Both of the Skaneateles cross country teams found themselves in tight contests last Wednesday at Jordan-Elbridge, and neither of them could prevail against the Eagles.
On a J-E course shortened by school construction projects, the boys Lakers did produce the best individual time of the race thanks to Luke Rathgeb, who finished in 14 minutes, 43 seconds, well clear of the Eagles’ Sean Dristle (15:06) in second place.
Still, the hosts took the lead when J-E’s Hugh Schader (15:24) and Ethan Kinney (15:25) finished third and fourth, respectively, ahead of Joe Norris, who gave the Lakers a fifth-place time of 15:30.
Caleb Bender was sixth in 15:34, but Jared Alpha (15:35) and Derek Quigley (15:50) helped the Eagles hang on. The Lakers still had Nate Azzam take eighth place in a clocking of 15:46 as Tyler Lewis finished 10th in 15:58.
Meanwhile, the Skaneateles girls cross country had a close battle with J-E, claiming five of the top eight finishing spots, yet still falling to the Eagles 27-28.
Natalie Condon paced the Lakers as her time of 18:21 trailed only J-E’s Theresa Dristle, who won in 17:22. Yet the Eagles had Madison Daly (19:10) and Hannah Fitcher (19:12) finish third and fourth, respectively.
Skaneateles caught up with a group of four runners, led by Georgia McSwain, who was fifth in 19:29. Elyse Osum finished sixth in 20:14, with Hope Cross-Jaya seventh in 20:19 and Nicole DeRosa eighth in 21:24.
One more runner within the top 10 would put Skaneateles in front, but J-E took it when Olivia Minkheim finished ninth in 22:07 and Lindsay Jackson (22:58) got 10th place.
Both of the Skaneateles sides went to Saturday’s Baldwinsville Invitational, where in the boys race the Lakers finished sixth out of 35 sides in the Small School division with 238 points as Port Byron prevailed with 150 points.
Rathgeb contended in the individual race, rising to seventh place in 16:02.1 on the 2.9-mile Durgee Junior High School course as Trumansburg’s Evan Whittaker won in 15:45 flat. Lewis was 53rd in 17:46.8, edging out Norris (17:47.5) for that spot as Bender was 60th in 17:52.8 and Azzam was 68th in 18:02.1. Nick Paciorek finished in 18:16.9, with Nick Persampieri posting 18:49 flat.
Meanwhile, the girls Lakers did not have a team score, but Condon made her way to 15th place in the Small School race in a time of 20:15.1. McSwain finished 36th, in 21:12.9, while Osmun got 50th place in 22:02 flat and Cross-Jaya finished 52nd in 22:07.3.
