When the Chittenango cross country teams took on Westhill last Wednesday afternoon, it amounted to a strong statement on both ends.
The unranked girls Bears knocked off the state Class C no. 13-ranked Warriors 25-30, with McKenzie Dombroski at the forefront as her time of 21 minutes, 11 seconds easily outpaced that of Westhill’s Liz Kessler, who was second in 21:59.
Chelsea Lamphere was right behind Kessler, getting third place in 22:06, with McKayla Capeling fourth in 22:12.
Though two Westhill runners followed – Haylei Coolican (22:22) and Kendra MacCaull (23:09), the Bears clinched the team win when Brooke Price finished in 23:19 and Kiara Waite posted 23:26.
All of this contrasted with what took place in the boys race as Chittenango went up against Westhill and lost, 23-34.
Ersilio Cerminaro finished in exactly 18 minutes, but that put him second behind the Warriors’ Dan Washburn, who won in 18:32 as Dave Gratien grabbed third place for the Bears in 18:23.
Right behind him, Jacob Fricano (18:27) and Brendan Rewakowski (18:28) led a group of four Westhill runners that built an insurmountable lead, though Chittenango had Dylan Price finish eighth in 19:06 and Nate Lampman get ninth place in 19:21.
Chittenango’s girls would run on Saturday at the 67th annual Baldwinsville Invitational, where with 155 points the girls Bears beat everyone in the 31-team Small School division except 2017 state Class C champion CBA, who won with 146 points.
Dombroski had an impressive run, her time of 19:04 flat putting her in third place, not far from the winning 18:06.5 from Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s Delaney Brewer.
Lamphere was 13th among team runners and 14th overall in 19:33.8. Capeling was 27th in the team race in 20:26.9 as Price, in 21:39.1, was two spots ahead of Waite (21:43.8), with Jada Sowich (22:39.1) and Lailah Emad (23:04.8) following.
This week, each of the the Bears’ sides face Solvay and Phoenix this Wednesday and then travels to Rochester for Saturday’s McQuaid Invitational.
