If it seemed like all the cross country league championship meets took place a bit early this fall - well, you're right.
As with many other fall sports, the tendency this year is to avoid doing anything on Oct. 31. With Halloween on a Saturday, that's led to some odd scheduling, like all 10 football semifinals on Friday, plus lots of soccer and volleyball on that day, too.
It also meant league cross country meets taking place as many as 19 days before the Nov. 7 sectional gathering at Jamesville Beach, and the results proved somewhat illuminating.
They started on Oct. 20 with the Tri-Valley meet at VVS (the 2010 sectional and 2011 state course), where Holland Patent, led by the Racha Brothers, completely dominated the boys side, claiming six of the top nine spots. The girls meet saw New Hartford edge HP by a single point, 45-46, as the Spartans' fifth runner proved the difference. Katie Day (Whitesboro) took individual honors.
On that same day, Beaver River ruled both sides of the Frontier League meet at APW, continuing the excellence of that north-country power that sits atop the state Class D ranks. Matt Cheney won the boys race and led the Beavers to the front, and the BR girls held off South Jefferson and South Lewis despite the Falcons' Victoria Campanian being the only individual to break the 20-minute mark.
Oct. 21 brought the CNY Counties League meets, with Liverpool sweeping the National division titles in Baldwinsville and F-M doing the same in the American division gathering at Central Square.
As expected, B'ville challenged the Liverpool boys, but fell seven points short as Colin Savage edged Shaun Thompson for individual honors. It was CNS finishing second in the girls National division behind individual champion Nicole Watterud, though Liverpool countered with Lesley Bowers finishing second and three others (Rachel Putman, Chelsey Attaway, Melissa Riehl) in the fourth through sixth spots.
Meanwhile, F-M's girls team grabbed seven of the top eight spots in smothering the CNYCL American field, with West Genesee's superb eighth-grader, Laura Leff, the lone exception. The Wildcats came closer to F-M in the boys meet, but Brendan Farrell still won, and WG, led by Steve Houghmaster and Billy Gabriel, had to wait until Saturday's Marathon Invitational to find the win column.
To finish the cycle, on Saturday two big meets took place, as the Onondaga High School League gathered at Cato-Meridian and the Center State Conference teams traveled to Cooperstown.
On the OHSL side, the Marcellus boys went to the front, with the Mustangs' Jesse Garn beating the field by more than 20 seconds - obviously Garn likes the mud. Tully, who had Ohure Sam finish second to Garn, won the girls meet by placing all five of its top runners in the top 25. Pulaski's Katie Weisenberger repeated as individual champion as CBA was second on both the male and female sides.
Out at the CSC meet, it was the Sauquoit Valley Show, team-wise, as it claimed five of the top seven girls spots, with Susan Prichard claiming the individual race. As expected, Cooperstown's super senior, Caleb Edmonds, dominated the boys race, beating the field by half a minute, but Sauquoit went to the top by claiming a third of the top 15 finishing slots.
Now, except for a few small events on Halloween, everyone goes into deep preparation, waiting for Jamesville Beach and the bigger prizes ahead...
CATEGORY: Running
TAGS: Cross country, league championships, summary
