With a deep roster on both the girls and boys sides, West Genesee’s cross country teams will again be a force in the 2014 season.
Just how dangerous was apparent during last Saturday’s Vernono-Verona-Sherrill Invitational. On the same course where the Section III championships will take place in early November, the Wildcats won its division on the girls side and finished second on the boys side.
WG’s girls compted in Race 4, where with 36 points it pulled away from nine other foes, including Beaver River, who finished second with 64 points, and Chittenango (93 points), who was third.
Freshman Carly Benson and sophomore Grace Craig went 1-2 among individuals, Benson winning the race in exactly 18 minutes, 54 seconds, second-best of the entire four-race cycle, trailing only Samantha Levy (Fayetteville-Manlius), who won race one in 18:48.7.
As for Craig, she needed 19:44.7 to hold off Chittenango eighth-grader Clara Rowles (19:48.7) for the runner-up spot, and the help arrived from senior Elise Dunshee, who was ninth in 21:06.1. Maria Matkoski was 11th, in 21:22.5, with eighth-grader Kendall Dombroske getting 13th place in 21:29.4.
Sarah Ferranti was 16th, in 22:17.4, one spot ahead of teammate Ally Draveck (22:22.5), with Rachel Flynn (22:30.2), Megan Farmer (22:37.5) and Alicia Sakran (23:25.5) all getting top-30 finishes and the likes of Maddy Lowry (23:30.3) and Bridget Spiddle (23:40.2) close behind.
In the boys Race 4 at VVS, West Genesee picked up 68 points, beating everyone in the 12-team field except Rochester McQuaid, who won the team honors with 34 points.
That didn’t keep Wildcats sophomore David Leff from moving to the front of the pack and nearly winning his race, his time of 16:35.1 just beaten out by Utica Proctor’s Zackaria Adam, who got first place in 16:33.4.
Will Randall, earning a time of 17:15.5, took fourth place. But four McQuaid runners crossed the line before WG’s Logan McAnulty did so in 13th place in 18:07.1. Ryan Dunning was 24th, in 18:41 flat, with Hunter Buza (18:48.9) and Sean Byrnes (18:53.4) 29th and 30th, respectively, just ahead of Brendan McMahon (19:01.3), Dan Leo (19:05.4) and Kyle Jenkins (19:05.9).
Three days earlier, in its CNY Counties League opener, the Wildcats hosted Auburn and Syracuse West and swept both of them, with WG’s girls handling Syracuse West 21-40 and also beating the Maroons 15-50.
Benson pulled away from the entire field, crossing the finish line in 19:14.4, more than a minute ahead of Craig, who was second in 20:30 flat. Dunshee led the next pack, getting to third place in 21:16.9. Matkoski made her way to fourth place in 21:39.4, with Ferranti getting to fifth place in a clocking of 22:10.4.
Ferranti beat Draveck (22:11.5) for that top-five finish, but Dombroske (22:16.7) got to seventh place. Flynn was eighth in exactly 23 minutes, just ahead of Farmer (23:04.6) in ninth place.
The boys meet had a similar outcome, for though West Genesee got a closer examination, it still defeated Auburn 21-38 and Syracuse West 18-44.
Leff spent the race gradually pulling away from Auburn’s Justin Middleton, and Leff prevailed in 16:44.26, with Middleton (17:03.8) settling for the runner-up spot.
Randall had a solid race, getting to third in 17:16.9, ahead of Syracuse West’s top runner, Soloman Lawrence, who was fourth in 17:49.2. McAnulty gave the Wildcats a fifth-place clocking of 18:00.4.
All told, WG posted six of the top 10 finishing times. Dunning, in 18:40.3, gained seventh place, with Jenkins eighth in 18:51.8 and McMahon, in 19:01.5, making his way to 10th.
