Everything for the Cazenovia girls cross country team is now pointed toward next week’s showdown with Skaneateles for the OHSL Liberty National division regular-season championship.
But the Lakers almost didn’t get there with an undefeated mark, requiring every bit of its depth in last Wednesday’s meet at Hannibal to withstand a strong challenge from the Warriors and emerge with a 27-28 victory.
As she has done throughout the autumn, eighth-grader Clara Rowles put away the field with ease in the individual race, her time of 17 minutes, 8 seconds nearly a full minute clear of the runner-up, Hannibal’s McKenzie Mattison (18:03).
Right behind Mattison, Meggie Hart earned third place, in 18:10, but Hannibal teammates Reilly Harris (18:16) and Emily Weaver (18:32) took fourth and fifth, respectively, and Vanessa Waldron (19:26) got seventh place.
Needing three runners to finish ahead of, and right behind, Waldron, the Lakers pulled it off, seeing Katie Robbins make her way to sixth place in 19:22. Then, Adrien Owens, in 19:46, and Caitlin Clonan, in 20:07, beat Hannibal’s fifth competitor, and Cazenovia had the winning points.
Remarkably, the boys meet between Cazenovia and Hannibal was also a one-point affair, also decided by a 27-28 margin – but this time, it went in the Warriors’ favor.
As Hannibal’s Jason McFarland won the individual race in 14:51, Kevin Ridings tried to keep up, but had to settle for second place in a clocking of 15:33, followed by teammate Sean Satchwell, who beat out the Warriors’ Owen Braun, 16:09 to 16:17, for third place.
Matt Mistur made his way to sixth place, in 16:18, behind Hannibal’s Owen Braun (16:18), with Jimmy McPherson grabbing seventh place in 16:29. But the Warriors saw John Motell (16:39) and Nathan Raymond (16:40) beat the Lakers’ Brendan Coffey (16:53) to the line and allow Hannibal to finish in front.
On that same day, Chittenango’s girls cross country side just missed a sweep against Fulton and Marcellus, easily making it past the Red Raiders 16-50, but dropping a tight 27-28 decision to the Mustangs.
Still, the Bears went 1-2 on the individual side without Anna Galbraith to help out, as Sarah Moon, in a time of 22:05, beat teammate Hayley Foran (23:24) by more than a minute.
Marcellus, led by Tori Stopen (23:38) and Emily Townsend (23:42) running together, claimed five of the next six finishing spots to move out in front, with only Kaitlyn Swain, who took sixth place (24:44), interrupting that surge. Brooke Busa ran to ninth place in 25:31.
Moving to the boys meet, Chittenango could not quite catch Fulton or Marcellus, the Bears falling 25-31 to the Red Raiders and 22-36 to the Mustangs.
Mike Capeling finished third, in 18:29, behind Fulton’s Bailey Lutz (18:15) and Marcellus’ Patrick McGuane, who won in 17:56. But just one other Chittenango runner got to the top 10 as Karl Farber, in a time of 18:57, gained seventh place.
