CENTRAL NEW YORK – A sun-drenched Wednesday afternoon in late September saw the true launch of league competition for most of the area’s high school cross country teams.
This included Westhill defeating Homer 17-44 led by Drew O’Reilly, who followed up his race win in the Sept. 16 Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Invitational by going 16 minutes, 55 seconds here, 1-2 with teammate Edward Popp.
Chris Gilkes, in 17:05, got third place, while Alex Dacko was fifth in 17:39. Bryce Burdick earned sixth place in 18:11 as Anthony Cardoso (19:06) and Sean Finnerty (20:13) also ran well.
In the Westhill girls’ 21-40 win over Homer, Stella Napolitano, in 19:28, was just behind the 19:27 from the Trojans’ Ingrid Aagaard, but Isabel Leonardo was third (20:52) and Eileen Mullen fourth in 21:12 as Caitlyn Knohl (21:17) rounded out the top five and Ellie Thornton (21:42) was seventh.
Skaneateles went to Cazenovia and, with its five-girl roster, nearly took back the ‘Laker Cup’ before the hosts rallied and handed the visiting Lakers a 27-29 defeat.
At the front, Lucy Fleckenstein blazed to victory in 20:40, pulling away from Tobi DiRubbo (21;11) in second place. Cazenovia swept the rest of the top five, led by Olivia Ruddy (21:30) in third place.
Caroline McSwain got sixth place in 22:39, but Annabel Wells, in 23:12, was behind the fourth and fifth Cazenovia runners and Monica Pohl finished in 25:18.
The Skaneateles boys lost to Cazenovia 19-42, with Ben Williams third among individuals in 18:48 behind Jake Woolebert (17:54) and Eddie Comeau (18:37). Sam Coleman got sixth place in 20:25.
To its credit, the Skaneateles girls stepped up Saturday in the Baldwinsville Invitational, where in the Small School race Fleckenstein finished sixth in 19:38.8 and DiRubbo was eighth in 19:51.5, the Lakers grabbing fifth place in a 24-team field as Marcellus was 18th.
West Genesee had already gone through one league meet when it hosted Baldwinsville last Wednesday and split a meet with the Bees.
The girls Wildcats dominated B’ville 19-42 with a top-three sweep led by Chloe Fietze winning in 20:12 flat, more than a minute ahead of Peyton Long (21:19.7) as Claire Griffin was third in 21:22.9. Zoe Maupin, sixth in 21:58 flat, led a pack that included Rebecca Dickey (22:13.7), Thalia Petrie (22:15.7) and Andrea Conklin (22:19.2).
By contrast, WG’s boys lost 17-46, with only two Wildcats reaching the top 10. Michael Gomes was fourth, in 17:41 flat, with Dillon Holzwarth (19:07.3) behind eight B’ville runners, led by Noah Covert, who won in 17:23.0.
Jordan-Elbridge won both sides of a close boys meet with Solvay and Hannibal, beating the Bearcats 27-28 along with a 25-30 win over the Warriors.Peyton Bates’ time of 18:45 led the Eagles and beat the top 19:17 from Solvay’s Max Overend as Aaron Trendell posted 20:05.
Connor Boylan went 20:24 and Anthony King added a 20:31 ahead of the Bearfcats’ Jack Burke (20:35) as Landon Raymond (21:05) ran well for Solvay, but Alex Coomber (22;14) and Gabriel Jones (22:25) clinched J-E’s sweep.
On Saturday at B’ville, J-E’s boys were 18th among small schools, just behind Solvay in 15th place but ahead of Marcellus in 20th place and Skaneateles in 21st. Bates, in 17;59.3, was 25th and Williams (18:02.6) 27th for the Lakers.
