Even with an Onondaga High School League Liberty division championship in the books, the Skaneateles boys cross country team wanted even more – and nearly got it.
The Lakers roared to the lead in last Saturday’s Section III Class C championship meet at Chittenango High School, but could not quite hold on to it as Westhill overtook them for the top spot in the team standings.
In the overall Class C standings, Skaneateles had 85 points, just behind Westhill’s 79 points. It was the same in the Class C-1 division as the Lakers had 54 points to the Warriors’ 50.
Still, Skaneateles sophomore Caleb Bender would advance to this Saturday’s state championship meet at Sunken Meadow State Park on Long Island.
Battling through a mud-soaked Chittenango course, Bender finished in 19 minutes, 2.6 seconds, putting him in fourth place, and third among individuals outside the Westhill roster.
The top five individuals on that list get to run in the state meet, with Bender joining Riley Nash (Christian Brothers Academy), who won the sectional race in 18:31.6, plus Tyler Fauvelle (Adirondack), Patrick Hall (Hannibal) and Nash’s CBA teammate, Zach Medicis.
Just behind them, sophomore Joe Norris made his way to ninth place for the Lakers in 19:27.9, with another 10th-grader, Matt Persampieri, finishing 13th in 19:33.3.
This gave Skaneateles the lead over Westhill, 26-30, but the Warriors’ fourth and fifth runners each finished ahead of their Lakers counterparts, though junior Connor Gell got 28th place in 20:38.7 and senior Chris Burgher was 31st in 20:45.2. Junior Tony Dirubbo was 38th in 21:11.2 and freshman Will Girzadas was 46th (21:26.1) in the team standings.
Earlier that day, Skaneateles finished 10th out of 15 teams in the girls sectional Class C race and seventh in the C-1 standings as Clinton took the overall sectional C title and South Jefferson led the C-1 race.
Hope Cross-Jaya had a terrific showing for the Lakers, the sophomore getting to 15th place in 23:59.4 as junior Elyse Osmun finished 41st in the team event in 25:38.7.
Freshman Sarah Tallerico was 61st in 27:11.4, while fellow ninth-grader Lillian Yengo was 62nd among team runners in 27:17 flat. Another freshman, Ellie McSwain, finished in 28:15.3.
