In its first OHSL Liberty division meet of the fall, the Cazenovia boys cross country proved successful, withstanding a challenge from a small Solvay squad to defeat to the Bearcats 22-37 last Wednesday at the Sean Googin Sports Complex.
Solvay only has seven runners in its varsity lineup, but while three of them cracked the top six in the overall standings, the Lakers went 1-2 at the top.
Jared Smith won in 16 minutes, 52 seconds, more than a minute and a half ahead of the 18:29 posted by Sam Angus as Solvay’s Luke Dwyer led his side, finishing third in 18:54.
Hunter McCullough finished fourth in 19:06 and, after the Bearcats claimed the next two spots, Quinn Smith gained seventh place in 19:33. Jacob Ives was eighth in 20:15 as Dalton Sevier (20:22) and Torin Monahan (20:33) rounded out the top 10.
The Cazenovia girls also defeated Solvay, in what was head coach Kurt Wheeler’s 100th victory in a league meet.
Running in Saturday’s Baldwinsville Invitational, the Lakers finished 14th out of 35 teams in the Small School division, but the big story was how Smith made it all the way to second place in the individual race.
It was a close race to the wire for that runner-up, but Smith, in 15:51.6, edged Christian Brothers Academy’s Michael McMahon (15:51.8) by two-hundredths of a second, though they both trailed Skaneateles’ Caleb Bender, who won in 15:31.5.
Behind Smith, Angus had the Lakers’ best effort, finishing 53rd in the team standings (56th overall) in 17:54.8. Ives, in a time of 18:59.2, was just ahead of McCullough (19:18.1) and Eric Groff (19:29.8).
Chittenango split last Wednesday’s league opener against Mexico, with the girls Bears easily claiming a 15-40 victory as Chelsea Lamphere took the individual race in a clocking of 16:42.
Piper Beckwith, in 18:20, was well back in second place, leading a pack that included Kiara Waite (18:21) and McKayla Capeling (18:22) as Lauren Suppe, in 19:01, completed the top-five sweep. Lailah Emad was sixth in 20:15. Lilly Kairewich (25:31) and Sarah Lanning (23:10) also had top-10 finishes.
The Chittenango boys lost, 25-31, to Mexico, with Tristram LaFountaine nearly winning for the Bears, his 18:27 just behind the 18:23 from the Tigers’ Evan Ladd.
Cody Cumber was third in 19:28, but Mexico claimed the next three spots before Kyle Schnauffer finished in 20:05. Nate Wilsey was ninth in 21:10 and Tyler Falkenburg posted 21:31.
