Up against a strong, deep field in last Saturday’s Tully Invitational, the Marcellus boys cross country team went out and beat all of them.
Fourteen teams took part in the “Small School” division at Tully, but it was the Mustangs, with 36 points, running to the top spot to edge past the host Tully Black Knights, who were second with 39 points. Port Byron, with 103 points, was far back in third place.
Joe Riccardi was second among individuals in 16 minutes, 58.3 seconds, trailing only South Lewis star Dylan Durgan, who won in 16:57.2, barely a second ahead of Riccardi. Then three Tully runners – Dan Bort (17:03.5), Ryan Hanson (17:10.9) and Jason Phelps (17:17.9) – took third, fourth and sixth, respectively.
Marcellus won, though, by claiming all four spots behind Phelps. Matt Strempel led that pack, getting to eighth place in 17:27.7, while Ethan Mosure was ninth in 17;33.5. Sean Raymond (17:44.5) was just ahead of Michael Brown (17:45.2), and with their points (they were sixth through ninth in the team standings, they were able to pass the Black Knights.
Also running for Marcellus, Andrew Marsh gained 17th place in 17:59.2, while Grayson Hoag (18:10.2) held off Riley Burns (18:13.9) for 22nd place. Aidan Shea (18:58.1) and Michael Welch (19:20.7) had top-40 efforts as Solvay’s Jonah Wheeler led his side, finishing 38th in 19:18.4.
Meanwhile, the Marcellus girls cross country team finished third in its Small School division at the Tully Invitational, earning 90 points, though that trailed South Lewis, who won with 48 points, and Cazenovia (66 points) in the runner-up spot.
Individually, the Mustangs’ Liliana Cushman finished eighth in 20:34.9 and Solvay’s Jordyn Willsey got to 10th place in 20:54.1, just ahead of Morgan Gould, who led the Mustangs with a 12th-place time of 20:57.9 as Crystal Silliman was 13th in 21:23.4. Caroline Carlic was 27th in 22:44.6, with Maggie Strempel 34th in 23:08.1 as Amy Francesconi posted 26:19.5.
