Surprises don’t happen too often in high school cross country, with well-established programs and individuals expected to prevail any time they race.
But last Saturday’s Section III Class B boys championship at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill provided an upset when Westhill beat out two state-ranked sides, New Hartford and Jamesville-DeWitt, to claim the team title and a berth in this Saturday’s state meet at Wayne High School.
With all five of its best runners finishing in the top 30, the Warriors, with 86 points, outlasted New Hartford (94 points) and J-D (107 points) to claim the top spot.
Brendan Rewakowski led the way, getting to fifth place in 17 minutes, 19.5 seconds, while Jake Suddaby was strong, too, earning 11th place in 17:51.7. Dan Washburn needed 18:09.5 to finish 20th as Jacob Fricano stepped up, getting 23rd place in 18:15.3.
When Cade Van Ornam crossed the line in 27th place (18:23.3), Westhill had the sectional team title since New Hartford had three of the top 15 finishers, but no one else in the top 30. Jack Savage was 31st in 18:31.1 and Mike Ferrara (18:52.1) was 40th.
Westhill nearly swept both sectional Class B meets, with the girls Warriors earning 57 points to finish just behind J-D’s winning total of 55 points, mostly earned by having the Red Rams’ Madeline Foss and Sophia Vinciguerra go 1-2 among individuals.
Still, the Warriors’ Haylei Coolican earned a berth in the state meet by finishing fourth in 20:35 flat, with Maura McAnaney taking 10th place in 21:20.2. Alaina Kenny was 14th in 21:42.8, just ahead of Kylie Nowicki in 16th place (21:45.0) and Kendra McCaull in 20th place (22:06.4) as Liz Kessler was 27th in 22:32.6 and Emily O’Reilly was 37th.
Then there was Class A, where on the girls side West Genesee knew that, despite its no. 15 state ranking, it wasn’t going to catch Fayetteville-Manilus or Liverpool on the team side, so it hoped to get individuals to advance to this weekend’s state meet.
And it happened with Carly Benson, who needed exactly 19:11 to finish ninth overall, but fourth among individuals outside of F-M, so she is returning to the state meet.
The next three WG runners were together, with Faith Knox in 24th place (20:54.5) ahead of Mia Mitchell (25th, 20:58.4) and Liz Morey (26th, 20:59.1), while Mikeayla DeJesus was 36th in 21:45.3.
The same was true in the Class A boys meet for West Genesee, but the Wildcats still finished fourth behind F-M, Baldwinsville and Liverpool, and had Matt Bartolotta qualify for the state meet.
Running to 10th place in 16:59.6, Bartolotta ended up fourth among individuals outside of F-M, who swept the top six, so the WG sophomore will make his state meet debut at Wayne.
Sean Byrnes finished 17th in 17:24.7 to lead the rest of the Wildcats’ pack. Nathan Couse was 23rd in 17:38.4, while Tony Gettino was 36th in 17:59.6. Patrick Trivison (18:12.5) beat out Paul Stannard (18:12.9) for 43rd place as Kyle Jenkins was 46th in 18:14.9.
Though it carried the title of defending champions going into the Class C boys sectional meet, Marcellus wasn’t expected to repeat, with VVS, no. 4 in the state rankings, competing on its home course.
Indeed, the Red Devils did prevail, but Marcellus still got third place with 127 points as Hannibal (107 points) was second. What’s more, Joe Riccardi, with his third-place time of 17:07.1, qualified as an individual for the state meet.
Otherwise for the Mustangs, Ethan Mosure made his way to 12th place in 17:43.3, with Grayson Hoag getting to 35th place in 18:32 flat. Charles Donovan was 38th in 18:42.5, with Riley Burns (18:50.6) and Kyle Stottlar (18:53.6) in the top 50.
Jordan-Elbridge was seventh out of 17 Class C sides, the Eagles led by Sean Dristle, who finished 19th in 18:00.9. Hugh Schader was 31st in 18:28 flat, with Kenny Williams 40th in 18:43.0 ahead of Derek Quigley (19:03.1). Solvay was led by Jonah Wheeler, who got to 55th place in 19:04.3.
In Class C girls, Marcellus and J-E were both part of a deep field that included four state-ranked sides, including no. 1-ranked Christian Brothers Academy, who won team honors.
Despite a 10th-place team finish, the Mustangs still saw Maggie Strempel join Riccardi as Marcellus runners earning berths in the state meet, Strempel getting fifth place among runners outside of CBA and seventh overall in 20:43.7.
Also for Marcellus, Madeline Caron, in 22:32.1, beat out Morgan Gould (22:31.4) for 34th place, while for J-E Theresa Dristle led the way, gaining 13th place in 21:01.7. The Eagles’ Hannah Fichter was 33rd in 22:28.1 and Madison Daly was 44th (23:00.8).
