Put together, the Westhill boys cross country team turned out to be a special group, one that claimed a Section III Class C title and then impressed again during last Saturday’s state championship meet at Long Island’s Sunken Meadow State Park.
The Warriors finished with 83 points, topping everyone in the 11-team field except Saranac Lake (Section VII), who earned the state title with 31 points. Irvington (118 points) edged Port Jefferson (119 points) for third place.
On an individual basis, Dan Washburn led Westhill, the senior taking exactly 17 minutes, seven seconds to traverse the tough Sunken Meadow course and finishing 11th overall, sixth among team runners.
Fellow senior Brendan Rewakowski got to 14th place in the team standings (31st overall) in 17:47.9, while junior Mike Ferrara was 17th in the team event (35th overall) in 17:52.7.
Another junior, Jacob Fricano, got 22nd in the team standings in 17:56.5 as junior Will Thornton rounded out the scoring column, finishing 27th among team runners in 18:13.3. Sophomore Angelo Carr (18:53.1) and senior Jacob Roberts (19:27.8) followed.
Also, Section III finished second in the team Class C event behind Section I as Adirondack’s Tyler Fauvelle led that group, finishing sixth in 16:50.8.
Westhill also had senior Haylei Coolican run in the girls state Class C race, where she finished 59th in 21:39.4 as Section III was third in the team event, led by Clinton’s Eva Borton, who won the state individual title in 18:24.3.
West Genesee had junior Matt Bartolotta take part in the boys state Class A race, where his time of 17:08.5 put him in 49th place, ahead of more than half the field.
And Bartolotta helped Section III take first place in the team standings, though the presence of Fayetteville-Manlius helped as the Hornets, who claimed the state Class A title, placed five runners in the top 10, including Geoff Howles, who was second in 16:02.3.
