This fall, the Chittenango cross country program has the high honor of hosting the Section III championships on the first weekend of November, but it got a sneak preview of that big event two months early.
Many of the area’s top large and small-school teams were present for Saturday’s Chittenango Invitational, running in temperatures far warmer than they will face later in the fall that would shorten two of the girls varsity races.
Taking advantage of this, the Chittenango boys team won Boys Varsity Race 3 by a big margin, the Bears earning 37 points to beat 12 others, with East Syracuse Minoa second as it got 79 points. Pulaski was third with 131 points.
Individually, sophomore Ersilio Cerminero got to second place in 18 minutes, 51.3 seconds, trailing only ESM freshman Nick Berg, who won in 17:35.3, but pacing a Chittenango pack that had five of the top 14 finishers.
Karl Farber got sixth place in 19:14.5, beating out Mike Capeling, who was seventh in 19:15.2, and Dave Gratien, who took eighth place in 19:16.6. Matt Morak clinched the victory with his 14th-place time of 19:40.9, while Phillip Abell was 16th (19:46.1) and Grant Czarnecki finished 21st in 19:59.9.
On a shorter 1.7-mile course, the Girls Varsity Race 3 saw Chittenango finish seventh with 166 points, well off New York Mills’ winning total of 37 points.
McKenzie Dombroski still finished eighth, in 12:37 flat, with Devin Gordon 35th in 14:28.9, just ahead of Sarah Loucks (37th, 14:33.5) and Maddie Heller (40th, 14:45.5) as Jada Sowich was 53rd in 15:59.5, three spots better than teammate Alex Rheaume (16:19.0).
Cazenovia also opened its season up the road at the Chittenango meet, with the girls Lakers seeing Meggie Hart win the individual girls Varsity Race 4. Hart’s time of 10 minutes, 26.7 seconds topped Clinton teammates Eva Borton (10:38.6) and Emma Novak (10:52.7).
Clara Rowles was fourth, in 11:00.8, but the rest of the Lakers were further back as it finished third in the team standings with 95 points behind Clinton (59) and Beaver River (65). Whitney Denison was 27th, in 13:04.4, just ahead of Caitlin Clonan (13:13.7) in 29th place as Glenn Hartley was 34th (13.26.0), beating Jackie Gamlen (13:51.6) and Eleanor Wester (13:52.1) to the line.
In boys Varsity Race 4, Cazenovia had a sixth-place total of 159 points, with Sauquoit Valley (59 points) edging Beaver River (70 points) for team honors.
James McPherson took ninth place in 18:22.4 and Jon Maracek (18:30.5) followed in 11th place, but none of the other Lakers reached the top 40 in the standings. Nick Barna, in 43rd place (20:16.5), was three spots clear of Ian Marshall (20:19.5), with Jack Gabor finishing in 20:28.5 ahead of Brendan Coffey (20:44.2) and Zach Wendall (21:53.1).
Fayetteville-Manlius won both of the Varsity 2 races by big margins, with Baldwinsville’s boys and West Genesee’s girls taking the top honors in the Varsity 1 races.
