CENTRAL NEW YORK – Area cross country teams completed their September slates, with many of them opening October by going to Rochester’s massive McQuaid Invitational.
This happened just as West Genesee welcomed back its top runner, Peter McMahon, to the lineup, just in time for the Wildcats’ three-way race last Wednesday against Cicero-North Syracuse and Henninger in Camillus.
Dominating on both sides, the Wildcats beat the Northstars 16-47 and the Black Knights 15-50, with McMahon speeding to victory in 17 minutes, 51.4 seconds as part of a top-four WG sweep.
Kevin Moser got second place in 18:18.1, with Max Broccoli third in 18:42.2. Casey Comny got fourth place in 18:58.4 and Mason Doran was sixth in 19:27.7 ahead of Dillon Holzwarth (19:42.1) and David Desko (20:03.8).
Meanwhile, WG’s girls team could not keep up with a C-NS side that had just knocked off powerhouse Fayetteville-Manlius in the Sept. 24 Baldwinsville Invitational.
In a 21-35 defeat, the Wildcats saw C-NS’s North Carolna State-bound senior, Kate Putman, win in 19:14.1, well clear of the 20:19.4 from Penn State-bound senior Hannah Boyle and Gabby Putman.
Freshman Chloe Feitze led the Wildcats, taking fifth place in 20:32.9. Claire Griffin was sixth in 21:03.8, beating out a quartet that included Peyton Long (21:08.4), Zoe Maupin (21:55.5), Andrea Conklin (22:02.3) and Rebecca Dickey, who was 10th in 22:04.1.
Skaneateles was one of the many local teams that went to the McQuaid Invitational in Rochester last Saturday, with the girls Lakers finishing 15th overall in a 63-team field with several personal-best times. The Skaneateles boys took 28th place, beating most of the 62-team field.
On an individual basis, the Lakers were led on the boys side by Aidan Ward, who finished 35th in the Varsity A-1 race in 17:22.7, a race that also included Marcellus and Jordan-Elbridge as the Eagles’ Peyton Bates was 45th in 17:33.7 and the Mustangs’ Liam Eldridge led his side, getting 61st place in 17:52.6.
West Genesee, meanwhile, ran in the featured Bob Bradley Premier race on the boys side, seeing McMahon take ninth place in 15:21 flat. Of the other Wildcats, only Moser, who was 33rd in 16:06.4, finished inside the top 50. In the girls Bradley race, WG saw Feitze finih 24th in 19:12.7 as Griffin was 42nd and Conklin in 59th place.
