As the week started, the West Genesee girls cross country stood at no. 13 in the state Class A rankings, one spot ahead of Liverpool, but that was bound to improve in the wake of Wednesday’s CNY Counties League championship meet at Baldiwnsville.
Since Fayetteville-Manlius was expected to dominate the competition – and did so, winning with a perfect 15-point total while earning a top team Speed Rating in the nation – the battle was for second place, and the Wildcats won it, with 64 points to Liverpool’s 76 as host B’ville finished fourth with 92 points.
Junior Carly Benson led WG as she finished eighth in 18 minutes, 37 seconds, just ahead of freshman Mia Mitchell, who was ninth in 18:39.3, though both trailed the Warriors’ Jenna Schulz (18:15.2) in sixth place.
Another Wildcats junior, Emily Young, made it to 11th place in 18:57.5 behind Liverpool’s Vanessa Eberhard (18:42.9), while freshman Hannah Craybas finished 17th among team runners, and 19th overall, in 19:33.3.
Sophomore Kendall Dombroske wrapped up WG’s second-place effort by going 19:34.6 to finish 19th in the team event and 21st overall. Behind her, ninth-graders Liz Morey (20:06.4) and Liz Baker (20:17.4) were 25th and 26th, respectively, in the team event, while Emma Farmer (21:28.1) beat out Mikayela DeJesus (21:28.8) for 53rd place overall.
Moving to the boys CNYCL race at Baldwinsville, David Leff contended for the West Genesee, making his way to fourth place in 15 minutes, 41.3, beaten only by the Liverpool duo of Stephen Schulz (15:23.8) and Ty Brownlow (15:26.0), plus F-M’s Patrick Perry (15:35.7) in third place.
From a team standpoint, the Wildcats were fifth out of seven sides with 120 points, while F-M (41 points) held off Liverpool (52 points) and B’ville (58 points) to finish in front.
WG junior Sean Byrnes was 21st among team runners (23rd overall) in a clocking of 16:41.8. Senior Ryan Dunning, in 17:16.2, beat out freshman Matt Bartolatta (17:16.5) for 41st place overall as two juniors, Patrick Trivison (17:28.5) and Paul Stannard (17:31.8), were 47th and 48th, respectively, ahead of Tony Gettino (17:38.0) and Sean O’Brien (17:52.4), who also earned top 60 finishes.
Each of the West Genesee teams will make their way to Chittenango High School on Nov. 5 for the Section III Class A championships. The girls Class A race starts at 1:40, with the boys Class A race set for 2:50.
The Class B and C sectional races also involve local teams, including Marcellus, who swept the boys and girls Varsity 1 titles during Saturday’s John Bernard Invitational at Adirondack High School in Boonville.
With 59 points, the girls Mustangs were well clear of runner-up East Syracuse Minoa (112 points) and 13 other sides. Liliana Cushman finished third in a time of 20:57.6, with Morgan Gould getting fifth place in 21:13.8. Crystal Silliman was 13th in 22:38.8 as Caroline Carlic got 18th place in 23:09 flat and Maggie Strempel (23:26.7) finished 20th.
In the boys Varsity 1 race, Marcellus prevailed with 61 points to ESM’s 101 and 15 other teams trailing. Joe Riccardi led the Mustangs with a sixth-place clocking of 17:53.6 as Michael Brown was seventh in 17:59.2 and Ethan Mosure (18:07.5) gained ninth place. Sean Raymond took 17th place in 18:33.6 and Andrew Marsh was 23rd in 18:50.7.
