MARCELLUS – Even with a roster of just five runners, the Skaneateles girls cross country team has proven quite mighty, and stepped up even more as the post-season got underway.
Boosted by sophomore Lucy Fleckenstein’s winning effort, the Lakers finished tops in the National Division portion of Wednesday’s Onondaga High School League Liberty championships at Marcellus Park.
It was a close individual race at the front, but Fleckenstein, in 18 minutes, 35 seconds, held off Homer’s Ingrid Aagaard (18:38.8) by 3.8 seconds to claim the title, while junior Tobi DiRubbo gained third place in 19:11.4.
Then, on the team side, Skaneateles picked up 29 points to edge Cazenovia (34) in the National division while, overall, it had 73 points to edge Westhill (81 points) for second behind Chittenango’s winning 38 points.
Fleckenstein, DiRubbo and Caroline McSwain, who finished ninth overall in 19:51.1, all finished ahead of Cazenovia’s best time of 19:55.4 by Maeve McGreevy. Then Annabel Wells finished 11th among Liberty National runners (32nd overall) in 22:42.9 and Monica Pohl, in 22:24.9, rounded out the squad.
Leading Westhill’s efforts, Eileen Mullen made her way to eighth place overall in 19:48.8. Stella Napolitano finished 13th in 20:22.9, while Isabel Leonardo (20:54.2) also had a top-20 finish. Caitlyn Knohl, in 21:29.8, beat out a 21:50.4 from Ellie Thornton and 21:53.3 from Rachel Evans.
Hosting the meet, Marcellus got a 20th-place clocking of 20:57.1 from Lorelei Reffler. Lucy Eldridge gained 39th place in 23:05.2, with Jane Middaugh (23:26.2) and Zoe Case (23:55.5) also in the top 50. Jordan-Elbridge runner Abigayle Bates went 20:54.2 for 18th place overall.
The boys OHSL Liberty race followed, with Mexico taking overall team honors and Cazenovia prevailing in the Liberty National division. Westhill was second to the Tigers in the American division and Marcellus got second to Cazenovia in the National division.
Individually, Westhill’s Edward Popp led the local contingent, getting to third place in a clocking of 15:49 flat, while Alex Dacko stepped up and ran to ninth place in 16:31.0. Chris Gilkes, in 17:20.2, beat out Bryce Burdick (17:20.8) for 25th place as John-Paul Headd (18:24.6) rounded out the scoring column.
Liam Eldridge ran well for Marcellus, taking eighth place in 16:11.8, while Robbie Hakes was 28th in 17:27 flat, just ahead of Evan Fullagar’s 17:37.5 and Ay-Zoh Shaw’s 17:41.8 as Ethan Checksfield posted 17:47.8.
Skaneateles saw Tritan Boucher run to 12th place in 16:43.5, with teammate Ben Williams (16:47.8) close behind in 15th place as J-E had Peyton Bates get 17th place in 16:54.5. Solvay was fourth out of seven Liberty National division teams as Max Overend finished 20th in 17:04.2, with Luke Dickinson (17:40.2) and Jack Burke (17:44.9) also in the top 40.
Bishop Ludden runners took part in the OHSL Patriot division championships at Tully High School, where sophomore Porter Sheen was 10th in the boys race in 19:09.5 and Mia DeCarlo got 14th place in the girls race in 23:26.2.
All of these teams and runners will now prepare for the Nov. 4 Section III championships at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School, which will also host the Nov. 4 state championship races.
