The Cazenovia boys cross country team traveled to Long Branch Park in Liverpool Wednesday to race in the Onondaga High School League Liberty division championship race.
In all, 186 runners from 12 teams raced the challenging 3.1-mile course. The weather and course conditions could not have been much better as the Lakers entered the race hoping to upend state Class C no. 4-ranked Marcellus to capture the overall league title, while also fixated on beating league rivals Jordan-Elbridge, Hannibal, and Chittenango
As a team, Cazenovia ran extremely well and took third place among the 12 teams with 96 points. Marcellus was the overall winner with 49 points, narrowly beating second-place Chittenango’s total of 53 points.
The remaining field was Westhill-Bishop Ludden (123 points), Jordan-Elbridge (146 points), Hannibal (146 points), Christian Brothers Academy (157 points), Phoenix (190 points), Pulaski (190 points), Skaneateles (305 points), Altmar-Parish-Williamstown (346 points) and Solvay (362 points).
Jimi McPherson made it all the way to second place in 17 minutes, 17 seconds, not far from the winning time of 17:10 posted by CBA’s Dominic Morganti, who is Section III’s top-anked Class C runner. The overall winner was CBA Senior Dominic Morganti who finished with a time of 17:10.
Jon Marecek also ran strong, getting sixth place in 17:38 as Brendan Coffey finished 14th in 17:54. Nick Barna, in 18:45 (33rd place), was next for the Lakers as Ian Marshall got 41st place (18:58), Jacob Wells was 46th (19:01) and Jack Gabor got 51st place in 19:22.
Perhaps one of the best finishes of the day came from Marshall, who had run most of the race against his good friend from Marcellus, Riley Burns. In the end, the two sprinted to the finish, attempting to best each other. But while Burns edged Marshall at the finish line, the pace allowed Marshall to pass at least four runners.
Other strong finishes by the Lakers included Zach Wendell (77th, 20 minutes flat), Tony Koppers (20:27), Colton Kubinec (20:32), Cormac Race (21;16), Carson Clonan (21;19), John Henry Light-Olson (21;21) and Elilot Hale and Sam Galasso (21;47 each,
Andrew Peterson was next in 21:49, followed by Chris Stevens (22:15), Ted Williams (22;47), Alex Rodriguez (22:48), Sam Stehle (23:59), Dalton Sevier, Justin Ossont (24:00 each), Griffin Monahan (24:22), Andrew Ryan (24:52), Felix Schnittler (24:54), Orson Sproule (26:50), Luke Hudson (27:34), Tim Gibbons (27:50), Eli Hunt (29:29) and Richard McCullough (29:34).
Following the race the Liberty American All-League honors were announced. McPherson and Marecek were first-team selections and Coffey got second-team honors.
Also on this day, the varsity Lakers were able to catch a glimpse of what the future may hold as the modified boys team also ran for the league title and won it with 50 points as Hannibal was second with 85 points.
The Lakers’ top runners included Sean Smithers, who was sixth in 9:42 as Jacob Buckley was seventh in 9:49. Jacob Ives was 10th in 9:56, followed by Ryan Hughes (13th, 10:13) and Justin Kumiega (14th, 10:13) as Jake Tobin was 16th in 10:18 and Mitch Ponze was 36th in 10:49.
Now comes more than two weeks of preparation for the Lakers before they go to Chittenango for the Nov. 5 Section III Class C championship meet.
