MARCELLUS – It proved quite a successful Onondaga High School League Liberty division championship meet for the girls cross country teams at Chittenango and Cazenovia Wednesday at Marcellus Park.
All the Bears and Lakers did was go 1-2 overall, with Chittenango’s 55 points just ahead of the Lakers’ 68. What’s more, they won their respective divisions to bring home more honors.
In the Liberty National division it was Cazenovia with 29 points to Skaneateles’ 42 led by Lily Kogut, who finished fourth overall and second in the National division race covering the 2.85 mile Marcellus Park course in 18 minutes 10.6 seconds. Only Skaneateles’ Lucy Fleckenstein (17:39.8) did better as she was also the overall race champion.
Abbie Comeau continued her strong freshman season taking third in the division and seventh overall in 19:11.1. Maeve McGreevy was 15th in the race and sixth in the division in 20:17 flat as Izzy Stromer-Galley (21:09.3) and Avery Cashatt (21:27.1) also were in the top 10 of the Liberty National race ahead of Haylee Stearns (21:27.7) and Gwen Livingston (21:38.4).
Yet it was Chittenango topping all teams in the field and winning the American division with 36 points to runner-up Westhill’s 55 with its depth behind top runner Natalie DiGennaro, who finished sixth overall posting a time of 18:56.8.
Five of the top 11 runners in the Liberty American race came from the Bears, with Mariah Stewart eighth overall in 19:26.4 and Ani McCarthy getting 10th place in 19:35 flat. Ava McLean posted 20:02.3 for 13th place overall and Emily Judd (20:56.4) sneaked inside the individual top 20 leading Kyra Congden (21:32.8) and Karlee Paone (22:18.1).
All this followed the boys OHSL Liberty race where Cazenovia was within a single point of the National division title, its 49 points one behind Marcellus’ 48 in an exact reversal of the one-point win the Lakers got over the Mustangs in the regular-season finale exactly one week earlier.
Jake Woolbert’s time of 15:25.6 put him third in the individual race, not far from the winning 15:01.9 by Marcellus’ Liam Eldridge, while Kooper Wilmot was 14th overall and fifth in the division in 16:37.8.
Nolan Campagna posted 16:53 flat for eighth place in the National division race, while Evan Molloy (17:27.3) was just ahead of Will Galton (17:33.2). Gavin Wagner (17:49.6) and Henri Mongeau (17:50.6) also broke the 18-minute mark.
Chittenango, meanwhile, was second both in the American division and in the combined standings, trailing only Mexico as the Bears had 97 overall points to the Tigers’ 50.
Bryce Edwards, in a clocking of 16:17.2, was seventh overall and third in the American division, with Zach Driscoll going 16:23.8 to finish just outside the individual top 10.
Dan Mahle got 21st place overall and 13th in the American division in 16:57.8, with Logan Rogers (17:09.7) behind them and Gavin Roach (17:24.8) edging Ethan Lavier (17:25.7) for the final scoring spot. Sean Navin finished in 17:54.1.
