Skaneateles girls cross country runner Juila Willcox had worked hard, and gone through plenty, in order to earn her place at Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class C championship race.

So when Willcox lined up on the tough course at Monroe-Woodbury High School, she was determined to hold her own, and she did so, beating most of the field on her way to a top-25 finish and helping the Section III team take third place overall.

Willcox was part of a strong Section III All-Star side that included Jordan-Elbridge’s Abby Gugel and Theresa Dristle, along with Clinton’s Gab Dewhurst and Eva Borton. And she finished in the middle of that pack, getting to 21st place overall in 20 minutes, 22.4 seconds, though it was well off the winning pace of 18:42.3 set by East Aurora’s Sophia Tasselmyer.

Gugel did lead the sectional All-Star group, making her way to 10th place in 19:37.2, while Dewhurst was 16th in 20:05.4. Behind Willcox, Dristle got a 36th-place finish in 20:56.5 as Borton did quite well, finishing 38th in 20:59.9.

Cazenovia, who finished fifth in the 10-team state tournament (East Aurora swept the boys and girls state Class C titles), had the best individual finisher in Clara Rowles, the freshman climbing to fifth place in 19:24.7. Overall, Section III had 364 points, behind Section I (209) and Section VI (221).

But it was, overall, a grand effort by Section III, who swept the team Class A titles thanks to the Fayetteville-Manlius girls, who won for the 10th year in a row, and the Liverpool boys, who dethroned F-M a week earlier during the sectional meet. The Hornets’ Claire Walters and the Warriors’ Ben Petrella each finished first in their respective individual Class A races, too.

Also, Hamilton’s Sage Hurta won the girls state Class D title for the second year in a row, while Tully’s girls were second in the team standings, Sauquoit Valley was third in boys Class D and Carthage’s Noah Affolder was the individual state Class B champion.