A quartet of the area’s high school cross country teams made their way to Long Branch Park Wednesday afternoon, dealing with rain, cold temperatures and a top-notch field for the Onondaga High School League Liberty division championships.
In the boys race, Westhill was a favorite, sitting at no. 4 in the state Class C rankings, yet it finished third with 88 points as state no. 10-ranked Skaneateles won with 81 points and Hannibal (87 points) was second.
Dan Washburn led the Warriors, taking third place among individuals in 17 minutes, 19.8 seconds as CBA’s Riley Nash won in 17:07 flat and Skaneateles’ Caleb Bender (17:17.3) was second.
Jacob Fricano got 11th place in 18:05.6, with Mike Ferrara taking 20th place in 18:45.9. Will Thornton was 26th in 18:54 flat as Brian Allen got 28th place in 19:00.2. Angelo Carr, in 19:00.9, was one spot behind Allen in 29th place as Scott MacBain was 32nd in 19:17.3
Jordan-Elbridge, with 143 points, managed to beat out Marcellus (145 points) for sixth place, the difference at the top where the Eagles’ Sean Dristle finished ninth in 17:59.1 and the Mustangs’ Nick Roseboom was 12th in 18:09.9.
Also for J-E, Kenny Williams was 15th in 18:21 flat, with Derek Quigley 34th in 19:36.1. Matt Sheldon gained 40th place in 19:46.8 as Lee Jewell (20:00.3) was 45th and Colin Jewsbury posted 20:47.9.
Behind Roseboom for Marcellus, Aidan Shea had a 17th-place time of 18:40.8, but no other Mustang finished in the top 30. Kyle Stottlar got 31st place in 19:14.9 as Grayson Hoag (19:58.5) beat out Charles Donovan (19:58.7) for 42nd place and Kevin Huss was 44th in exactly 20 minutes, ahead of Aiden Stasik’s 20:25.9.
Solvay, who finished 10th in the team standings, had Max Melnyk gain 48th place in 20:07.3, two spots ahead of Luke Dwyer (20:22.7) in 50th place. Adam Delucia finished in 20:42.6, ahead of Ryan Trendell (20:46.2), Tim Brusa (24:25.8) and Matt Muehl (29:55.3).
Moving to the girls OHSL Liberty race, Westhill also finished third here, but with 94 points, trailing runner-up Chittenango (81 points) as state Class B no. 5-ranked CBA won with 29 points.
Liz Kessler paced the Warriors, her fourth-place time of 20:56.3 quite good, but well off the swift winning 18:49.4 of CBA’s Olivia Morganti.
Haylei Coolican finished 16th in 21:58.9, with Katherine Evans 19th in 22:20.1. Kendra MacCaull made her way to 23rd place in 22:35.8 as Emily O’Reilly was 32nd in 23:37.4, just ahead of Kylie Nowicki in 34th place (23:28.8) and Angie Mesa-Espinosa (23:41.5) in 38th place.
Marcellus was fifth with 119 points, led by Maggie Strempel and Madeline Caron as Strempel, in a clocking of 21:46.2, finished 12th, one spot ahead of Caron (21:48.1) in 13th place.
Brielle McShane finished 26th in 22:41.9, with Carolyn Carlic 33rd in 23:28.3 and Heidi Steigerwald 35th in 23:34.3. Violet Grieb got 37th place in 23:37.9 as Alyssa McShane posted 24:38.7.
For J-E, who finished eighth, Hannah Fichter needed 22:04 flat to finish 18th as Vassianna Klock was 22nd in 22:27.5. Madison Daly was 45th in 24:12.1, ahead of Kendall Shaw (24:55.4), Tatianna Parkolap (25:01.4), Ireland Hill (25:33.3) and Meagan Jackson (25:57.9).
Bishop Ludden took part in last Tuesday’s OHSL Patriot division meet at Tully, where the Gaelic Knights’ Sarah Thompson was 12th in the girls race in a time of 23:01 flat. Will Anderson was 13th in the boys race in 19:31.5.
