21st place in 15:28. Tyler Jackson (15:48) and David Fixler (16:33) rounded out the J-E field.
As for Westhill/Ludden, Garnet Remillard stepped up, taking 10th place in 14:34. Alec Walsh was 16th (14:53), while Brian Celeste gained 20th place in 15:20, just ahead of teammates Luke Sekowski (15:33) and Cain Ballard (15:41).
Moving to the girls Kamikaze Challenge, J-E placed third, with 73 points, trailing Homer (42 points) and Hannibal (65 points) as Homer’s Jade Auchmoody won the individual race in a time of 16:17, with Weedsport’s Natalie Mogavo second in 17 minutes flat.
Just behind them, the Eagles’ Abby Gugel needed 17:10 to make her way to third place. Mary Elizabeth Dristle was 11th, in 18:26, edging Antonia Malvaso (18:31), who was 12th. Miranda Malvaso (19:40), Emily Kuehnle (19:42), Lauren Hubbs (20:01) and Marissa Malvaso (20:04) followed.
For Westhill/Ludden, who finished fourth with 86 points, Caroline Coates had a sixth-place individual time of 17:44, with Mary Kate Washburn ninth in 18:05. Molly Clark took 14th place (18:42) as Caroline Black (19:57) and Alex Parson (20:19) also had top-30 finishes.
While all this was going on, Marcellus senior Rachel Garn began her senior campaign with a victory in the Central Square Invitational, part of an effort where the Mustangs were second with 58 points in a 10-team field led by Cicero-North Syracuse, who prevailed with 32 points.
Garn steadily pulled away from everyone except CBA’s Megan Ann Pierce, but still managed to hit the line in first place in 19:36, nine seconds clear of Pierce.
Eliza Bell also reached the top 10, taking ninth place in 22:05. Emily Townsend was 15th in 23:02, with Schyler Stewart (23:05) and Dominique Weeks (23:17) 16th and 17th, respectively. Brianna Szczech made her way to 28th place in 24:30.
The Marcellus boys team, beginning life without Ryan Manahan, was fourth out of nine teams in the boys Central Square meet with 126 points as, again, C-NS (28 points) took the top spot.
Individually, Patrick McGuane finished sixth, in 17:38, not too far from C-NS’s Colin Greenseich and his winning time of 17:25. The Mustangs’ Alex Zamojski was 14th in 18:50, with Steve Larison 25th (19:55) as Sean Kocher (21:00), Tom Dailey (21:02) and Marerick Keegan (21:05) finishing close together.
