With a league championship at stake, the Marcellus boys cross country team needed everyone to help out – and got it.
The state Class C no. 8-ranked Mustangs hosted Cazenovia Wednesday afternoon with first place in the OHSL Liberty American division at stake, and between Joe Riccardi’s strong individual run and the support of all of his best teammates, Marcellus held off the Lakers 26-32.
Riccardi had to survive a tough individual battle for the top spot with Cazenovia’s James McPherson, but did so, Riccardi prevailing in 16 minutes, 53 seconds, just two seconds ahead of McPherson, whose teammate, Jon Marecek, finished third in 17:03.
But then Matt Strempell, in 17:14, edged Cazenovia’s Brendan Coffey (17:18) for fourth place, giving the Mustangs valuable position, and then it swept the sixth through ninth spots. Ethan Mosure, in 17:44, led a pack that included Andrew Marsh (17:49), Michael Brown (17:53) and Riley Burns (18:01).
Meanwhile, in the girls race between Marcellus and Cazenovia, the Mustangs lost, 24-35, to the Lakers as Clara Rowles and Meggie Hart ran together and finished in 19:17 to lead the pack.
Lilliana Cushman led the Mustangs with a third-place clocking of 20:33, while Morgan Gould was fourth in 20:43 and Crystal Silliman was fifth in 21:34. However, Cazenovia swept the rest of the top 10 spots, led by Jackie Gamlen, who finished sixth in 21:57.
A pair of state-ranked Class A powers collided last Wednesday afternoon when West Genesee hosted Liverpool at Camillus Middle School, and the no. 15-ranked Wildcats pulled it out, defeating the no. 20-ranked Warriors 27-30.
Carly Benson found herself in a close race for individual honors against Liverpool’s Jenna Schulz, and Benson finished in 19 minutes, 34 seconds, just behind Schulz’s winning 19:27, but ahead of the Warriors’ Madison Neuner (19:43) in third place.
Emily Young got fourth place, in 19:51, and Mia Mitchell was right behind, finishing fifth in 19:56. But since Liverpool’s Vanessa Eberhard finished sixth in 20:07, the Wildcats still had to catch up with its other runners, and did so.
Hannah Craybas helped with a seventh-place finish in 20:41, but it took Amanda Lowther finishing ninth in 21:18 and Liz Baker getting 10th place in 21:23 to make sure that WG overtook Liverpool, who still had Natalie Kurz finish eighth in 21:09.
In the boys race, West Genesee lost, 20-37, to state Class A no. 7-ranked Liverpool, but still had the individual champion in David Leff, who tore through his home course in 16 minutes, 57 seconds to beat Liverpool’s Josh Hickmott (17:27) by half a minute.
But the Warriors claimed every spot from second through sixth thanks to Ty Brownlow (17:34), Cullen McLaughlin, Emil Videman (17:36 each) and Steve Schulz (17;37), so the team part was settled before Sean Byrnes got seventh place in 17:40. Ryan Dunning was eighth in 18:11 and Paul Stannard (18:24) got 10th place.
Westhill-Bishop Ludden won its girls meet over Chittenango 20-41, even though the Bears’ Mckenzie Dombroski won the individual race in 22 minutes flat.
Liz Kessler, who was second in 22:54, led a Warriors group that included Haylei Coolican (22:55) and Maura McAnaney (22:56). Then Kendra Maccaull (24:07) held off Meghan Evans (24:08) for fifth place, with Maddie Nowicki (24:11) eighth ahead of Carmela Carr (24:14) and Ashley Heffernan (24:51).
By stark contrast, in the boys meet it was all Chittenango, who swept Westhill-Ludden 15-50 as Bears runners swept each of the top 10 spots and Ersilio Cerminero prevailed in a time of 16:58.
Jordan-Elbridge won a close 26-29 girls race against Hannibal, with Madison Daly the only runner on either side to break the 20-minute mark on the Eagles’ home course as she won in 19:52 by an 18-second margin over the Warriors’ Reilly Harris (20:10).
Mary Elizabeth Dristle got third place in 20:31 and Olivia Minkheim was fifth (21:30) behind Hannibal’s Emily Weaver (21:23). The Warriors claimed the next two spots, but when Delaney Dunham finished eighth in 23:20 and Lindsay Jackson got ninth place in 24:12, J-E held on for the victory.
The J-E boys completed the sweep by topping Hannibal 22-35, with Ethan Kinney and Hugh Schader at the forefront. Kinney won in a time of 17:02, with Schader, in 17:07, getting the runner-up spot.
Sean Dristle was fourth in 17:17, inches behind Hannibal’s Noah Koc (17:16), and though the Warriors got the next two finishing spots, J-E put it away with Hunter Brunelle getting seventh place in 17:33 and Evan Brunelle eighth in 17:34. Matt Sheldon had a 10th-place clocking of 17:54.
Solvay took on Phoenix last Wednesday afternoon. In the girls race, the Bearcats’ Jordyn Willsey prevailed in a time of 19:57, more than half a minute ahead of the Firebirds’ Julianna Lewis (20:31) at the line. But Phoenix won 21-49 as Solvay’s Kyra Crossett finished in 28:54.
In the boys race, also won by Phoenix, Solvay did see Jonah Wheeler finish third in 18:02, just four seconds behind the winning 17:58 posted by the Firebirds’ Bryce Byrns.
