A busy weekend for area cross country teams began with West Genesee making its way to last Friday’s Bob Greene Invitational at Newark Valley, where the boys Wildcats finished second and the girls took third place.
WG’s boys, who had 143 points to Elmira’s first-place 75, included Matt Bartolotta going 16 minutes, 53.5 seconds to finish second in the individual race behind Windsor’s Josh Stone, who won in 16:16.7.
Peter McMahon claimed sixth place, in 17:16.3, with Aiden Walsh getting 20th place in 18:12.3. Ryan McMahon finished 55th in 19:04 flat, just ahead of Ewan Moran (19:11.0) and Joe Parisi (19:20.6).
In the girls race at Newark Valley, WG had 120 points, tied with Lansing, but behind Delhi (70) and Elmira Notre Dame (77). Individually, Natalie Buckhout fared best, getting to sixth place in 20:51.9.
Liz Morey, in 22:15.7, edged out Abby Kuppinger (22:23.1) for 23rd place, while Lauren Puchta finished 30th in 22:39.4. Faith Knox made her way to 37th place in 22:53.8.
Then other local teams found themselves at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx for the annual Manhattan Invitational, competing in various races throughout Saturday afternoon.
Skaneateles would see Caleb Bender nearly win the boys Varsity B race, tearing to the line on the 2.5-mile Van Cortlandt course in 12:54.4, less than two seconds behind the 12:52.7 from Riverdale’s Jacob Ireland.
Overall, the boys Lakers were 12th in the 29-team field as Matt Persampieri and Joe Norris also posted top finishes, Persampieri getting 25th place in 13:55.5 and Norris finishing 29th in 13:59.6.
The Skaneateles girls were 15th out of 28 teams in its Varsity A race, but that was one spot ahead of the Cazenovia side it lost to by one point in a first-place OHSL Liberty National division clash earlier in the week.
With just five runners, the Lakers had Sarah Tallerico take 37th place in 16:55.6. Hope Cross-Jaya was 86th in 18:07.6, with Lillian Yengo (18:32.5) just ahead of Sophia Aureden (18:32.8) and Ellie McSwain finishing in 20:25.7.
Westhill earned sixth place out of 14 teams in the boys Varsity G race, led by Jacob Fricano, who just missed out on the top 10 as he got 11th place in 13:47.7.
Mike Ferrara gained 19th place in 14:04.9, while Will Thornton got to 23rd place in 14:13.6. Brian Allen had a 39th-place time of 14:36.8, just ahead of Brandon Mulholland (14:41.7), Justin Nowicki (14:47.6) and Angelo Carr (14:57.8).
Earning ninth place out of 16 in the girls Varsity F race, the Warriors had Liz Kessler leading the way as she got 32nd place in 16:59.4, while Addie Lowery was 48th in 17:39.6. Angie Mesa-Espinosa, in 18:12.4, beat out Katherine Evans (18:18.6) and Kylie Nowicki (18:18.9) as Emily O’Reilly (18:54.9) and Ashley Heffernan (19:53.9) followed.
Jordan-Elbridge, in boys Varsity Race A, finished 15th, with Sean Dristle going 14:03.3 to finish 46th. The only other top-100 finishes came from Derek Quigley, who was 77th in 14:24 flat, and Lee Jewell, four spots behind Quigley in 14:28.8.
The girls Eagles had a 20th-place finish in its Varsity A race out of a field of 28, with Vassianna Klock getting to 40th place in 16:38 flat as Hannah Fichter (17:47.6) was just in front of Coral Uhle (17:53.3).
