That victory in the Sept. 8 Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Invitational brought notice to the West Genesee girls cross country team as it moved to no. 9 in the first state Class A rankings of the fall.

And while the Wildcats know it would go head-to-head with no. 1-ranked Fayetteville-Manlius this Wednesday, it would defeat Baldwinsville 22-33 last Wednesday at the Bees’ home course while also sweeping Syracuse East 15-50.

WG and B’ville had finished 1-2 in Race 2 at VVS, and the rematch carried the same result because the Wildcats had four of the top five finishers, led by Carly Benson, who prevailed in a time of 19:01 as Emily Young, in 19:08, edged the Bees’ Justus Holden-Betts (19:09) for second place.

Following them, WG’s Mia Mitchell took fourth place in 20:27 and Hannah Craybas, in 20:45, held off B’ville’s Sarah Klein (20:46) for fifth place. That clinched the victory as the Wildcats also had Taylor Rech finish 10^th in 21:23.

In the boys race, WG would defeat Syracuse East but fall 23-36 to B’ville, with Sean Byrnes posting a time of 16:54 to finish second behind the Bees’ Adam Davis (16:45) as Matt Bartolatta finished third in 16:54. Other than that, the Wildcats had just one top 10 finisher as Tony Gettino got eighth place in 17:36.

 Marcellus opened its OHSL Liberty division slate against Chittenango last Wednesday and split that meet, with the girls prevailing 27-29 over the Bears and the boys taking a 25-30 defeat.

The close girls meet saw Marcellus win largely because it claimed three of the top four spots. Maggie Strempel won in 20:28 and Madeline Caron was second in 20:39 as Morgan Gould got fourth place in 21:10. It still required Violet Moncavage to finish ninth in 26:24 to help the Mustangs hang on.

Moving to the boys side, Joe Riccardi was the race winner in 15:57, but Chittenango swept the next six spots, led by Matt Morak, who was second in 16:06. Not until Grayson Hoag crossed the line in eighth place (16:54) did the Mustangs get points as Charles Donovan was ninth in 16:58,

Westhill-Bishop Ludden, who was no. 10 in the state Class B rankings, swept Phoenix in last Wednesday’s league opener, led by Haylei Coolican, who in a time of 19:35 held off the Firebirds’ Julianna Lewis (19:40) for individual honors.

Maura McAnaney finished third, in 19:56, with Alaina Kenny getting fourth place in 20:25. Kendra MacCaull ran to fifth place in 20:48 and Kylie Nowicki was sixth in a clocking of 20:55. Emily O’Reilly (21:12) and Katherine Evans (21:47) also had solid runs.

The Westhill-Ludden boys topped Phoenix 16-41 as Dan Washburn won the race in 16:34, just ahead of Brendan Rewakowski (16:39) in second place. Jake Suddaby, in 16:53, and Cade Van Ornam, in 17:06, completed the top-four sweep as Alex Ladstatter was sixth in 17:16. James Coon finished 10^th in 17:59.

Jordan-Elbridge, with a no. 19 state Class C ranking but having its annual Kamikaze Challenge canceled due to construction at the high school, faced no. 14-ranked Cazenovia  last Wednesday and fell to the Lakers 21-38 in the boys meet.

Sean Dristle was third for the Eagles in a time of 18:03 behind Cazenovia’s James McPherson (17:21) and Jon Marecek (17:35), while Ethan Kinney finished fourth in 18:32. A contingent of four Lakers runners were in front of Hugh Schader, who was ninth in 19 minutes flat as Logan Kinney got 10^th place in 19:23.

In the girls meet J-E fell to state Class C no. 14-ranked Cazenovia by that same 21-38 margin. Theresa Dristle, in a time of 21:29, and Madison Daly, in 22:20, was third and fourth, respectively, behind the Lakers’ Clara Rowles and Meggie Hart, both of whom finished in 20:46. Hannah Fitcher gave the Eagles an eighth-place finish in 25:05.

West Genesee and J-E both took part in Saturday’s East Syracuse Minoa Invitational, with the girls Wildcats finishing second out of 21 teams with 76 points, only trailing CBA’s total of 64 points as the Eagles finished 15^th.

Young, in a time of 19:06 flat, was second to CBA’s Emily Morganti, who won in 18:52.4. Benson was seventh in 19:38.7 as Liz Morey gained 15^th place in 20:49 flat. Mitchell was 21^st in 20:55.0 and Craybas (21:16.3) was 31^st as, for J-E, Theresa Dristle took 43^rd place in 21:42.5 to lead her side.

In the boys race at ESM, WG finished third and J-E was ninth behind the top two of Ithaca and Cicero-North Syracuse. Individually, Bartolotta paced the Wildcats s as he finished 10^th in 17:07. just ahead of Byrnes, who was 12^th in 17:07.7. Gettino was 21^st in 17:33 flat as, for J-E, Sean Dristle was 24^th in 17:40.1 and Schader (18:29.0) got 48^th place.

Marcellus and Westhill-Ludden went to the Wayne Invitational at the site of this November’s state championship meet. Both were in varsity Division II, where Riccardi finished 15^th in 17:16 to lead the Mustangs as Rewakowski (18:14) and Washburn (18:18) were just ahead of Mosure in 18:21.

In the girls varsity Division II race at Wayne, Westhill-Ludden had Coolican take 29^th place in a clocking of 21:43, with Kenny 37^th in 22:03. McAnaney finished 45^th in 22:29 as Strempel paced Marcellus, finishing 53^rd in 22:50.