NYSPHSAA Cross Country Championships: Corning boys repeat as Class A champion
With a seventh-place finish from Ashton Bange leading the way, Corning's boys repeated as Class A champion Saturday at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Cross Country Championships at Vernon Verona Sherrill High School in Verona.
The state championship was the fourth for Corning and marked the program's second back-to-back achievement. The Hawks won the 2016 and 2017 titles in Class A.
"Very, very proud of them to be able to under pressure have their best race of the season," Corning coach Ray Lawson said. "We did that last year and that’s not easy. I did not expect it to go this well today. I thought we had a chance to win and we raced very, very well. And the teams behind us raced very well, so if we were off this wouldn’t have happened."
Vestal's boys also had a stellar showing, placing second in the Class B race behind a fourth-place run by Tim Smith and eighth place from fellow senior Liam Cody.
Susquehanna Valley senior Brynn Hogan placed fourth in the girls Class C race and Corning junior Sarah Lawson took sixth in Class A.
What's Next: Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls will host the New York State Federation Championships on Nov. 19.
Corning's full boys and girls teams will forego that meet and set their sights on the Nike New York regional at Bowdoin Park on Nov. 26. The top two teams for each qualify for Nike Cross Nationals, set for Dec. 3 in Portland, Oregon.
Class A boys
Corning's team score of 60 was followed by 77 from runner-up Monroe-Woodbury and 85 from Northport.
Bange, a senior and two-time Section 4 Class A champion, posted a time of 16 minutes, 19.5 seconds. Gabe Cornfield placed 18th in 16:51 for Corning's second-highest finish on the 5,000-meter course. Solomon Holden-Betts of Baldwinsville won in 16:06.9.
"Ashton ran great. He was out there with the leaders and really fought through well and ended up seventh," Ray Lawson said. "He was about 30 seconds faster than he was here at the pre-state meet."
Other Corning results: Tevin McLaren 32nd in 17:10.5, DJ Cornfield 35th in 17:12.1, Marcus Homa 37th in 17:12.5, Joshua Beres 59th in 17:36.2 and Jaxyn Mahoney 80th in 17:53.8.
Gabe Cornfield was sick at sectionals and bounced back with what Coach Lawson called his best race of the season. Beres, who has dealt with shin injuries, also stood out from the perspective of Lawson, who said his team did a strong job running as a pack after struggling in that regard during its sectional triumph.
"This was very enjoyable. We knew we were returning a good team and we’ve sort of struggled a bit this season to be as good as we thought we could be, just with sickness and injuries and the rest of the state has gotten better," Lawson said. "On paper we started the season and it looked like we were a dominant team in New York and there have been four or five teams who have really trained well over the summer and they closed the gap."
In the unofficial merged results, Corning would have had an overall score of 95 to top the four classes. Bange's time was eighth-fastest overall.
Ithaca finishers were Crosby Woods in 33rd (17:10.7), Everett Shaw in 51st (17:28.4), Noah Hilker in 54th (17:32.4) and Jesse Rinzel in 82nd (17:55.1). Binghamton's Joseph Chermak finished 79th (17:51.8).
Boys cross countryBoys XC: Defending state champ Corning leads way at Section 4 championships
Girls cross country: 2 repeat champs, 2 first-time winners at Section 4 championships
Class A girls
Sarah Lawson's sixth-place time of 18:44 led the Hawks to fourth place with a score of 130. Saratoga Springs far outdistanced the field with a score of 23 while William Floyd's Zariel Macchia won the individual title in 18:02.6.
The fourth-place finish matched the best for a Corning girls team at states. Lawson won STAC and Section 4 titles, but she had been frustrated with her times, her dad said.
"Today she had a huge jump in performance," Ray Lawson said. "She raced some really fast girls and she raced them well. To be sixth place in Class A in New York state is a very good finish. You're racing against a Saratoga team who's ranked No. 1 in the nation."
Ithaca eighth-grader Tsadia Bercuvitz placed 10th (19:02.3) and Elmira's Vicky Mordvinova was 16th (19:23).
Other Section 4 results: Elmira eighth-grader Ella Devlin 51st (20:33.7), Horseheads' Mackenzie Baker 60th (20:46.3), and Corning's Sadie Beres 65th (20:54.2), Lauren Roche 67th (20:59.2), Cassandra Collins 70th (21:08.1), Ella Grinnell 73rd (21:15.7), Taylor Farrell 80th (21:28.7), Meghan McLaughlin 82nd (21:32.1). Union-Endicott's Dakota Limbert finished 95th (22:09.3).
Class B boys
Smith's fourth-place time was 16:50.3 and two-time Section 4 champion Cody finished in 17:07.7. Maximus Haynia of Westhampton Beach won in 16:09.7.
