When the first state Class A girls cross country rankings came out, West Genesee was in the no. 5 spot, high praise, even though it knew what just lay ahead.
That would be Wednesday’s home meet against reigning powerhouse Fayetteville-Manlius, and sure enough the Hornets prevailed, 19-43, but at least WG did turn around and beat no. 10-ranked Cicero-North Syracuse, with a better finish by its sixth-place runner to pull it out after the two sides tied 22-22.
Just as thrilling was the sight of WG’s Carly Benson nearly win the individual race. Benson covered her home course in 18 minutes, 19.3 seconds, beating everyone except the Hornets’ Annika Avery, who won in 18:15.9, just 3.4 seconds better than Benson.
With its deep pool of good runners, F-M would gain full control, but not before Benson and Grace Craig grabbed high finishes, with Craig taking eighth place in 19:38.3.
In the boys meet, WG, no. 20 in the state, edged past C-NS 26-29, but again was overwhelmed by F-M 15-49 as the Hornets’ Bryce Millar set a course record with a time of 16:03.7, with teammates Peter Ryan (16:04.3) and Kyle Barber (16:13.8) also topping the mark of 16:15.7 the Wildcats’ Billy Gabriel once held.
F-M swept the top four in front of David Leff, who got to fifth place in 16:28.7 before Will Randall finished sixth in 16:40.9. Those efforts helped the Wildcats stay ahead of C-NS, who only had one top-10 finisher – Andrew Bearkland (17:20.9), in ninth place.
Jordan-Elbridge, going up against Skaneateles, gained a split, winning 22-33 on the boys side as Nathan Hollis, in 16:38, beat the Lakers’ Cooper Watt (16:54) for the top spot.
Then Austin Milton finished third, in 17:10, and just to make sure that Skaneateles didn’t catch up, Ethan Kinney (17:21), Tyler Jackson (17:41) and Jared Alpha (17:53) got the fifth through seventh positions to clinch the victory.
The girls Eagles lost, 19-42, to the state Class C no. 5-ranked Lakers, who swept the top three positions, led by Julia Willcox (19:35) and Kaitlyn Neal (19:37), before J-E’s Mary Dristle took fourth place in 20:58. Theresa Dristle was fifth, in 21:56, with Emily Kuehnle (22:49) the only other top-10 finisher.
Marcellus, now in the OHSL Freedom division, opened its league slate with a split on the girls side, beating Mexico, but taking a 17-43 defeat to reigning league powerhouse Jamesville-DeWitt.
In a time of 20:46, Emily Townsend trailed four J-D runners, led by Rachel Fairbanks, who won in 20 minutes flat. Schuyler Stuart got to sixth place, in 21:02, while Tori Stopen was ninth in 21:39.
The boys meet was also split, Marcellus handling Mexico 19-44, but falling to J-D 25-30. At the top, Patrick McGuane finished second, in 15:47, to the Red Rams’ Patrick Dye (15:27), with Ethan Mosure fifth in 17:23 and Joe Riccardi (17:24) in sixth before J-D swept the next three positions to move in front for good.
Solvay’s cross country teams both lost to Phoenix. The girls Bearcats dropped a 22-50 decision to the Firebirds, even though Jordan Willsey finished fourth in 23:26, just ahead of Sonya Stanejko (24:35) and Tessa Fritzen (26:01) in the fifth and sixth spots. Phoenix’s Jordan Cote won the individual race in 22:48. the boys Bearcats lost, 24-31, to the Firebirds.
