For the first time in 37 years, the Christian Brothers Academy boys cross country team can claim the mantle of Section III champions.
And the Brothers were far from alone celebrating last Saturday at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School as Jamesville-DeWitt, on the team side, and East Syracuse Minoa, with Nick Berg, swept top honors in the Class B race.
As part of a crowded 20-team field in Class C, CBA had plenty of able challengers, but fended off all of them with a convincing victory. The Brothers had 52 points, well clear of runner-up Skaneateles (101 points) as Westhill was third with 104 points.
To lead his side, sophomore Michael McMahon finished fourth in 17 minutes, 19 seconds. Zach Medicis was sixth in 17:19 flat, while Riley Nash, in 17:47.2, earned his own top-10 placement.
When Joel Gaffney finished 13th in 17:53.6 and Cooper Groat crossed the line 19th in 18:14.6, CBA had claimed that first sectional title since 1982, earning a place in this Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships at SUNY-Plattsburgh. Kyle Gaffney, in 19:26.7, finished ahead of Christian Balistreri (19:36.8).
All of this followed the Class B sectional race, which turned into a duel between neighbors J-D and ESM, and each side would have reason to feel proud when it was over.
The individual race was all about Berg, who in his senior season easily earned the sectional championship by going 16 minutes, 45.5 seconds to finish nearly a full minute ahead of Central Valley Academy’s Nolan Stone (17:41.3) in second place.
Team-wise, though, it was J-D on top, the Red Rams getting 53 points to ESM’s 70 as it placed three runners in the top 10. Nate Rindfuss was fourth in a clocking of 18:05.9, while Ahviere Reese was fifth in 18:08.1 and Sam Smith got ninth place in 18:21 flat.
It still took Ashton Corona finishing 15th in 18:54.7 and Collin Rivercomb making it to 20th place in 19:05.1 to seal J-D’s sectional title, Brian Hulbert 25th in 19:10.1.
Casey Engineri earned 10th place in 18:21.6 for ESM, with Spencer Carnival 13th in 18:48.3. John Holohan had a 19th-place time of 19:04.6 as Nolan Byrd got 27th place in 19:17.5, ahead of Tom Walters (19:22.4) and John Courcy (19:38.1).
All of this was before the girls Class B race where CBA, ESM and J-D were all involved, and no one caught Brothers senior Olivia Morganti, who roared to victory in 19:29 flat, exactly 17 seconds ahead of New Hartford’s Kaylee Lacreta (19:46.0).
Team-wise, CBA finished third behind New Hartford and Oneida, but Morganti and Lea Kyle, who finished sixth in 21:03.5, both earned return trips to the state meet as Isabella Cannizzo was 19th in 22:20.7, with Mia Kirch 29th in 23:19.2 and Rachel Farrela posting 24:13.1.
J-D was fifth in the standings, one spot ahead of ESM in sixth place, though it was the Spartans’ Rachael Ladd who, in 21:19.3, finished seventh, one spot out of advancing to the state meet. Mary Roach was 11th in 21:44.5, while Taylor Hoffman (23:03.8) finished 25th.
As for the Red Rams, Madeline Foss made her way to 10th place in 21:42.6, while Megan O’Malley got 12th place in 21:45.5. No other J-D runner got into the top 30, though, as Cora Gilbert-Sicherma finished 31st in 23:22.7.