Aside from what it could earn together during last Saturday’s Section III Class C championship meet at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, the Skaneateles boys cross country team had an interest on where senior Luke Rathgeb.
Based on the season rankings, Rathgeb was fifth among Class C individuals going into the race. If he maintained that mark, he would earn a spot in this weekend’s state championships at Wayne High School since the top five individuals outside the winning side automatically advanced.
Once the race started, Rathgeb moved near the front and stayed there most of the way. Ultimately, he took 11th place in a time of 17 minutes, 41.8 seconds, 11th overall and 10th among individuals outside of the winning team from VVS.
Meanwhile, the Skaneateles team had its best sectional finish since 2002, rising all the way up to fourth place with 132 points, just behind third-place Marcellus (127 points) as VVS (89 points) and Hannibal (107 points) were first and second, respectively.
Behind Rathgeb, the Lakers had Joe Norris get to 20th place in 18:03 flat, with Caleb Bender earning 21st place in 18:07.9. Nate Azzam made it to 36th place in 18:32.4 as Matt Persampieri was 50th in 19:01.9. Tyler Lewis finished in 19:08.8 as Nick Paciorek (19:43.7) topped Chris Burgher (21:50.0) and Will Swarts (21:54.3).
In the girls sectional Class C meet, Skaneateles finished eighth out of 14 Class C teams in the sectional meet with 198 points, paced by senior Natalie Condon, who made her way to 24th place in a clocking of 21:59.8.
Elyse Osmun was close behind Condon, gaining 28th place in 22:13.2, while Hope Cross-Jaya was 31st in 22:27.9. Georgia McSwain took 47th place in 23:15.8 as Nicole DeRosa (25:11.2) finished in 72nd place.
