CENTRAL NEW YORK – The third Wednesday in September brought out all of the area’s Onondaga High School League cross country teams for league meets, some of them against each other.
Skaneateles did so and then saw its top girls runner, Lucy Fleckenstein, go to Saturday’s Baldwinsville Invitational and finish third in the Small School division with a time of 19 minutes 28.8 seconds, not far behind the winning 19:20.3 from Oneida’s Molly Myatt. Teammate Tobi DiRubbo was 39th in 22:52.7.
Marcellus finished fifth out of 38 teams in the boys Small School race at B’ville, with Liam Eldridge eighth among team runners and 10th overall in 17:00.8 as Skaneateles’ Tritan Boucher (17:34.5) was just outside the top 10 and two ahead of Jaimeson Palen’s 17:47.3 for the Mustangs.
Before this, Skaneateles met Solvay at Long Branch Park and the Lakers handled the Bearcats 22-34 on the boys side with Boucher at the forefront, winning the race in a quick 16:30 over the 18:06 from teammate Ben Williams.
Solvay’s Max Overend was third in 18:22, helped by Luke Dickinson (19:17) and Jordan Lorick (19:27) as Aaron Trendell (20:32) and Jack Burke (21:00) were also in the top 10. But the Lakers clinched it with Sam Coleman finishing fourth in 19:09, Gabe Holmes taking seventh in 19:34 and Oliver Jirousek ninth in 20:52.
In the Skaneateles girls’ 15-50 win over Solvay Fleckenstein won in 19:43 while DiRubbo’s 22:40 edged Rachelle Berube (22:43) for second place. Monica Pohl (23:07) and Annabel Wells (24:42) followed as Brielle Burke (28:45) led the Bearcats.
Marcellus rolled past Homer 17-44 in the boys race as Eldridge pulled clear of the field, winning in 16:52. No one else broke 18 minutes as Palen was second in 18:21, with Evan Fullagar (18:38) and Robert Hakes (18:51) in the next two spots.
For the girls Mustangs to beat the Firebirds 22-33, Lorelei Reffler had to post a time of 23:58, well clear of her Marcellus teammates. Lucinda Eldridge finished in 25:28, with Magnolia Maum (25:38) and Jane Middaugh (25:58) trailing.
Westhill started strong on the boys side, topping Homer 18-38 with a top-three individual sweep. Anthony Cardoso beat the field with his time of 18:46, with Chris Gilkes second in 18:55 and Thompson Tyszka going 19:28 for third place.
Then the Westhill girls completed the sweep of the Trojans 23-39. Sabine Napolitano’s second-place 21:37 trailed Homer’s Ingrid Aagaard (20:33), but Adelina Montalto (23:58) and Reagan Wright (24:46) helped push the Warriors in front to stay.
Jordan-Elbridge had to take on Cazenovia at Gutchess Park in Cortland, falling in both races to the Lakers as the Eagles’ lone top-eight finisher in the girls event was Abby Bates running to third in 21:57, trailing Lily Kogut (20:51) and Abbie Comeau (20:53).
Meanwhile, J-E’s boys fell to Cazenovia 18-45, Connor Boylan getting to third place in 18:23 to pace the Eagles behind the Lakers duo of Jake Woolbert (16:19) and Kooper Wilmot (17:59) as Anthony King posted 19:07 for seventh place.
A day earlier, West Genesee met Liverpool and Syracuse West at Long Branch Park, splitting both meets as they handled Syracuse West but lost to the Warriors.
The girls race was close, but the Wildcats lost 25-30 to the Warriors as both teams had five top-10 runners, but Liverpool got the top two thanks to Taylor Page’s 19:21.9 and Kaitlyn Hotaling’s 19:42.6.
Rebecca Dickey gave the WG girls a third-place clocking of 20:40.5. Juliana Fasulo was fourth in 21:17.4, Thalie Petrie going 21:21.7 for sixth place and Claire Griffin eighth in 21:31 flat to beat out Lily Pellegrino (21:33.3) for that spot.
In the boys race, Liverpool built its 21-34 decision sweeping the top three ahead of the Wildcats’ David Petrus, who was fourth in 18:33.1. Dillon Holzwarth took fifth in 18:38.8, Sean Moser getting seventh place in 18:50.1 edging Mason Doran (18:51.8) in eighth as Archer Macholl was 10th in 19:04.9.
WG then raced Saturday in the Large School division of the Baldwinsville Invitational where it finished seventh out of 13 girls teams and eighth out of 16 boys teams.
Fasulo led the girls Wildcats by finishing 22nd in 20:48.4, three spots ahead of Dickey (20:59.2) as Petrie (21:06.9) was also in the top 30. Petrus, in 17:58.1, beat out Moser (17:59.9) for 27th place to pace the WG boys.
