CENTRAL NEW YORK – With the top spot in the Onondaga High School League Liberty division at stake, the Westhill boys cross country team got the best of Cazenovia – barely.
A 1-2 individual finish from Drew O’Reilly and Teddy Popp, along with enough depth on the back end, allowed the Warriors to edge the Lakers 27-29 in a three-team meet where it also beat Christian Brothers Academy 21-38.
O’Reilly, fresh off a top-five finish in his division at the Oct. 8 Manhattan Invitational, needed 15 minutes, 11 seconds to pull away from Popp, who was more than a minute behind.
Still, Popp, in 16:13, was comfortably in front of CBA’s Charlie Raymond (16:27) and Cazenovia’s quickest runner, Branden McColm, who posted 17:08 as his teammate, Will Austin, finished in 17:16.
Then Bryce Burdick made his way to the finish line in17:16, edging the Lakers’ Eddie Comeau (17:26) and Jake Woolbert (17:34), as Carlos Ramos posted 17:45 behind the 17:41 from the Brothers’ James Cass.
In the girls race between these three teams, Westhill gained a split, beating CBA 20-38 but losing to unbeaten Cazenovia by a 15-47 margin.
Stella Napolitano led the Warriors, posting a time of 20:27, but that was behind five Cazenovia runners led by Olivia Ruddy’s winning 18:33 as Elaine Mullen posted 21:16 for eighth place.
Skaneateles got a sweep of its meet against Phoenix, including a 15-40 victory on the girls side a few days after the Lakers won an invitational race Oct. 7 in Norwich.
Lucy Fleckenstein again led the way, her 21:12 ahead of a 21:45 from Tobi DiRubbo. Annabel Wells was third in 22:05, beating out the 23:19 posted by Caroline McSwain.
On the boys side, Skaneateles prevailed 23-33 over Phoenix last Wednesday as Aidan Ward led the boys Lakers, his time of 18:10 a full minute ahead of the 19:10 from the Firebirds’ Josh Wagner.
Michael Galbato, fourth in 20:05, led a group of four Skaneateles runners. Patrick Hagen was fifth in 20:13, with Charles Kissel sixth (20:20) and Ethan Leubner seventh in 20:31 as Sam Coleman (21:48) also finished in the top 10.
Solvay lost its boys race to Hannibal 19-36, the Warriors sweeping the top three before Max Overend got fourth place in 19:44, with Aaron Trendell fifth in 19:59. Jack Burke, in 20:27, beat out Landon Raymond (20:37) for eighth place.
Jordan-Elbridge had a meet where it beat Cincinnatus 21-36 but lost 18-45 to Tully, Peyton Bates was third among individuals, his 19:15 trailing the Black Knights’ duo of Ian Rauber (18:25) and Zeke Mohat (18:26).
West Genesee returned to action last Friday and, gearing up for this week’s Salt City Athletic Conference championships at Baldwinsville, won the girls division and finished second in the boys division of the Marathon Invitational.
Freshman Chloe Feitze led the girls Wildcats, taking fifth place in 20:25.9, while Peyton Long made her way to ninth place in 20:49.4. Zoe Maupin finished 14th in 21:30.1 as Claire Griffin got to 16th place in 21:49.7. Andrea Conklin (22:23.7) and Rebecca Dickey (22:32.5) both finished in the top 25, too.
As for WG’s boys, no individual could stop Peter McMahon, who tore through the Marathon course in 16:39.9, well clear of the 16:57.4 from Vestal’s Liam Cody.
Still, the Wildcats had 78 points to Ithaca’s winning 49. Kevin Moser finished eighth in 17:38.7, with Michael Gomes 11th in 17:50.1. Max Broccoli was 20th in 18:25.2 as Mason Doran (19:21.0), Casey Conmy (19:21.2) and Dillon Holzwarth (19:22.2) ran together.
