If there was ever a moment where the West Genesee girls cross country team’s improvement could get measured, it was against all the other sides in the powerhouse Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division put together.
They gathered at Baldwinsville for Wednesday’s league championship meet, and the Wildcats had seven of the top 33 finishers in the field on the way to fourth place.
With 108 points, WG wasn’t far from the third-place total of Cicero-North Syracuse (90 points) and even beat the hosts from B’ville (113 points) as state Class A no. 1-ranked Liverpool edged no. 2-ranked Fayetteville-Manlius for the team title.
Individually, sophomore Faith Knox had the Wildcats’ best effort, making her way to 18th place in the league race in 20 minutes, 14.8 seconds, 21st overall when counting SCAC Empire division runners who also competed.
WG’s quartet of Mia Mitchell, Natalie Buckhout, Liz Morey and Hannah Craybas finished together in the league standings.
Mitchell was 21st in 20:50.9, with Buckhout 22nd in 20:53 flat as Morey (20:59.9) held off Craybas (21:00.40 for 23rd place. Emily Huttar was 29th in 21:40.4 as Emily Lockwood finished in 21:58.8.
Moving to the boys SCAC Metro race, West Genesee took fifth place with 142 points, led by junior Matt Bartolottta, who finished 13th in the league standings (15th overall) in 16:45.1, fourth among runners outside F-M and Liverpool.
Graye Mehl was 28th in the league standings in 17:42.3. Joe Parisi, in 18:41.9, got 32nd place as James Alberts was 34th in 18:49.2. Zack Quinn was 35th in 18:58.7, just ahead of Luke Mullane (19:12.6) and Nick Mulderig (19:17.4).
WG competed again at last Saturday’s Marathon Invitational, where the top five girls teams were separated by just six points, so the Wildcats, with 104 points, was fourth, even though it trailed winning CBA by just five points.
Knox finished 13th in 21:43.4 as Buckhout got 19th place in 22:02.2. Mitchell was 21st in 22:15.4 and Lockwood gained 24th place in 22:21 flat as Craybas was 27th in 22:34.9, with Huttar (22:55.8) edging Morey (22:55.9) for 33rd place.
In the boys meet at Marathon, WG got a fourth-place team finish and a third-place individual effort from Bartolotta, whose time of 17:07.1 wasn’t far from the winning 16:25.4 by Maine-Endwell’s Parker Stokes.
Mehl was 16th in the team standings, and 17th overall, in 18:31.8, with Alberts 33rd in the team race in 19:30.8 and Mullane finished in 19:32.2. Mulderig, in 19:40.5, beat out Quinn, who posted 19:42.7.
Jordan-Elbridge completed its regular-season schedule Wednesday afternoon, hosting Cazenovia as the boys Eagles prevailed 23-33, but the girls lost 17-44 to the Lakers, who completed an undefeated run through the OHSL Liberty National division.
For the J-E boys, who finished 7-2 overall and 3-2 in league meets, Sean Dristle prevail in 16:53, beating out teammate Kenny Williams, who was second in 17:03 ahead of Cazenovia’s Jared Smith (17:23) and Noah DeRochie (17:25).
Derek Quigley was fifth for the Eagles in 17:38 as Logan Kinney was seventh in 18:18 and Matt Sheldon was eighth in 18:27 to clinch it, Lee Jewell following with a 10th-place clocking of 18:44.
The girls race saw J-E’s Hannah Fitcher finish in 20:50 and Vasianna Klock go 21:08 to take sixth place. However, Cazenovia swept the top four spots as Isla Stover and Clara Rowles led the Lakers, each posting 20:11.
