What the Skaneateles boys cross country team could not quite attain during the regular season was more than made up for by what it accomplished once the post-season got underway.
The state Class C no. 10-ranked Lakers emerged from a spirited battle for team honors to win the Onondaga High School League Liberty division championships Wednesday at Long Branch Park.
Ultimately, the team race came down to three sides – Skaneateles, Hannibal and state no. 4-ranked Westhill – but it was the Lakers, with 81 points, beating out both sets of Warriors as Hannibal had 87 points and Westhill 88 points.
And what made this even sweeter for Skaneateles was that it lost to Hannibal 27-29 exactly one week earlier, when the OHSL Liberty National regular-season title was at stake.
Now, amid a larger field, Skaneateles would triumph, putting five runners inside the top 25, something Hannibal could not match.
It began with Caleb Bender, who in 17 minutes, 17.3 seconds trailed only CBA’s Riley Nash (17:07.0) among individuals and was five spots ahead of Hannibal’s Patrick Hall (17:49.3) in seventh place.
Joe Norris then took 13th place in 18:10.2, with Chris Burgher finishing 19th in 18:43.7. Skaneateles was in good shape, but still needed its fourth and fifth runners to finish well – which they did.
Matt Persampieri got to 22nd place in 18:47.6, and Connor Gell took 25th place in 18:52.6. When Hannibal’s fifth runner, Fenix Burger, could only manage a 35th-place finish and Westhill only put three runners in the top 25, the Lakers had prevailed.
Tony Dirubbo and Will Girzadas also ran well for Skaneateles as Dirubbo got 36th place in 19:39.3, two spots ahead of Girzadas, who was 38th in 19:43 flat.
Meanwhile, in the girls OHSL Liberty meet, Skaneateles, with only five runners in the field, still made its way to sixth place with 156 points as CBA won with 29 points, led by Olivia Morganti, who won the individual race in 18:49.4.
Elyse Osmun earned a top-10 finish, making her way to 10th place in a clocking of 21:39.7 as Georgia McSwain gained 17th place in 22:03.7.
Hope Cross-Jaya also had a solid showing, as she ran to 27th place in 22:43.7. Lillian Yengo finished 44th in 24:11.8 as Ellie McSwain was 58th in 25:27.8.
Osmun and Georgia McSwain joined Bender and Norris as first-team All-League selections. Second-team All-League honors went to Burgher, Persampieri, Gell and Cross-Jaya.
Each of the Skaneateles sides would now prepare for Saturday’s Section III Class C championships at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill. The girls race is at 1 p.m., with the boys race at 2:10.
