With his fine effort in the Section III Class C championship race, Cazenovia boys cross country junior Jared Smith has earned a berth at this Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships in Plattsburgh.
They once more held the sectional races on the grounds at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School, where on a chilly morning the Class C race included Smith and his Lakers teammates.
In 17 minutes, 31.4 seconds, Smith covered the 3.1-mile VVS course. That put him in seventh place overall but, more importantly, fifth among finishers outside the winning team from Christian Brothers Academy.
So Smith joins Caleb Bender (Skaneateles), Tyler Fauvelle (Adirondack), Dillon Plantz (Hannibal) and Collin Stafford (South Lewis) as the Section III All-Stars that will run at the state meet.
From a team standpoint, Cazenovia was 10th among 20 Class C sides overall, and seventh in the Class C-1 race, with CBA claiming both divisions.
Other than Smith, the Lakers’ lone top-50 finisher in the team race was Stan Angus, 48th in 19:19.4. Quinn Smith finished 71st among team runners in 20:20.6, with Hunter McCullough, in 20:26 flat, just ahead of Jacob Ives (20:32.1), Eric Groff (20:39.1) and Sean Smithers, who finished in 20:43.3.
A strong regular season and good showing at the Oct. 30 Onondaga High School League championships left the Chittenango girls cross country team at no. 14 in the state Class B rankings.
That made the Bears one of the main contenders for last Saturday’s Section III Class B championships at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, where it finished fourth behind New Hartford, Oneida and CBA.
To lead Chittenango’s individuals, Chelsea Lamphere made her way to 16th place in 22:06.3, two spots ahead of Kiara Waite (22:14.1) in 18th place.
Lauren Suppe took 20th place in 22:49.4, beating out McKayla Capeling, who was 21st in 22:52.8. Piper Beckwith got 27th place in 23:10.5 as Lailah Emad was 34th in 23:30.4 and Lilly Kairewich (24:58.6) followed.
Earlier that morning, the Chittenango boys ran in its sectional Class B race, where it was eighth in a 13-team field, led by Tristam LaFountaine, who took 30th place in a clocking of 19:21.6.
Caleb LeBlanc was 34th in the team race (36th overall) in 19:36.9, while Kyle Schnauffer got 50th in the team standings in 20:28.1. Codey Cumber, in 21:11.6, beat out Tyler Falkenburg (21:16.7) and Nate Wilsey (21:24.9) as Evan Edwards posted 22:23.1.