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake won the team title with a score of 35. Vestal's second-place score of 87 was four ahead of Rochester McQuaid.
Also for Vestal, Lucas Catarella placed 42nd (18:07.8), Sam Olson 60th (18:34), Sebastian Coulton 71st (18:47.9), Andrew Herceg 72nd (18:48) and Takumi Guay 88th (19:18.2).
Maine-Endwell's Chris Krichbaum paced other Section 4 runners with a 76th-place finish (18:51.5). M-E's Jacob Sonner finished 79th (18:52.7), M-E's Conner Steele 103rd (20:17.3), Johnson City's Ian Benjamin 106th (20:33.5) and M-E's Aiden Loy 110th (20:39).
Class B girls
Vestal placed ninth with a score of 274. Sayville won with a total of 49 and Cornwall's Karrie Maloga was individual champion in 17:49.
Cassandra Burt of Maine-Endwell placed 41st (21:10.6) to lead Section 4 runners.
Vestal's Bianca Ortiz was 64th (21:59.5), M-E's Jacquelin Savage 90th (23:19.6), Johnson City's Marissa Smith 92nd (23:32.4), JC's Emilia Smith 94th (23:46.1), Vestal's Lindsey Steele 99th (24:35.7), JC's Evelyn Perkins 101st (24:43.8) and Vestal's Ella Coleman (25:21), Bailey Page (25:21.3), Carmella DiRenzo (25:38.3) and Victoria Lamoureaux (25:38.4) occupied spots 106 to 109. Vestal's Orum Pettid finished 114th (27:03.8).
More:Boys XC: Defending state champ Corning leads way at Section 4 championships
More:Girls Cross Country: 2 repeat champs, 2 first-time winners at Section 4 championships
Class C boys
Oneonta finished seventh with a score of 172. Bronxville was champion with 78 and Bennett Melita of Fonda-Fultonville individual winner in 16:36.6.
Leading Oneonta's contingent were Colin Fletcher-Foster in 37th (18:18.3), Kenyon Ziaie in 41st (18:26.8) and Brandon Gardner in 64th (18:54).
Section 4 champion Drew Brooks of Norwich led the section's runners with a 32nd-place finish (18:10.8). Lansing's Trent Thibault placed 34th (18:14), Owego's Magavin Allen 62nd (18:52.1), Owego's Sullivan O'Donnell 83rd (19:20.2) and Chenango Valley's Michael Doyle 86th (19:25).
Class C girls
Hogan, a senior, added a fourth-place state finish to her Section 4 title in her first season of cross country. Her time was 19:53.2. Angelina Napoleon of Allegany-Limestone won in 18:14.1.
Owego placed seventh in the team standings with a score of 172 and East Aurora won with a 53. Jaelyn Chrysler was top finisher for OFA in 24th (20:56.1). Other Owego finishers: Lillymay Wheeland 50th (21:52.8), Abigail Fahey 63rd (22:15.5), Lilly LaFever 100th (23:32), Cameron Pichany 113th (24:12), Abigail Luke 116th (24:29.6) and Abigail McHugh 122nd (25:09.8).
Oneonta's Simone Schuman was the No. 2 runner from Section 4, finishing 19th (20:34.8). Afton/Harpursville/Bainbridge-Guilford's Ethne Degan took 30th (21:09.8), Waverly's Elizabeth Vaughn was 47th (21:41.7) and Lansing's Kinsley Jacobs 65th (22:20.7).
Class D boys
Delhi's Alton Francisco finished 12th in 17:38.5 to lead the Bulldogs to sixth place with a score of 132. Tri-Valley won with a score of 39, led by individual champion Adam Furman (16:21.2).
Spencer-Van Etten/Candor's Jonathan Garrison placed 38th (18:24.1), Trumansburg's Zayne Howley 43rd (18:36.7) and Delhi's Nelson VanMaaren 46th (18:44.6).
Class D girls
Steuben County's Addison of Section 5 placed second with a score of 79 and Section 4 champ Delhi was fifth with a total of 118. Voorheesville was champion with 53.
Addison's Faith Skowvron placed fifth in 19:55.9, one spot ahead of Delhi's Gretel Hilson-Schneider (20:18.2). Delhi's Ellie Lees placed 13th in 20:59.3. Brynn Bernard of South Lewis won in 19:20.4.
Also from Section 4, Mirabella Sanford of Deposit-Hancock was 32nd (21:45.8), Elmira Notre Dame's Piper Young was 46th (22:25.2) and Trumansburg's Libby Foster finished 49th (22:30.6).
Follow Andrew Legare on Twitter: @SGAndrewLegare. You can also reach him at alegare@gannett.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Recap of Section 4 finishers at NYSPHSAA cross country championships
