Even with Laura Leff back on the course, West Genesee’s girls cross country team could not quite catch up to Baldwinsville in Wednesday’s CNY Counties League meet, falling to the Bees 26-31.
Leff, who had finished seventh in the top division at the Sept. 29 McQuaid Invitational in Rochester, would pull far away from the field here, finishing in 20 minutes, 7.9 seconds to beat B’ville’s Rachael Miller by more than a minute and a half.
WG, who missed another top runners, Lindsey Weaver, in this meet, still had three of the top five spots, as Abby Kastick finished fourth in 21:57 flat and Alycia Andolina took fifth place in 22:01.9. But the Bees snared four of the next five positions to move ahead for good, only broken up by Lauren Brieant, who was ninth in 22:35.5.
Even on its home course at Camillus Middle School, WG lost the boys meet to B’ville 20-43. The one bright spot was Nick Garity winning the individual race in 18:17.1 before the Bees claimed the next eight finishing spots, led by Casey McAllister (18:26), before Alex Cuttler took 10th place in 18:51.3.
Marcellus emerged from its annual showdown with Skaneateles with a tough 23-32 victory on the boys side, which made up for the narrow 25-30 defeat it took to the state Class C no. 2-ranked Lakers.
Without Ryan Manahan in the lineup, the boys Mustangs needed others to step up – and that included Justin Garn, who held off Skaneateles’ Cooper Wyatt, 17:34, to 17:41, on the Lakers’ home course to finish in front.
Just as important was Patrick McGuane earning third place in 17:47 and Alex Zamajski getting to fourth place in 17:55. Alex Stopen backed them up, claiming sixth place in 18:41, while Stephan Larison made his way to ninth place in 19:11 to clinch the victory.
To try and counter the superior depth of the Skaneateles girls, Molly McGuane and Rachel Garn ran together and claimed the top two spots, McGuane winning in 20:43.6, just three-tenths of a second better than Garn.
However, the Lakers claimed each of the next five spots, including one from ex-Mustang Maggie Dunn, who was fourth in 21:08. Schuyler Stuart gave Marcellus an eighth-place finish in 21:27, with Eliza Bell ninth (22:02) and Emily Townsend 10th in 22:09.
Solvay went up against Chittenango last Wednesday afternoon and emerged with a split, beating the Bears 22-33 on the boys side but losing on the girls side 17-50.
Ryan Cregan led a top-three Bearcats sweep on the boys side, winning in a time of 17:47, five seconds ahead of Cody McCarthy (17:52) as Eric Goodrich finished third in 17:54. Nate Gillette fit into fifth place in 18:21 and Nate Carr was seventh in 18:31.
Westhill/Bishop Ludden swept Phoenix, seeing Emily Washburn win the girls race in 20:46 ahead of Annibel Coolican, who was second in 20:58. Erin Morrell was fourth, in 22:32, just ahead of Caroline Coates (22:35) in fifth and Genny Corcoran (22:41) in sixth. Mary Kate Washburn (23:31), Erin Christensen (23:51) and Caroline Black (23:57) followed.
In the boys meet, Casey Bunce, in 18:39, beat Kyle Fitch (18:42) by three seconds and Dan DeMauro (18:43) by four seconds. Garrett Remillard (18:49) and Liam Rodgers (18:56) completed a top-five sweep as Vinny Carr (19:18), Josh Owens (19:34), Brian Celeste (19:49), Xavier Fleurinor and Cain Ballard (19:53) completed a top-10 sweep.
Jordan-Elbridge split with Cazenovia, winning the boys meet 21-37 as Jack Gugel, in a time of 17:56, edged the Lakers’ Sean Satchwell by nine seconds for individual honors.
Jacob Patterson was third, in 18:35, followed by Nick Parkolap (18:41) in fourth place. Austin Milton, in sixth place (18:52), began an Eagles run where Christian Marrero was seventh (19:11) and Bill DiRenzo was eighth in 19:20.
In the girls meet, J-E did not have Abby Gugel, and lost 15-51 to Cazenovia. Only Brianna Byrnes broke the Lakers’ domination, earning eighth place in 22:48.
