Protecting its no. 4 state Class C ranking, the Christian Brothers Academy boys cross country team needed all of its top runners to do well in order to fend off a challenge from Homer in last Wednesday’s meet.
The Brothers edged the Trojans 22-25, helped in no small part by the 1-2 finish from Riley Nash and Michael McMahon as Nash won in 17 minutes, 59 seconds, one second ahead of McMahon’s 18-minute effort.
Homer’s Jed Swayze was third in 18:07, but Joel Gaffney, in 19 minutes flat, helped CBA protect its early edge, as did Cooper Groat finishing seventh in 19:31. But it took Christian Balistreri finishing ninth in 20:07 to help the Brothers hang on.
CBA’s girls team rolled past Homer 20-42 as Olivia Morganti tore to a time of 19:43, beating all but seven of the boys runners and topping the girls field by more than a minute.
Lea Kyle finished third in 21:20, with Bella Cannizzo fourth in 21:50 and Mia Kirch getting fifth place in 23:31. Abby Nash earned seventh place in 23:55 as Annie Toole posted 24:09.
Jamesville-DeWitt would get a sweep of its own during last Wednesday’s three-team race against Fulton and Syracuse West.
The Boys Red Rams won 24-37 over Fulton and 22-38 over Syracuse West as Ahviere Reese, in 18:20, was just behind Fulton’s Ryan Carroll (18:15) among individuals. Nate Rindfuss was fifth in 18:32, with Collin Rivercomb seventh in 18:52 and Brian Hulbert eighth in 19:01 as Sam Smith finished in 19:17 andTyler Aitken posted 19:18.
The J-D girls beat Fulton 19-42 and Syracuse West 15-49, with Megan O’Malley beating all individuals thanks to her time of 21:46. Cora Gilbert-Sicher was third in 23:26, with Kathryn Sizing fourth in 23:38. Miriam Zoghby got fifth place in 23:53 over Jillian Kordas (24:40) as Lily Dougherty posted 24:39 and Cielo Martinez got 25:04.
East Syracuse Minoa got a clean sweep of its own that same day, the boys and girls Spartans both earning victories over the Auburn Maroons and Cortland Purple Tigers.
Following that, ESM went to Saturday’s Tully Invitational, where Rachael Ladd won the Large School race as the freshman finished in 19 minutes, 52 seconds, ahead of the 20:08.4 from Homer’s Emma Anderson.
Overall, the girls Spartans finished third with 76 points behind Grand Island and Central Square. Mary Roach finished ninth in 21:30 flat, with Taylor Hoffman 14th in 21:50.1 as Elena Vespi was 22nd in 22:43.1 and Ally O’Brien was 30th in 23:34.0.
ESM’s Nick Berg contended for the boys Large School title as his time of 16:22.1 trailed only the 16:03.4 from Fairport’s Kaelen Ruder, and the boys Spartans were second to Fairport in the team standings.
Behind Berg, Casey Engineri made his way to 14th place in 18:07.2, while Nolan Byrd was 17th in 18:18.5. Spencer Carnival got a 20th-place time of 18:33.6 and John Courcy was 26th in 19:04.7.
CBA’s boys were victorious in the Small School division at Tully with 49 points to the host Black Knights’ 78, led by McMahon, who in 16:38 flat beat out Hannibal’s Dillon Plantz (16:39.5) for individual honors.
Nash was third among team runners (fourth overall) in 17:11.5, one spot ahead of Medicis, who posted 17:17.2. Groat finished 12th in the team race in 17:53.2 and Gaffney, in 18:50.6, clinched the team crown by finishing 29th. Manlius-Pebble Hill runner William Markwood finished 25th overall in 18:39.6.
As for the CBA girls, it finished third behind Tully and South Lewis, Morganti going 18:41.2 to finish fourth as Black Knights superstar Brooke Rauber won in a course-record 17:14.3, which beat all but eight boys runners in both Large School and Small School races.
Kyle, in 20:52 flat, beat out Cannizzo (21:01.5) for 11th place, with Kirch 25th and Toole 30th in the team standings.
Meanwhile, J-D was at the Whitesboro Invitational, where it finished second in the Large School division with 57 points to New Hartford’s winning total of 45 points.
O’Malley finished fifth among team runners in 21:57.6, with Foss seventh in 22:31.2. Sizing, in 23:26.3, was 13th, two spots ahead of Zoghby (23:29.5) as Gilbert-Sicher (23:43.1), Kordas (23:50.9) and Rachel Gao (24:12.9) all had top-25 finishes.
The J-D boys got fifth place in its Large School division, with Smith leading the way as he posted 19:01.2 for 20th place, three ahead of Aitken (19:05.1) in 23rd place. Jacob Cottet was 31st, with Isaac Bennett 34th, Gabriel Cuello 35th and Aiden Usher 37th
