CENTRAL NEW YORK – Area high school cross country teams still had some important meets to face before the post-season got underway – some close to home, others much further away.
Fayetteville-Manlius took the local route, as did Christian Brothers Academy as both competed in last Friday’s Chittenango Bears Twilight Invitational, with the Hornets sweeping both individual races.
Izzie Sullivan, in 18 minutes, 54.8, won the girls race, going 1-2 with Camille Ryan, who posted 19:14.1 as Maria Khalifeh made her way to fourth place in 19:30 flat.
Jordan Giannetti (19:47.3), Claire McDonald (19:50.9) and Ava Beecher (20:04.1) also had top-10 finishes as F-M easily claimed the girls team title. CBA was led by Adele Sommer, who was 36th in 23:00.4, just ahead of the 23:12.4 from Ava LaValle and 23:18.4 from Sophia Sheehan.
In the boys race, it was all F-M’s Nolan McGinn, whose 15:46.7 was nearly a full minute ahead of CBA’s Joe McMahon, who made his way to second place in 16:39.7, the only other time under 17 minutes.
The Brothers actually beat the Hornets, 141 points to 153, for fourth place behind Cicero-North Syracuse, Mexico and West Genesee, though on an individual basis F-M’s Will Ditre (17:43.9) edged CBA’s Kyle Gaffney (17:44.1) for 11th place. James Cass was 22nd in 18:17.6 and Manlius Pebble Hill had Jacob Temes finish 24th in 18:26.9.
Before this, CBA raced against Cortland last Wednesday afternoon, winning the boys race 17-44 over the Purple Tigers as Cass took individual honors in a time of 20:17. Vivaan Shah posted 21:03, ahead of the 21:08 from Daniel Abbe and 21:10 from Gaffney.
During the CBA girls’ 18-50 romp over Cortland, LaValle won the individual race in 24:14, well clear of Sommer’s second-place 25:18. Bella Wagner was fourth in 26:45 as Zoie Whelan was fifth in 27:36 and Abby Nash sixth in 28:11.
East Syracuse Minoa traveled to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx for Saturday’s annual Manhattan College Invitational, where the Spartans finished 15th in the boys A division and 21st in the girls division.
Individually for the Spartans, Jaelyn Jordan led the girls, earning a top-50 finish as she covered the 2.5-mile course in 16:51.3. That just beat out the best boys finish from Brandon Cerlanek, whose 14:42.3 was just outside the top 50 and followed closely by Joe Pedroso-Garcia’s 14:46.3.
Closer to home, at Rome Free Academy’s Coughlin Invitational, Bishop Grimes got a victory from Evy Livingston in the girls race. Livingston’s time of 20:03.34 easily beat out the second-place 20:42.43 from Westmoreland’s Emma Szarek.
