Marcellus, Westhill, J-E runners take part in Manhattan Invitational

A trio of the area’s high school cross country teams spent last weekend traveling to New York City, lining up against large fields from across the Northeast for the annual Manhattan Invitational.

Over the 2.5-mile course at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, Marcellus, Jordan-Elbridge and Westhill all took part, with the Mustangs and Eagles both in the girls Varsity B Race, where 11-time national champion Fayetteville-Manlius was competing.

Marcellus finished 13^th in the team standings, led by Meghan Strempel, who in 17 minutes, 14.5 seconds got to 57^th place, ahead of Madeline Caron, who was 68^th in 17:35.8.

Carolyn Carlic, in 18:22.7, finished eight spots ahead of Brielle McShane (18:29.8), with Virginia Lucchetti finishing in 18:48.2 ahead of Violet Grieb (18:59.8) and Heidi Steigerwald (19:12.5).

J-E was 18^th on the team side as freshman Vassianna Klock finished 67^th in a clocking of 17:35.3. Hannah Fichter was 85^th in 18:09.9, with Madison Daly (19:22.7) beating out Olivia Minikhiem (19:42.1), Kendal Shaw (19:48.1), Megan Jackson (20:03.1) and Lindsay Jackson, who posted 20:28 flat.

Westhill was in girls Varsity Race C, finishing 17^th out of 28 teams despite Liz Kessler making her way to 31^st place in 16:29.3.

Katherine Evans, in 17:51.5, was 95^th, two spots ahead of Haylei Coolican (17:53.6) as Kendra MacCaull (18:35.5), Ashley Heffernan (18:44.2), Kylie Nowicki (18:46.1) and Emily O’Reilly (18:57.9) all finished close together.

In the boys races in the Manhattan Invitational, it was Westhill and Marcellus together in Varsity Race B, and the Warriors finished ninth in the team standings, well clear of the Mustangs in 19^th place.

Dan Washburn was sensational for Westhill, getting all the way to sixth place in 13:19.8, not far from the winning 12:46.1 by Riverdale’s Tobias Wolfson.

Jacob Fricano, who was 53^rd in 14:08.3, led the next Warriors pack as Mike Ferrara was 64^th in 14:21.3. Will Thornton, in 14:29 flat, was just ahead of Angelo Carr (14:37.3) as Jacob Roberts (15:07.6) trailed them.

As for Marcellus, Nick Roseboom was 67^th in 14:27 flat, pacing the Mustangs as Aidan Shea finished in 14:42.2. Kyle Stottlar, in 14:50 flat, was ahead of Grayson Hoag (15:41.3), Kevin Huss (15:56.9), Aiden Stasik (16:06.9) and Mason Grieb (16:26.9).

J-E took its turn in Varsity Race A and was 17^th out of 27 sides, mostly due to the efforts of Sean Dristle and Kenny Williams as Dristle finished 37^th in 13:56.2 and Williams got 43^rd place in 14:05.3.

Derek Quigley, who posted 14:45.2, led the next pack of Eagles, with Logan Kinney finishing in 15:07.7 as Matt Sheldon (15:15.6) was ahead of Lee Jewell’s 15:57.1.