There was some suspense but virtually no surprises at last Friday’s Section II Cross Country Championships at Saratoga Spa State Park.
The Shenendehowa boys and Saratoga girls teams defended their class AA titles, though Shaker battled Shen for top honors. The Plainsmen placed four runners in the top 10 to finish with 39 points five points ahead of the Blue Bison, who had three of the top four individuals.
Saratoga’s Demetri Goutos won the class AA boys race with a time of 15:14.5, 11 seconds ahead of Shaker’s R.J. Sniffen. Craig Weiss (15:27.6) and Chris Manico (15:28.1) took the next two places for the Blue Bison before Jamie Glover started Shen’s pack with a fifth-place time of 15:35.5.
Goutos, Sniffen, Weiss, Manico and Guilderland’s Roland Graves (seventh place, 15:42.1) qualified for the state cross country meet as individuals.
The Saratoga girls had little trouble remaining on top of the class AA heap. Led by Hannah Davidson’s victory, the Blue Streaks finished with 30 points, 43 points ahead of second-place Shen.
Davidson covered the 3.05-mile course in a winning time of 17:03.5, while teammate Cassie Goutos place second in a time of 17:21.5. Sydney King (seventh place, 18:10.8) and Brianne Bellon (ninth, 18:23.6) also finished in the top 10 for Saratoga.
Shen’s Lizzie Predmore (third, 17;41.3), Cara Janeczko (fourth, 17:42.3) and Morgan Roche (fifth, 17:46.6) qualified for the state meet, along with Niskayuna’s Chelsea Trant (sixth, 18:08.4) and Colonie’s Gabrielle Rodriguez (eighth, 18:12.3).
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake and Queensbury split the two class A titles. Queensbury took the boys title with 20 points, while BH-BL won the girls championship with 33 points three ahead of Queensbury.
Queensbury dominated the boys race, placing seven runners in the top 10. Only BH-BL’s Otis Ubriaco (second, 15:44.2), Sean Pezzulo (sixth, 16:00.7) and Kent Harlow (10th, 16:10.4) broke up Queensbury’s pack. The BH-BL trio qualified for the state meet as individuals.
The girls class A race held more suspense, as BH-BL and Queensbury fought for the title. BH-BL gained the upper hand by taking the top two places and gained some additional help when Alyssa Drapeau (18:11.0) and Rachel Stalker (18:20.9) placed ninth and 10th respectively.
Sam Roecker led the Lady Spartans by winning the class A individual title in a time of 17:04.8, while BH-BL teammate Molly Pezzulo placed second in a time of 17:03.7.
Scotia-Glenville’s Jillian King joined Queensbury’s Brittany Winslow, Carly Winn, Danielle Winslow and Morgan Mueller on the Section II team going to states after finishing fourth in the class A race with a time of 17:50.0.
The other team titles went to Ichabod Crane (boys) and Broadalbin-Perth (girls) in class B, Voorheesville (boys) and Greenwich (girls) in class C, and Schenectady Christian (boys) and Duanesburg (girls) in class D.
Voorheesville placed three runners in the top 10 of the boys class C race, led by Macky Lloyd’s first-place finish in a time of 15:52.1. Conor Cashin (fourth, 16:28.3) and Ian Powell (sixth, 16:42.2) also reached the top 10 for the Blackbirds.
Schenectady Christian’s pack was led by Kyle Galarneau, who finished second in a time of 16:57.5. Brendan Guere was ninth in a time of 17:39.3.“