Both of Cazenovia’s cross country teams would stay busy in mid-October as the season’s most important races neared.
First, the Lakers met Hannibal last Wednesday afternoon in a key OHSL Liberty National division contest, and emerged with a split, Cazenovia prevailing 22-37 on the girls side to improve to 4-0 on the season, but falling to the first-place Warriors 24-31 in the boys meet.
Fresh off earning medals for top-30 finishes at the Oct. 10 Manhattan Invitational, Meggie Hart and Clara Rowles went 1-2 against Hannibal in the individual standings, Hart winning in 19 minutes, 9 seconds and Rowles taking second place in 19:37.
Though Hannibal runners took the next two spots – Reilly Harris third in 20:58, Emily Weaver fourth in 21:18 – Mya Walters gained fifth place in 21:51, just ahead of Adrien Owens (21:58) in sixth place and Whitney Dennison, who was eighth in 22:03. Caitlin Clonan (22:20) edged out Jackie Gamlen (22:21) for ninth place as Walters, Owens, Rossiter and Maddie Phillips were honored in Senior Day ceremonies before the meet.
Moving to the boys race, Cazenovia’s Jon Maracek had a strong race, his time of 17:39 beating everyone except Hannibal’s Jason McFarland, who prevailed in 16:35. Brendan Coffey was fourth, in 18:01, but the Warriors claimed five of the next six spots to move out in front, broken up only by Tony Koppers’ eighth-place time of 18:43 on the Lakers’ side.
That same Cazenovia boys team finished eighth out of 18 sides in the Small School division of Saturday’s Tully Invitational. Maracek, in a clocking of 17:48.1, grabbed 17th place, with Coffey 43rd in 18:41.6 as Koppers got 49th place in 18:52.9. Ian Marshall (19:28.8) and Jacob Wells (19:29.0) finished together as James McPherson (19:45.3) trailed.
Chittenango engaged in back-to-back meets, starting last Tuesday against Cortland, and continuing with a meet against Mexico on Wednesday. On the girls side, the Bears prevailed 20-43 over Cortland then swept Mexico 15-49.
Against Mexico, the Bears swept the top nine spots, starting with Hayley Foran, who in 23:38 edged McKenzie Dombroski (23:39) for the top spot. Devin Gordon was third, in 23:54, with Maggie Lowe taking exactly 24 minutes to finish fourth. Kaitlyn Swain (25:07) held off Alyssa Crystal (25:08) to earn fifth place, with Bailey Price (25:31), Maddie Heller (25:51) and Sydney Bennett (25:53) close behind.
Both of the boys races went in Chittenango’s favor, too. A close 27-30 decision over Cortland was followed by the Bears handling Mexico 16-45 as Mike Capeling led the way, winning the race in a time of 18:16.
Phillip Abell, in 18:28, beat out Willy Blanding (18:33) for the runner-up spot, with Lucas Spiridilozzi, in 18:45, completing a top-four sweep. Grant Czarnecki grabbed sixth place in 19:07, ahead of Caleb Seale (19:30) and Dave Gratien (19:34) in the eighth and ninth spots.
In the Large School division at Saturday’s Tully Invitational, Chittenango’s boys were fifth in an 11-team field, led by Capeling, who made it all the way to second place in a time of 16:22.5, trailing only Cicero-North Syracuse’s Andrew Bearkland, who won in 16:15.3.
For the rest of the Bears, Abell got to 15th place in 17:34.7, with Blanding, in 36th place (18:39.7), one spot ahead of Spiridilozzi (18;42.9) as Czarnecki grabbed 39th place in 18:50.3, edging out Seale (18:50.6), who was 40th.
Chittenango finished fourth on the girls side with 99 points, led by Dombroski, who took 13th place in 21:57.5. Foran was 19th, in 22:25.8, followed closely by Gordon in 23rd place (22:45.2) as Swain was 25th in 23:03.4. Maggie Lowe was 27th in 23:17 flat as Crystal took 33rd (23:55.5) and Sydney Bennett (25:17.6) was 40th.
