Last week the Bears Cross Country teams had two meets, one in Ogdensburg on Sept. 20 against most of Section X and a large invitational in Utica on Sept. 24. Although these two courses were very different, the Bears did very well at both meets.
In Ogdensburg the girls team placed second and the boys team placed third. In Utica the girls placed third out of 14 teams and the boys placed sixth out of 20 teams at the 79th EJ Herrmann Cross Country Invitational. In this meet the Bears’ opponents included schools from Northern, Central, and Western New York, as well as Canada.
In Ogdensburg the course was very flat, and shorter then a normal 5k at only three miles. Runners were also given the choice to run on the grass or the pavement at certain points during the race. The Bears ran against Norwood-Norfolk, Potsdam, Gouverneur, Salmon River, Brushton-Moira, Franklin Academy, Massena, Ogdensburg, and Tupper Lake.
The boys raced first and after a short but fast race sophomore Kaden Worthley was the first scorer from Canton, placing eighth with a time of 18:21.40. Following Worthley for Canton were sophomores Daniel Armendariz-Huang who placed ninth with a time of 18:35.41, Lucas Watts who placed 13th with a time of 19:00.36, Rylan Lee-Powell who placed 22nd with a time of 20:11.53, and junior Nick Moquin who placed 28th with a time of 20:32.56. The Ogdensburg meet saw Canton varsity boys place third to Norwood-Norfolk and Franklin Academy, with the final scores tallying up to Norwood-Norfolk in first with 25 points, Franklin Academy in second with 56 points, Canton in third with 71 points, Salmon River in fourth with 99 points, Brushton-Moira in fifth with 115 points, and Potsdam in sixth with 130 points. Because the other teams did not have seven people, they were unable to score.
In the girls meet freshman Bennett Schmitt placed fourth with a time of 20:37.86, sophomore Johanna Tupper placed fifth with a time of 20:48.07, and senior Grace McDonough placed sixth with a time of 20:52.72. Following them were sophomores Haley Burnett and Violet Foster, placing 14th and 20th with times of 22:44.91 and 23:29.34 respectively. The Ogdensburg meet saw the Canton varsity girls place second to Norwood-Norfolk. The final scores were Norwood-Norfolk in first with 26 points, Canton in second with 45 points, Gouverneur in 3rd with 63 points, Franklin Academy in fourth with 116 points, and Brushton-Moira in fifth with 118 points.
On Saturday the 24th, the teams drove down to Utica for the 79th annual EJ Herrmann Cross Country Invitational. The Bears did extremely well against schools from all over New York and Canada, especially for their first invitational of the year. Canton raced in the Varsity Small Schools category which had 171 runners for the boys and 130 for the girls. The 5k course started out very flat for the first section, with only one large hill, which led to a very fast opening mile. The middle section has some steep uphills and downhills, and it finished in a long flat finishing shoot.
For the boys team Worthley placed 26th with a time of 19:23.3, Armendariz-Huang placed 30th with a 19:30.5, Watts placed 31st with a 19:32.8, Lee-Powell placed 70th with a 21:12.8, and Moquin placed 73rd with a 21:25.8. Freshman Duncan Harper placed 88th with a time of 22:05.3, junior Aaron Putman placed 90th with a 22:11.4, sophomore Aiden Pearson placed 91st with a 22:13.3, and freshman Adam Sabatini placed 94th with a 22:20.9.
The final scores for the top ten teams in the Boys Varsity Small School race were Fonda-Fultonville in first with 76 points, Delhi in second with 80 points, Oneonta HS in third with 95 points, Camden in fourth with 164 points, Beaver River in fifth with 182 points, Canton in sixth with 202 points, Sauquiot Valley in seventh with 207 points, Cooperstown in eighth with 214, Lake Placid in 9th with 247, and Dolgeville in tenth with 290. The top 50 runners received ribbons.
For the Girls team Schmitt placed ninth with a time of 21:26.1, McDonough placed 17th with a 22:18.8, Tupper placed 23rd with a 23:06.7, Burnett placed 45th with a 24:26.6, and Foster placed 59th with a 23:35.7. Sophomore Cecelia McKinley placed 62nd with a time of 25:45.8, and senior Rori McCarthy placed 64th with a time of 25:51.7.
The final scores for the top ten teams in the Girls Varsity Small School race were Beaver River in first with 67 points, Adirondack in second with 78 points, Canton in third with 119 points, Delhi in fourth with 142 points, Clinton in fifth with 152 points, Westmoreland with sixth with 164 points, Lake Placid in seventh with 174 points, Remsen-Old Forge in eighth with 209 points, Dolgeville in ninth with 215 points, and Fonda-Fultonville in 10th with 243 points. Because the Girls team got 3rd place they received a commemorative plaque, and Schmitt received a special T-shirt for placing in the top ten. As with the boys, the top 50 received ribbons.
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