Kevin Ridings has waited until his senior year to achieve his ultimate goal. Clara Rowles didn’t even have to reach high school to get to that same point.
Regardless of their diverse paths, Ridings, a senior, and Rowles, an eighth-grader, will both represent the Cazenovia cross country program at SUNY-Canton this Saturday and compete in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship meet.
These Lakers stars got there by virtue of their respective efforts at last Saturday’s Section III Class C championships at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, where the girls Lakers topped rival Skaneateles and managed a second-place finish, while the boys rose to a third-place Class C-1 finish, and fifth overall.
Having finished behind Skaneateles twice this season, Cazenovia’s girls were all too happy to beat them here, 87 points to 112, even if it wasn’t enough to catch Westhill-Bishop Ludden, who won a third straight sectional title with 46 points.
Ridings’ steady improvement throughout the season manifested itself on this cold, windy afternoon. Making his way to the front of the pack of a field of more than 150 runners, Ridings maintained a steady pace, never losing touch with the top contenders.
And when he crossed the finish line in 17 minutes, 30.4 seconds, Ridings found himself third behind Hannibal’s Jason McFarland, who won in 16:48 flat, and CBA’s Dominic Morganti, who took second place in 17:20.5.
As a result, Ridings joins McFarland and Morganti, along with Holland Patent’s Bryce Zayachek and Westhill-Ludden’s Garnet Remillard, on the Section III All-Star team headed to the state meet.
Team-wise, Cazenovia finished with 159 points, rounding out a top five where Adirondack (48 points) finished in front, followed by Holland Patent (66 points), Westhill-Ludden (111 points) and Jordan-Elbridge (127 points).
James McPherson had a strong showing, getting to 30th place in 19:02.2. Just behind him, Matt Mistur (19:14.5) took 35th place, while Sean Satchwell finished 44th in 19:35.2.
Cooper Holgate, in 57th place (19:51.8), rounded out the scoring column, with Ian Marshall (20:23.2), Nick Barna (20:23.5) and Brendan Coffey (20:24.6) in the middle of the pack in front of Jacob Wells (20:54.0) and Sam Galasso (21:15.9).
Moving to the girls sectional Class C meet, Rowles would prove, by a wide margin, the fastest eighth-grader at the sectional meet.
In a field full of top performers, Rowles still plowed through the VVS course in exactly 19 minutes, 41 seconds, putting her a close third behind Westhill-Ludden’s Genny Corcoran (19:38.5) as Skaneateles junior Kaitlyn Neal, the state’s top-ranked Class C runner, won in 19:30.5.
Neal and Rowles join Jordan-Elbridge’s Abby Gugel, Canastota’s Rachel Bargabos and Adirondack’s Meghann Tanner to form a strong Section III All-Star team that will vie for state honors in Canton.
Behind Rowles, Meggie Hart got within four spots of a state meet berth, the freshman taking 12th place in 21:26.6. Katie Robbins made her way to 21st place in 22:31.6, while Alexa Tillman was 30th, in 23:12.2, two spots ahead of Caitlin Clonan (23:19.2) in 32nd place.
Whitney Denison also ran well, getting to 38th place in 23:37.4, with Adrien Owens taking 42nd place in 23:59.4. Maddie Phillips (24:53.2) was 58th, ahead of Taylor Ketcham (29:21.5) and Grace Wheeler (29:21.7) for the Lakers.
