2016 Section V XC Championships
Thomas, Penfield, Mendon Strike Back!
Vestri and Lawler win by 20 and 18 secs over Watson and Dellinger
Section V Champions:
Class A Girls Webster Thomas and Amanda Vestri
Class A Boys Penfield and Fairport’s Majd Rouhana
Class B Girls Canandaigua and Sutherland’s Maddie Hobika
Class B Boys Pittsford Mendon and Nathan Lawler
Class C Girls Waterloo and Livonia’s Haleigh Palotti
Class C Boys Addison and Hornell’s Joshua Walsh
Class D Girls Harley-Allendale-Columbia and Emma Fiorini
Class D Boys Oakfield/Elba and Campbell-Savona’s Nick Harrigan
Class DD Girls Red Creek and Chloe Weaver
Class DD Boys Geneseo and Clyde-Savannah-Lyons Ethan Dielshelar
Last week at the Monroe County Championships the Rush-Henrietta girls upset Webster Thomas, Fairport boys beat undefeated Penfield, and Brighton took 3rd over a 6th place Pittsford Mendon who had been 3-time overall county champion. But this week with a trip to states on the line Thomas beat Rush for girls class A, Penfield beat Fairport for boys class A, and Mendon beat Brighton for boys Class B.
Here’s the movement from counties to sectionals:
Sectionals Thomas Girls 42: 1 Amanda Vestri, 4 Claire Ashton, 9 Heather Ashton, 13 Sadie Cunningham, 15 Lia Kowalski.
Sectionals Rush Girls 53: 2 Sammy Watson, 5 Bailey Pierce, 7 Haley Riorden, 19 Allison Menendez, 20 Emma Canny
Counties Thomas Girls 81: 1 Amanda Vestri, 6 Claire Ashton, 23 Heather Ashton, 24 Lia Kowalski, 27 Kate Welch
Counties Rush Girls 63: 2 Sammy Watson, 5 Bailey Pierce, 11 Haley Riorden, 20 Emma Canny, 25 Allison Menendez
Looks like Thomas’ Ashton move from losing to Rush’ Riorden by 4 places to beating her by 6 places made the big difference.
Sectionals Penfield Boys 54: 2 Tyler Senall, 9 Brad Farnham, 11 Jacob Fredericks, 15 Conor Davis, 17 Zachary Gauronski
Sectionals Fairport Boys 59: 1 Majd Rouhana, 7 Sean Henretta, 12 Ben Bulkeley, 19 Ethan Abell, 20 Nathan Markle
Counties Penfield Boys 99: 5 Tyler Senall, 12 Brad Farnham, 21 Jacob Fredericksw, 23 Jack Murphy, 38 Conor Davis
Counties Fairport Boys 87: 2 Majd Rouhana, 9 Sean Henretta, 22 Matt Abell, 26 Nathan Markle, 27 Ben Bulkeley
In Counties Penfield 5th man Davis(38) gave up 11 places to Fairport 5th man Bulkeley. And although both Davis and Bulkeley moved up to 4th man on their teams, at Sectionals Davis(15) made up 8 places by getting within 3 of Bulkeley(12).
Sectionals Mendon Boys 56: 1 Nathan Lawler, 9 Sam Lawler, 13 Sam Trawick, 16 Joshua McCarthy, 17 Conor Fitzgerald
Sectionals Brighton Boys 57: 2 Paul Dellinger, 3 Jonah Simpson, 12 Oliver Rapp, 14 William Stone, 26 Xander Guzman
Counties Mendon Boys 138: 1 Nathan Lawler, 24 Sam Trawick, 30 Sam Lawler, 35 Conor Fitzgerald, 48 James Smith
Counties Brighton Boys 122: 2 Paul Dellinger, 7 Jonah Simpson, 29 Oliver Rapp, 34 William Stone, 50 Xander Guzman
What a heartbreak for Brighton, year after year being as high as second ranked Class B Boys team in the state only to be denied entry into NYSPHSAA championships because Mendon has been the top Class B Boys team in the state. After beating Mendon in Counties this seemed like their year, but they lost it by 1 point. The key improvements for Mendon were in positions 2 and 5 where Mendon lost a net sum of 15 at counties and gained a net sum of 5 at Sectionals. Brighton 2nd man Simpson’s 31 second gap over Mendon’s 2nd man Trawick shrunk to a 21 second gap over Mendon freshmen Sam Lawler and there were a lot less runners at Sectionals to fill in that gap than there were at Counties. But there was also overall improvement for Mendon as Brighton had a total time of 15.8 seconds faster than Mendon at Counties, and Mendon had total time that was 2.9 seconds faster than Brighton at Sectionals.