Each of the area’s high school cross country teams got one more chance to have a race in warm, summer-like conditions on Wednesday afternoon before the temperatures plunged.
Both of the Westhill teams are state-ranked, and both won with ease against Phoenix, with the boys no. 6-ranked Warriors having little trouble putting away the Firebirds 18-44.
Dan Washburn was victorious in 15 minutes, 54 seconds, easily ahead of Jacob Fricano’s second-place time of 16:46 as Phoenix had Camron Fordyce finish third in 17:15.
From there, though, the Warriors took over, Will Thornton getting fourth place in 17:25 as Mike Ferrara was fifth in 17:31. Brendan Rewakowski and Angelo Carr each finished in 17:35 as Jacob Roberts (17:57) and Brian Allen (17:59) also broke the 18-minute mark.
The Westhill girls, who sneaked into the state poll at no. 25, prevailed 18-45 over Phoenix, with Haylei Coolican and Liz Kessler each managing to post times of 20:16 to edge the Firebirds’ Julianna Lewis (20:22) for individual honors.
Sweeping the next six spots, the Warriors had Kendra MacCaull finish fourth in 21:22 and Katherine Evans take fifth place in 21:31. Ashley Heffernan, sixth in 22:09, led the next pack that included Emily O’Reilly (22:18), Angie Mesa (22:26) and Kylie Nowicki (22:30).
For Marcellus, its head-to-head race against Cazenovia ended in a split, with the boys Mustangs prevailing 21-35, but the girls taking a 21-37 defeat to the state Class C no. 15-ranked Lakers.
Nick Roseboom won the boys race for Marcellus in 17:51, more than half a minute head of teammate Aidan Shea, who in 18:29 was just ahead of Cazenovia’s Jared Smith (18:30) and Noah DeRochie (18:34).
Kyle Stottlar, finishing fifth in 19:15, led a Mustangs trio that included Grayson Hoag (19:32) edging Charles Donovan (19:33) for sixth place. Kevin Huss, in 20:11, also had a top-10 finish.
In the girls race, Marcellus was led by Maggie Strempel, who finished third in 22:25, trailing the Cazenovia duo of Clara Rowles (21:39) and Isla Stover (23:40).
Madeline Caron gained fourth place in 22:38, but the Lakers earned the three spots before Violet Grieb got to eighth place in 23:56 as Carolyn Carlic was 10th in 24:18.
Jordan-Elbridge faced Hannibal, where on the boys side the Eagles nearly beat the state Class C no. 18-ranked Warriors, but took a 27-28 defeat.
They were dead-even through the first eight placements, so it came down to the fifth runners and Hannibal’s Zach Gombas, in 18:08, beat out J-E’s Matt Sheldon (18:11) by three seconds.
Before that, Sean Dristle had won the individual race for the Eagles in 16:27, well clear of the Warriors’ Patrick Hall (16:48) as Kenny Williams got third place in 16:57.
Hannibal occupied the rest of the top five, but J-E hung in there as Logan Kinney finished sixth in 17:50 and Derek Quigley got eighth place in 18:01, setting up the close finish.
The J-E girls dropped a tight 25-30 decision to the Warriors. Vasianna Klock had a time of 21:28, third behind Hannibal’s Emily Weaver (20:43) and Hannah Kuc (21:17).
Madison Daly took fourth place in 22:41. Tatiana Parkolap got sixth place in 23:35, with Ireland Hill (23:58) edging Kendall Shaw (23:59) for eighth place.
Solvay took part in a three-team meet against Mexico and Homer, with the boys Bearcats beating the Tigers 15-50 while falling 21-36 to the Trojans.
Luke Dwyer led Solvay with a fourth-place time of 18:33 as Max Melnyk was fifth in 19:15 and Adam DeLucia (19:51) took sixth place. Ryan Trendell made his way to ninth place in 20:15 as the Solvay girls dropped 15-50 decisions to the Tigers and Trojans on the girls side.
