Normally, the West Genesee cross country teams mark the second weekend of October with a trip to New York City and runs against the best in the Northeast at the Manhattan Invitational.
However, the Wildcats chose a different course in 2017, with its girls team part of the featured Eastern States Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, but the boys at home winning the Large School division title in last Saturday’s Tully Invitational, where WG swept the top six finishing spots.
Sean Byrnes led that charge, winning in 17 minutes, 5.4 seconds, well clear of Matt Bartolotta, who was second in 17:26.7. Tony Gettino was third in 17:50.6 as Nathan Couse took fourth place in 18:08.7.
Patrick Trivison (18:10.6) and Paul Stannard (18:15.4) were fifth and sixth, respectively, while Kyle Jenkins was 10th in 18:33.6. Nick Mulderig, Ryan Allen, Chris Cuttler, James Alberts, Joe Parisi, Chris Pellenz and Zach Quinn all finished within the top 25.
Meanwhile, at the Manhattan Invitational, WG’s girls were 14th out of 17 sides in the Eastern States race as Fayetteville-Manlius and Liverpool went 1-2 to represent Section III.
Pacing the Wildcats, Carly Benson finished 25th in a clocking of 15:31.8, while Emily Young got 35th place in 15:48.6. Liz Morey finished in 16:34.8 ahead of Mikeayla DeJesus (17:03.6), Mia Mitchell (17:05.0), Hannah Craybas (17:36.3) and Taylor Rech (18:20.5).
Some of WG’s top girls runners were also at Tully, where Faith Knox was the individual champion in the Large School division thanks to a time of 20:31.3, more than a minute ahead of Chittenango’s Chelsea Lamphere (21:35.8). Natalie Buckhout was fourth, in 22:11.6, while Abby Kuppinger was sixth in 22:39.8. Natalie Huttar (24:21.5) was just ahead of Allison Kallfelz (24:28.1) and Aubrey Trett (24:30.2).
Many local teams did go to the Manhattan Invitational, though, including Marcellus, who in the Varsity A division had Joe Riccardi finish ninth in a time of 13:36.2. Ethan Mosure was 46th in 14:30.2, with Grayson Hoag 56th in 14:42.1 ahead of Charles Donovan (14:52.9), Riley Burns (15:09.7) Thomas Hoey (15:16.4) and Nick Roseboom (15:22.7).
Jordan-Elbridge was also in the boys Varsity A race, with Hugh Schader getting 28th place in 14:10.9 and Sean Dristle getting 35th place in 14:17.6. Jared Alpha was 59th in 14:43.6, just ahead of Ethan Kinney (14:50.0), with Ken Williams 70th in 14:57.9, beating Logan Kinney (15:16.0) and Matt Sheldon (15:22.1). Out of 21 teams, Marcellus finished ninth and J-E 11th.
In the girls A race, J-E’s Theresa Dristle finished 26th, in 16:42.3. Madison Daly, in 17:52.9, had the Eagles’ only other top-100 finish as Hannah Fitcher (17:55.6), Kendall Shaw (19:51.3), Lindsay Jackson (20:51.9) and Megan Jackson (21:52.1) followed.
Westhill-Bishop Ludden finished 14th out of 22 sides in the Varsity B race, with Brendan Rewakowski getting 41st place in 14:07.4 to pace the Warriors. Dan Washburn was 57th in 14:26.5, trailed by Cade Van Ornam (14:30.2), Jake Suddaby (14:41.4), Jack Savage (14:55.0), Jacob Fricano (15:11.4) and Alex Ladstatter (15:15.7).
In the girls B race, Westhill-Ludden got a 27th-place finish from Haylei Coolican, who finished in 16:37.9. Maura McAnaney finished 57th in 17:27.9 as Kendra MacCaull (17:48.8), Emily O’Reilly (17:50.1) and Kylie Nowicki (17:52.1) were close together, ahead of Alaina Kenny (18:29.0) and Emma Fjermedal (20:06.2).
Marcellus, also in girls Varsity B, finished 16th, four spots behind Westhill-Ludden. Maggie Strempel made her way to 58th place in 17:30.8. Morgan Gould, in 17:47.2, was two spots ahead of Madeline Caron (17:49.4) as Carolyn Carlic (18:20.7), Amy Francesconi (21:22.6), Violet Mancavage (22:39.2) and Alexandra Wennberg (24:57.0) trailed.
