Once again, the West Genesee girls cross country team found itself face-to-face with Baldwinsville, having just missed upending the Bees at its own invitational meet on Sept. 24.
In this CNY Counties League rematch just four days later, the Wildcats, back on its home course, took full advantage of B’ville not having its top runner, Justus Holden-Betts, in the lineup and won big, 19-40, over the Bees.
Carly Benson nearly broke the 18-minute mark in the individual race, eventually posting 18:01 to win by more than half a minute over Emily Young, who in 18;38 held off Mia Mitchell (18:39), thought they completed a top-three sweep.
B’ville finally got on the board with Sarah Klein’s fourth-place finish in 19 minutes flat, but WG’s Hannah Craybas got fifth place in 19:30, and the hosts put away the victory with Liz Morey eighth in 20:06, Liz Baker ninth in 20:13 and Amanda Lowther (20:14) taking 10th place.
The boys meet had a different outcome, West Genesee falling to B’ville 20-43 even though David Leff, who won the boys individual Large School title at the B’ville Invitational, won here, too, in 15:39 to pull away from the Bees’ Evan Biedermann (16:03) in the runner-up spot.
Yet Biedermann led a pack of seven B’ville runners that covered every spot until the Wildcats’ Ryan Dunning finished in 16:45, just ahead of Sean Byrnes (16:46) in 10th place. Joe Licameli, Cameron Morrissey and Austin Bolton led that Bees group as they all finished in 16:39.
The Marcellus boys cross country team, no. 5 in the latest state Class C rankings, earned a tough 25-32 victory over Chittenango in an OHSL Liberty division clash, aided in no small part by Joe Riccardi, in a time of 17:33, holding off the Bears’ Ersilio Cerminero (17:46) and Karl Farber (17:53) for the top spot.
Matt Strempell would gain fourth place, in 18:02, edging out teammate Ethan Mosure (18:03) for that spot. After Chittenango’s Mike Capeling finished sixth in 18:11, Sean Raymond got seventh place in 18:13, with Michael Welch (18:25) and Michael Brown (18:28) in the next two spots clinching the Marcelus victory.
Westhill-Bishop Ludden swept its meet with Phoenix last Wednesday afternoon, prevailing 16-67 on the girls side, but having to hang on to beat the Firebirds 26-29 in the boys race.
Since Phoenix went 1-2 in the boys standings with Bryce Byrns (18:09) and Cahal Donovan (18:28), the Warriors needed its depth to prevail, and started getting it when Danny Washburn finished third in 18:30, two seconds behind Donovan.
Cade VanOrnam was fourth, in 18:55, just ahead of teammates Jack Mannion (18:57) and Jack Savage (19:12), but Westhill-Ludden still needed Brendan Rewakowski to finish eighth in 19:14 in order to hang on.
Running together as a pack, Westhill-Ludden’s girls would sweep the top four as Liz Kessler won in 22:02, with Haylei Coolican and Alaina Kenny both posting 22;03 and Maura McAnaney going 22:04, well clear of Phoenix’s Julianna Lewis (22:11) in fifth place.
Another group of Warrior runners followed, including Kendra MacCaull, who in 23:59 beat out Meghan Evans (24:00) and Carmela Carr (24:02) for sixth place. Sarah Thompson was ninth in 24:26, just ahead of Ashley Hefferman (24:27) in 10th place.
Jordan-Elbridge would claim both the boys and girls races against Altmar-Parish-Williamstown, prevailing 18-49 in the boys portion as Hunter Brunelle won the race in a time of 18:37 and Hugh Schader finished second, in 18:51, ahead of the Rebels’ Cambron Horning (19:01) in third place.
Evan Brunelle, who was fourth in 19:02, led a six-pack of Eagles runners, with Sean Dristle taking fifth place in 19:11. Matt Sheldon was sixth, in 19:43, ahead of Dan Jorolemon, who in 20:28 edged out Logan Kinney and Ethan Kinney, both of them finishing in 20:29.
In the girls race, J-E prevailed 23-38, even though APW’s Brianna Karboski pulled away to take the individual title in 21:02. Leading the Eagles, Mary Elizabeth Dristle was second, in 22:43, edging out her sister, Theresa Dristle, who was third in 22:44.
Once Maggie DeJohn got fifth place in 25:24, J-E swept the rest of the top 10 as DeJohn led a pack where Madison Daly and Abby Skotinski both finished in 25:25, with Olivia Minkheim eighth in 25:26, ahead of Delaney Dunham (25:34) and Lindsay Jackson (25:58).
As for Solvay, it got swept in last Wednesday’s meet at Cazenovia, but in the girls 15-51 defeat, Jordyn Willsey still had a strong race, finishing third in a time of 20:57, which only put her behind the Lakers’ duo of Clara Rowles, who was first in 18:39, and Meggie Hart, who was second in 19:04.
Meanwhile, the boys Bearcats beat DeRuyter 23-38, but lost to Cazenovia 15-50, the Lakers sweeping the top five spots led by James McPherson, who prevailed in 18:52. Solvay saw Jonah Wheeler reach the top 10, finishing ninth in 19:22.
