If the pre-season work done by the West Genesee cross country teams got more intense than normal, it was because the season opened earlier than in the past – and in the most challenging way possible.
All the Wildcats had to do last Wednesday was try to keep up with Fayetteville-Manlius, whose boys and girls teams returned most of their lineups from 2018, when they both again reached the Nike Cross Nationals.
On the boys side, WG pulled off a pair of top-five finishes, with Matt Bartolotta nearly keeping up with front-running Peyton Geehrer as Bartolotta finished in 15 minutes, 7.7 seconds, just behind Geehrer’s winning 15:02.5.
Also, Peter McMahon ran well, getting to fifth place in 16:07.8. Still, F-M easily won the meet by holding most of the top 10, led by Geehrer, Sam Otis (third in 15:19.3) and Geoff Howles (fourth in 15:57.9).
For the WG girls, Hannah Craybas had the best race, finishing in 19:47.8 for seventh place, while Natalie Buckhout took ninth place in 20:07.7. F-M swept the top six, with Grace Kaercher (18:19.7) edging Claire Walters (18:20.4) for the individual title.
WG then went to Saturday’s Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Invitational, competing in the Varsity 3 division and sweeping both the boys and girls titles in wildly different manners.
It was more conventional in the boys race as, with 56 points, WG pulled away from runner-up Central Square (120), led by Bartolotta, who in 17:10 flat pulled away from his teammate as Peter McMahon finished second in 17:41.3.
Help came from Aiden Walsh, who was eighth overall and seventh in the team race in 18:30 flat. Ryan McMahon contributed a 19th-place team time of 19:21.9 and Ewan Moran clinched the team event by finishing 27th in 19:55.7.
WG’s girls managed to win a wild event where the top six girls finishers were all disqualified, altering the points standings. Benefiting from this, the Wildcats, with 45 points, were just ahead of New Hartford’s runner-up total of 55.
Craybas, in a time of 21:27.9, was second in the revised standings toHomer’s Emma Anderson (21:18.2), with Buckhout getting fourth place in 21:52.7. Faith Knox was 10th in the team race (11th overall) in 22:35 flat, while Abby Kuppinger was 14th in 22:53 flat and Lauren Puchta (22:58.4) was right behind her.
In the Varsity 1 division at VVS, Skaneateles, Marcellus and Jordan-Elbridge each debuted, chasing F-M, and the Lakers did quite well, finishing second in the boys race behind the Hornets and third in the girls division with Shenendehowa second.
Caleb Bender had a terrific race for the Skaneateles boys as the junior covered the VVS course in 16:46.2, faster than anyone except three F-M runners – Geehrer, Otis and Howles. Then Matt Persampieri took sixth place in 17:29 flat as Joe Norris was 12th in 18:12.4 and Josh Reed posted 19:06.5 and Will Girzadas finished in 19:27.3.
Sarah Tallerico led the Skaneateles girls, finishing 20th among team runners (27th overall) in 22:18.18. Elyse Osmun was 24th in the team race in 22:52.5, with Lillian Yengo (23:24.5) beating out Hope Cross-Jaya (23:25.4) and Lillian Coleman posting 23:40.5.
Finishing fourth in the boys Varsity 1 race, J-E had Sean Dristle get a top-10 finish, claiming eighth place in 17:45.6. Kenny Williams was 19th in the team race (21st overall) in 18:49.7 as Lee Jewell was close behind in 18:59.4. Hannah Fichter, in a time of 23:09.2, led the girls Eagles to an eighth-place finish.
Marcellus was sixth in both the boys and girls Varsity 1 divisions. Aiden Shea paced the boys Mustangs, getting to 21st place in the team race (24th overall) in 19:01.1 as Kyle Stottlar, in 19:10.8, was two spots clear of teammate Caeden Cox (19:18.3).
On the girls side for Marcellus Anella Bolster going 22:34 flat to lead the girls Mustangs as she finished 22nd in the team standings, three spots ahead of Meaghan Strempel’s 23:06.1.
Meanwhile, Westhill was in the Varsity 2 division at VVS, where the boys Warriors got third place behind Cicero-North Syracuse and Baldwinsville.
Jacob Fricano, in 18:02.7, beat out Mike Ferrara (18:05.4) for sixth place in the team standings. The Westhill girls finished fifth as Liz Kessler got 16th place in a time of 22:07.3 to lead the Warriors, Addie Lowery finishing 23rd in 23:08 flat.
