Weather continued to cooperate for area high school cross country teams who have not faced anything close to the rough, cold or wet conditions they might deal with in the important meets of the fall.
For example, it was quite warm and sunny on Saturday when Westhill went to Utica’s E.J. Herrmann Invitational and finished second in the boys Small School division, led by Drew O’Reilly.
In 16 minutes, 48.9 seconds, O’Reilly won the individual race, pacing a field that included teammate Edward Popp, who was third in 17:30 flat. Chris Gilkes was 22nd in 18:25.6.
On the girls side, Westhill got a good run from Stella Napolitano, who was 14th in the Small School race in 22:18.7 as Isabel Leonardo was 19th among team runners (25th overall) in 23:30 flat.
Amid the sunshine last Wednesday, Marcellus and Solvay raced together, the two sides also battling traditional Onondaga High School League power Cazenovia.
In the boys race, the Mustangs’ Liam Eldridge finished in 17:18, topped only by the 16:58 from the Lakers’ Jake Woolbert. Ethan Checkfield was fourth in 18:17, with Ay-Zoh Shaw sixth (18:28) and Robbie Hakes seventh in 18:36.
Despite this, Marcellus, who beat Solvay 20-38, lost 26-29 to Cazenovia, with the Bearcats taking a 19-36 defeat to the Lakers as Max Overend got a time of 18:14, third among individuals, and Luke Dickinson added an 18:49.
Both Marcellus and Solvay took lopsided defeats to a strong Cazenovia girls team that swept the top three spots ahead of Lorelei Reifler’s fourth-place 22:45. Zoe Case (25:04) and Lucy Eldridge (25:20) followed for the Mustangs, who beat the Bearcats 15-51.
West Genesee faced Cicero-North Syracuse and Henninger last Wednesday at Oneida Shores, handling the Black Knights but falling in both races to the Northstars 22-34 (girls) and 21-40 (boys).
Still, Michael Gomes had the top individual run for the Wildcats, going 17:09.2 to beat C-NS’s Tyler Graham 17:54.7) by a full minute as Dillon Holzwarth was sixth in 18:26.5. Sean Moser (19:08.6) beat out Luke Lockwood (19:11.8) for a top-10 finish.
The girls race included Chloe Fietze getting to third place in 20:15.9, with Claire Griffin fifth in 20:33.1. Rebeeca Dickey (20:46.1) beat out Zoe Maupin (21:25.9) for seventh place as Miranda King (23:46.4) rounded out the scoring column in 11th place.
Westhill faced Mexico last Wednesday, and despite Drew O’Reilly’s individual victory in 16:28, the boys Warriors lost 23-34 to the Tigers, who claimed four of the next five spots in between Edward Popp’s fourth-place 17:28. Alex Dacko (18:36) and Chris Gilkes (18:42) made it to the top 10.
Skaneateles ran last Tuesday against Hannibal, prevailing 25-30 on the boys side by exchanging finishes with the Warriors but, most importantly, having Ben Williams finish in front, his 18:32 well clear of the 19:08 from Hannibal’s Zenon Derocha.
Tritan Boucher was third, in 19:20, with Sam Coleman getting fifth place in 20:18. Blake Jonson earned seventh place in 20:23 and Gabriel Holmes, with his ninth-place time of 21:59, sealed the Skaneateles victory.
Jordan-Elbridge won its boys race 23-32 over Phoenix led again by Peyton Bates, who took the individual race in 18:57 to 19:06 for the Firebirds’ Josh Wagner.
Connor Boylan finished fourth, in 20:03, part of a string of four Eagles that included Anthony King getting fifth place in 21:04, Gabriel Jones going 21:52 for sixth place and Alex Coomber (21:53) right behind in seventh place.
Several local teams were at Saturday’s McQuaid Invitational in Rochester, where the Skaneateles girls had Lucy Fleckenstein finish 13th in the A-1 division in 19:05.1, with Tobi DiRubbo 35th in 20:05.9. Ben Williams ran 17:30 flat to lead the boys Lakers.
Up in the Varsity AAA division, West Genesee had Gomes finish 12th in the boys race in 16:12.1, more than a minute ahead of Holzwarth’s 17:38.7.
WG’s girls were in the featured Bob Bradley Premier race, and Fietze did best here, finishing 48th in 19:28.4, with Maupin getting to 59th place in 19:39.1. Long finished in 20:27.5, just ahead of the 20:28.2 from Griffin.
