For a sophomore making his first trip to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships, Skaneateles boys cross country runner Caleb Bender made quite an impression.
Bender took on one of the toughest courses around at Long Island’s Sunken Meadow State Park last Saturday and beat most of the field on his way to a 13th-place finish in a field of more than 130 runners.
Dealing with plenty of hills and mud from a week full of rain, not to mention the wear and tear of seven previous races that day (this was the last race on the card), Bender finished in 17 minutes, 10.2 seconds.
That put him just outside the reach of a top 10 finish as it required 16:59.4 to get there. Bronxville’s Matthew Rizzo was the state individual champion, finishing in 16:22.2, less than a minute ahead of Bender.
Helped by Bender and a second-place effort by Westhill in the team portion behind Saranac Lake, Section III team finished second in the team competition behind Section I.
Adirondack’s Tyler Fauvelle finished sixth in 16:50.8, with Dan Washburn leading the Westhill contingent as he got 11th place in 17:07 flat. CBA’s Riley Nash was 30th in 17:47.1 as Hannibal’s Patrick Hall was 39th (17:54.8) and Nash’s CBA teammate, Zach Medicis, was 61st in 18:17.3.
