Only a couple of points separated the Chittenango girls cross country team from a victory in Wednesday’s Onondaga High School League Liberty division championships at Long Branch Park.
In two sets of standings, the Bears finished close behind Christian Brothers Academy, with 74 points to the Brothers’ 72 overall and 46 points to CBA’s 42 among the five American division teams that included Westhill, Homer and Phoenix.
Ultimately, the race hinged on Chittenango’s consistency and depth against CBA’s strong front three, led by Olivia Morganti, who won in 19 minutes, 4.5 seconds as teammates Lea Kyle and Isabella Cannizzo were third and fifth, respectively.
Senior Chelsea Lamphere would pace the Bears, making her way to 10th place in 21:54.4, while sophomore Lauren Suppe finished 14th in 22:20.3, just beating out junior McKayla Capeling, who was 15th in 22:21.5.
Piper Beckwith completed the trio of Chittenango runners as she finished 16th in 22:28.6, while junior Kiara Waite was 19th in 22:23.8. It took CBA getting solid runs from Mia Kirch (30th, 23:27.3) and Annie Toole (23:43.6) to help them hang on as the Bears’ Lailah Emad was 35th in 23:44.2 and Lilly Kairewich was 48th in 24:35.5.
In the boys cross country OHSL Liberty meet, Chittenango finished third among American division sides and eighth overall, while Cazenovia was one spot ahead of the Bears in seventh place among all league teams as CBA claimed the team title here, too.
To lead the Lakers, junior Jared Smith roared to fourth place in 17 minutes, 7.8 seconds, just four seconds behind the runner-up, CBA’s Michael McMahon (17:03.8), as Skaneateles’ Caleb Bender won in 16:31.6.
Senior Stan Angus got 25th place for the Lakers in 18:46.6, while the rest of the Lakers ran in close proximity. Hunter McCullough was 47th in the team standings (51st overall) in 19:59 flat, two spots ahead of Quinn Smith (20:00.1), with Sean Smithers (20:12.4) beating out Jacob Ives (20:12.7) and Eric Groff posting 20:25.6.
Chittenango was led by junior Tristam LaFountaine, who got to 31st place in the team standings (32nd overall) in a clocking of 19:16.1, three spots ahead of freshman Caleb LeBlanc, who posted 19:20.5.
Another Bears ninth-grader, Jayden Webb, was 53rd in the team race in 20:22.5, just ahead of Codey Cumber (20:34.5) and Kyle Schnauffer (20:51.9), with Tyler Falkenburg (21:54.3) edging out Nate Wilsey (21:54.5).
