Moving to the top of the OHSL Liberty division standings, the Westhill/Bishop Ludden cross country teams each used superior depth in their respective lineups to put together 20-39 victories over neighbor and rival Marcellus Wednesday afternoon at Santaro Park.
The Mustangs’ Pat McGuane edged the Warriors’ Liam Rodgers at the finish line, though both posted times of 13 minutes, 58 seconds on the short Santoro course.
Then Westhill/Ludden claimed the next five spots. Kyle Fitch was third, in 14:15, just ahead of Josh Owens (14:20) in fourth place, while Dan DeMauro was fifth (14:25) and Garnet Remillard needed 14:33 for sixth place.
Remillard held off Marcellus teammates Alex Zamajski and Alex Stopen, who both finished in 14:34, with Alec Walsh (14:48) in ninth place. Westhill/Ludden’s Vincenzo Carr needed exactly 15 minutes to finish in the top 10.
Much the same thing happened in the girls race, where Rachel Garn gave Marcellus the victory in 16:16, but Westhill/Ludden’s pack followed, led by Genny Corcoran, who was second in 16:20.
Erin Morrell, in 16:36, took third place, with Emily Washburn fourth (16:53), Mary Washburn fifth (17:08) and Caroline Coates sixth in 17:22. Eliza Bell, who was seventh in 17:24, had the Mustangs’ second-best time, ahead of Schuyler Stuart (17:45) and Dominique Weeks (17:47). Erin Christensen gave Westhill/Ludden an eighth-place finish in 17:29.
West Genesee hosted Central Square and swept both sides of that meet, but not without some stress as the boys Wildcats fought past the Red Hawks 24-33.
In a tight race to the line, David Leff edged out Central Square’s A.J. Beers by one second, 17:16 to Beers’ 17:17, while Will Randall had to settle for fourth place in 17:20.3, one-tenth of a second behind the Red Hawks’ Sean Kuehn (17:20.2).
But with Jack Erhard finishing fifth (17:21) and Nate Conroy taking sixth place (17:24), WG moved in front for good, as Mike Lannon (17:56) and Matt Romano (18:17) also recorded top-10 finishes.
It wasn’t as close in the girls meet, the Wildcats beating Central Square 20-39 as Laura Leff pulled away from the pack and prevailed in a time of 20:04, leaving the Red Hawks’ Megan Holzwarth (20:40) in the runner-up spot.
Lindsay Weaver (21:03) edged teammate Maria Matkowski (21:04) for third place, while Elise Dunshee was fifth in 21:49. Further back, Sara Ferranti took seventh place, in 22:21, with Alicia Sakran ninth (22:35) and Maggie Guinto 10th, in 22:40.
Jordan-Elbridge had little trouble in its sweep over Altmar-Parish-Williamstown. In the boys Eagles’ 18-43 victory over the Rebels, Nick Parkolap claimed the race in 17:23, his time the same as teammates Jack Gugel and Nate Hollis.
Jake Patterson finished fifth, in 17:30, with Dylan Whittico in seventh place (18:04) to round out the scoring column, edging Austin Milton (18:05), who was eighth. Alex Parkolap (18:16) and David Fixler (18:40) also had top-10 efforts.
For the J-E girls, who beat APW 23-36, the team’s depth more than overcame the individual dominance of the Rebels’ Chelsea Cooper, who won in 19:48.
Abby Gugel was second, in 20:51, edging out Miranda Malvaso (20:52) for that runner-up spot, but more important was the fact that Emily Kuehnle, Alexis Malvaso (23:10 each), Marissa Malvaso and Mary Elizabeth Dristle (23:11) occupied the fifth through eighth spots to clinch the team victory.
At Long Branch Park, Solvay’s boys cross country team, led by Eric Goodrich, held off Christian Brothers Academy by one point, 28-29, helped in no small part by the fact that an illness kept Dominic Morganti, one of the Brothers’ top runners, from competing.
Eric Goodrich won the individual race for the Bearcats in a time of 17:21, beating CBA’s Jack Brower (17:33) by 12 seconds. Isaiah Lee was third, in 17:49, while Nate Carr took fifth place in 19:31 and John Brusa (21:31) was seventh.
The Solvay girls lost, 17-49, to CBA as Ashlee Riggins posted the Bearcats’ best time of 23:40 for fourth place, with the Brothers’ Gabrielle Schug prevailing in 20:14.
