VERONA – Bright and early on a warm, windy Saturday morning, Westhill boys cross country junior Drew O’Reilly would be the first person to cross the finish line at the Section III championships at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill.
Since the boys Class C race was the first on the eight-race docket, it was O’Reilly setting a quick pace, ultimately crossing the line in 17 minutes, 34 seconds to beat the 17:55.1 from Hannibal’s Noah Melita.
O’Reilly led a strong group of local runners, boys and girls alike, that would earn return trips to VVS for this Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association meet.
And it included West Genesee boys senior Peter McMahon, who in the Class A sectional race put up an impressive time of 16:38.6, finishing third and easily advancing to the state meet behind the 1-2 finishers, Fayetteville-Manlius’ Nolan McGinn and Baldwinsville’s Solomon Holden-Betts.
The Wildcats, as a team, finished fifth in Class A, with Michael Gomes getting to 12th place in 17:54 flat as Max Broccoli got to 28th place in 18:43.1. Dillan Holzwarth, in 19:11 flat, was one spot ahead of Casey Conmy’s 19:16.1.
In the girls sectional Class A race, WG made its way to fourth place with 105 points, with freshman Chloe Fietze leading her side as she finished 14th in a clocking of 20:47.8.
Right behind her, Peyton Long got to 15th place in 20:52.9, with Zoe Maupin earning 20th place in 21:39.8 as Karolina Lata (22:23.2) and Shannon McMahon (22:27.4) also had top-30 individual efforts ahead of Claire Griffin (22:59.7) and Rebecca Dickey (23:09.1).
Overall in Class C, Westhill’s boys finished fourth out of 15 teams, with Marcellus gaining fifth place as Jordan-Elbridge, Skaneateles and Solvay were further back.
J-E’s Alex Kunz finished sixth in 18:34.5, just one individual spot out of advancing to the state meet and best among local runners outside of O’Reilly as Peyton Bates finished 10th in 18:53.7.
The Warriors had Teddy Popp finish 12th in 19:00.4, while the Mustangs had Kieran Cappozi gain 21st place in 19:36 flat ahead of Nate Alexander, who was 28th in 20:08.2 as Bryce Burdick was 31st for Westhill in 20:17.3.
Skaneateles, on the boys side, was led by senior Aidan Ward, who made his way to 16th place in 19:17.3, but no other Laker hit the top 50 as Solvay’s Max Overend was 46th in 20:45.3.
On the girls side in the sectional Class C race, it was Skaneateles beating out Westhill, 107 points to 133, for fourth place in an eight-team Class C field.
More importantly for the Lakers, freshman Lucy Fleckenstein earned a trip to the state meet, her time of 21:45.6 putting her in seventh place overall, but fifth among runners outside the winning Cazenovia side.
Tobi DiRubbo was 19th among team runners (17th overall) in 23:16.5, just ahead of Annabel Wells (23:41.8) in 23rd place as Caroline McSwain finished in 23:57.3 and Monica Pohl posted 26:22.1.
Westhill had Stella Napolitano, in a time of 23:46.9, edge out teammate Eileen Mullen (23:47.0) for the spot behind Wells as Ellie Thornton (23:57.9) also had a top-30 finish. Marcellus had Sophie Maum finish 15th in 23:03.3.
