Some of the area’s top cross country teams, including West Genesee and Marcellus, opened the month of October with a trip to Rochester for the 52^nd annual McQuaid Invitational at Genesee Valley Park.

West Genesee took part in the Varsity AAA divisions, where in the girls race Carly Benson rose to fifth place in 17 minutes, 48.3 seconds as Corning star Jessica Lawson won in 16:28.2.

Emily Young also had a strong effort, finishing 13^th in 18:18.3, while Mia Mitchell grabbed 20^th place in 18:38.3. Elizabeth Baker got 54^th place in 19:37.8 as Liz Morey, in 19:56.6, just made it under the 20-minute mark.

Meanwhile, in the boys AAA race at McQuaid, WG’s David Leff contended, earning seventh place in 15:14.4 as former Carthage standout Noah Affolder, now at Carlisle (Pennsylvania), ran the day’s fastest time of 14:12.7. No other Wildcat was close to Leff’s time, with Sean Byrnes finishing in 16:25.7 as Ryan Dunning posed 16:40.5 and Sean O’Brien finished in 17:03.2.

Marcellus was in the Seeded Varsity AA division, getting its best boys performance from Matt Strempel, who finished in 16:29.6. Ethan Mosure had a time of 16:44.9, with Sean Raymond (17:01.4) finishing just ahead of Michael Brown (17:01.5) and Andrew Marsh (17:12.7) behind them.

For the girls Mustangs, it was Liliana Cushman setting the pace in the Varsity AA race as she got to 38^th place in a time of 19:36.5. Morgan Gould was 44^th, in 19:44.9,

Much closer to home, Jordan-Elbridge would compete in Saturday’s Auburn Invitational and finish third in both the boys and girls team standings.

In the girls race, Mary Elizabeth Dristle paced the Eagles and gained seventh place in 20:49.4, while Theresa Dristle got 11^th place in 21:27.5 and Madison Daly (21:29.9) was 13^th. Abby Skotinski, in 22^nd (23:18.1), was two spots ahead of Olivia Minkheim (23:26.3) in 24^th place.

Evan Brunelle led the J-E boys effort at Auburn, finishing 11^th in 17:52.2, with Hugh Schader (18:00.2) edging out Ethan Kinney (18:00.6) for 13^th place. Sean Dristle got 22^nd place (18:13.4) and Matt Sheldon was 28^th in 18:26.2.