Submitted Photo
Fredonia/Westfield’s Trenton Krenzer, in front, second from right, is pictured with the team from East Aurora, three Alden runners and a Newfane runner after they qualified for the state cross country meet in Class C on Friday at Knox Farm State Park in East Aurora.
EAST AURORA — Maple Grove’s boys and Clymer/Sherman/Panama’s girls are heading to Queensbury.
They’ll be joined by 11 individual Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association runners who will compete for New York State Public High School Athletic Association cross country championships after their performances Friday at the Section VI state qualifier, held at Knox Farm State Park.
Maple Grove’s boys coasted to the Class D title with 39 points, led by first-place finisher Ethan Verbosky in 16:12.33. Liam Price was 11th (17:50.17), Jacob Lewis was 12th (17:53.29), Joshua Ashbaugh was 13th (18:01.35) and Jack Sherry was 14th (18:02.02).
Clymer/Sherman/Panama’s girls finished first with 26 points, just ahead of Maple Grove’s 35. Tess Flikkema (20:46.35), Grace Cooke (20:46.95) and Solki Martin-Lacayo (20:48.89) finished in the Nos. 3-5 spots, while Brooke Warner was 12th (21:55.79) and Bria Palmatier was 22nd (22:43.13) for the Wolfpack.
Frewsburg’s Cody Kent finished second (16:40.39), West Valley’s Jack Tharnish was third (16:46.78), Gowanda’s Chase Bolen was fourth (17:00.56), Gowanda’s Cashis Montour was fifth (17:03.93) and Franklinville/Ellicottville’s Grant Cornell was sixth (17:20.94) to represent Section VI’s boys in the Class D race at states. Frewsburg’s Daniel Peterson was 10th (17:50.02), Clymer/Sherman/Panama’s Christopher Phelps was 16th (18:08.38) and Clymer/Sherman/Panama’s Finn Fadale was 17th (18:11.78).
Individual Class D girls heading to Queensbury include: West Valley’s Olivia Harmony in first (19:38.97), Allegany-Limestone’s Elexa Duggan in second (19:50.34), Randolph’s Gracyn Rowland in third (20:35.02), Maple Grove’s Evalyn Fessel in seventh (21:10.29) and Wilson’s Hayden Barlow in eighth (21:35.47).
Maple Grove’s Mae Benedetto was ninth (21:44.33), Gowanda’s Rhianna Woods was 10th (21:49.08), Maple Grove’s Sydney Simmons was 11th (21:51.64), Maple Grove’s Svea Winchester was 15th (22:11.08), Maple Grove’s Presley Haines was 16th (22:11.84), Maple Grove’s Lily Bohall was 18th (22:18.28) and Frewsburg’s Reagan Cheney was 19th (22:30.20).
Fredonia/Westfield sophomore Trenton Krenzer qualified for the state meet in Class C boys after finishing 11th in 17:29.06. Alden took the top three spots, followed by seven East Aurora runners. The three Bulldogs, Krenzer and Newfane’s Liam Betteridge clinched the individual spots, while the Blue Devils qualified as a team. Fredonia/Westfield’s Jimmy Fagan took 13th, one spot away from qualifying, with a time of 17:30.81.
Falconer/Cassadaga Valley earned the Section VI Class C2 title with 54 points, 14 better than Southwestern. Silver Creek/Forestville was fifth (113) and Salamanca was seventh (155). The Golden Cougars’ five scoring runners and their overall Class C positions were: Gabe Lundmark (23rd, 18:32.41), Seth Carr (30th, 18:59.68), Liam Sharpe (32nd, 19:02.85), Brent Troutman (34th, 19:07.51) and James Mitchner (58th, 20:02.12).
Fredonia/Westfield placed third in Class C1 with 80 points, 50 behind first-place East Aurora.
In the Class C girls race, Southwestern’s Emma Lewis qualified for states with a fourth-place finish in 19:12.19. Fifth-place Leah Mays of Silver Creek/Forestville finished in 19:25.17 and seventh-place Ryanna Brady of Salamanca finished in 19:35.65 to also qualify for states. Southwestern’s Tryniti Card took 12th (20:41.93) and Fredonia/Westfield’s Meredith Lendt was 14th (20:51.76).
East Aurora earned the Class C team bid with 34 points, 60 better than second-place Springville.
Fredonia/Westfield took fourth in Class C1 girls, while Southwestern was second, Silver Creek/Forestville was fifth and Falconer/Cassadaga Valley was seventh in Class C2 girls.
In Class A boys, Jamestown’s Clevon Wofford qualified for the state meet with a sixth-place finish in 16:59.23. Clarence earned the team qualifying spot with 38 points, while Jamestown was third with 73. Eighth-place Finn Caswell (17:15.02) and ninth-place Wyatt Olmstead (17:17.44) just missed out on qualifying positions for the Red & Green.
In Class A girls, Orchard Park won the team title with 63 points. Jamestown’s top finisher was 10th-place London Hamilton (20:38.85) and the Red & Green’s Nora Bailey took 14th (20:43.65).
Hamburg won the Class B boys crown, while Starpoint won the Class B girls title. Seventh-place Hanan Mohamad Narvaez of Dunkirk missed out by one qualifying spot with a seventh-place finish in 20:46.71.