No single Marcellus boys cross country runner was going to go out and dazzle everyone during Saturday’s Section III Class C championship race at Chittenango High School – but they didn’t have to, either.
Instead, with consistency, depth and teamwork, the Mustangs, with 57 points, easily pulled away from runner-up Clinton (97 points) and 12 other sides, including Jordan-Elbridge and Solvay, to earn a spot in next Saturday’s state championships at Chenango Valley State Park.
They’ll get joined by the Westhill-Bishop Ludden girls team, who upended Jamesville-DeWitt, 41 points to 50, to earn the sectional Class B title as all five of its top runners finished within the top 11.
The boys sectional Class C race was won, on an individual basis, by CBA’s Dominic Morganti in exactly 16 minutes, 42 seconds, but it wasn’t long before the Marcellus pack arrived at the finish line.
Junior Joe Riccardi led the Mustangs, finishing seventh in 17:26.5, with senior Matt Strempel gaining 10th place in 17:38.7, less than a second ahead of junior Ethan Mosure (17:39.3) in 11th place.
Shortly after, two more seniors wrapped up the sectional title as Michael Brown finished 14th in 17:54.1 and Sean Raymond was 15th in 17:54.9, again less than a second behind Brown. Andrew Marsh was 26th in 18:30.7 and Grayson Hoag (18:40.7) was precisely 10 seconds behind in 29th place, with Michael Welch 40th in 18:59 flat and Riley Burns (19:15.1) claiming 51st place.
As for Jordan-Elbridge, Hunter Brunelle led the way, getting 19th place in 18:15 flat. The Eagles’ Ethan Kinney was 22nd in 18:44.7, with Hugh Schader 32nd in 18:44.7. Sean Dristle (19:10.7) followed in 43rd place, three spots ahead of Matt Sheldon (19:12.1), with Logan Kinney (19:44.5) and Dan Jorolemon (20:03.5) trailing.
Solvay got a strong race from Jonah Wheeler, who finished 35th in a clocking of 18:53.6. John Brusa, in a time of 20;25.6, led the rest of the Bearcats, including Max Melnyk (20:53.7), Adam Delucia (21:52.4), Tim Brusa (22:28.1) and Arthur Gremakowski (24:20.0).
When the girls sectional Class B race was run, Westhill-Ludden ceded individual honors to Jamesville-DeWitt’s Hannah Butler, who pulled away to win in 19:16.6, but began to make up ground after the Red Rams’ Sophia Vinciguerra finshed fourth in 19:58.5.
Sophomore Haylei Coolican, in 20:08 flat, grabbed fifth place, closely followed by freshman Liz Kessler getting seventh place in 20:41 flat and eighth-grader Kylie Nowicki gaining eighth place in 20:42 flat.
Then sophomore Maddie Nowicki finished 10th in 20:49.8 as she and junior Alaina Kenny, who was 11th in 20:53.5, finished ahead of all of J-D’s other runners who trailed Butler and Vinciguerra. Junior Maura McAnaney got 15th place in 21:05.2 and sophomore Kendra MacCaull was 26th in 22:11.7.
Meanwhile, Westhill-Ludden’s boys team was second in Class B-2 behind Chittenango and fifth overall in Class B, led by Dan Washburn, who finished 16th in 17:50.2.
Jake Suddaby was 21st in 18:05 flat, with Brendan Rewakowski 33rd in 18:26.5, three spots ahead of Jacob Fricano (18:27.8) as Jack Savage (18:37.0), Jack Mannion (18:42.6) and Cade Van Ornam (18:43.1) closely followed.
Trying to match its male counterparts, the Marcellus girls cross country team managed a third-place finish with 84 points behind first-time champion CBA (59 points) and Clinton (66 points), with juniors Lillian Cushman and Morgan Gould leading the way as Cushman finished eighth in 20:44.8 and Gould was ninth in 20:50.3.
Behind them, Mustangs senior Crystal Silliman got a 17th-place finish in 21;42.7, with Maggie Strempel 24th in 22:22 flat, two spots ahead of Caroline Carlic (22:35.4) in 26th place. Emma Stuart (25:11.3) and Faith Norstad (31:35.6) were further back.
Jordan-Elbridge’s girls finished eighth out of 12 sides as senior Mary Elizabeth Dristle made it to 18th place in a clocking of 21:45.9. Madison Daly, in 23:39 flat, was 37th, two spots ahead of Olivia Minkheim (23:35.7), with Abby Skotinski 45th (23:53.5) and Maggie Dejohn 52nd (24:24.2) ahead of Delaney Dunham (26:16.3) and Meaghan Jackson (26:47.5).
Solvay had two girls runners in the sectional race, with Jordyn Willsey making it to 26th place in 22:21.4 and Kyra Crossett (32:11.0) further back.
