This Thursday the Bears XC teams had their Sectional Meet in which runners in classes B, C, and D could qualify for the State Meet individually, or as a team. The race took place at Ogdensburg’s pothole-ridden 3-mile course.
In the girl’s race, Norwood-Norfolk’s Madison Carista and Canton sophomore Bennett Schmitt battled for first, with Carista eventually coming out on top. Carista finished in 19:18, and Schmitt placed second in 19:32. Norwood-Norfolk runners Allie Snell and Rachel Hewey placed third and fourth in 20:08 and 20:51. Despite rolling her ankle in one of the potholes, Canton freshman Ori Casserly still placed fifth in 21:10. Canton’s next three runners were freshman Lena Frank, who placed tenth in 21:55, Violet Foster, who placed 12th in 22:34, and Lorelei Harper who placed 22nd in 26:39. In Class B, Malone won the team championship, in Class C Norwood-Norfolk won as a team, and in Class D Brushton-Moira won as a team. These three teams can take seven runners to states. The individual qualifiers were Schmitt, Casserly, Millicent Dean (Potsdam), Abby Bowman (Gouverneur) and Frank from Class C, and Raegan Fritts and Ava Facteau from Tupper Lake in Class D. These runners will join the best in the state at Vernon Verona Sherrill Central School on Saturday, November 11.
In the boy’s race, Norwood-Norfolk’s Dominic Fiacco placed first by over a minute, continuing his section-wide dominance with a time of 16:06. Canton juniors filled in the next three spots, placing second, third, and fourth. Lucas Watts finished in 17:12, Aiden Rodriguez-Doyle crossed the line in 17:16, and Rylan Lee-Powell placed fourth in 17:23. Andrew David from Massena placed fifth in 17:26. Canton’s top five was rounded out by junior Kaden Worthley, who placed sixth in 17:28, and sophomore Adam Sabatini, who placed ninth in 17:50. Canton’s 1-5 split of 38 is once again the best of the season, and the Bears will be looking to race as a pack going into States. The team champions in each class were Malone in Class B, Canton in Class C, and Brushton-Moira in Class D. The Individual Qualifiers were David, from Class B, and Fiacco, William Jones (Potsdam), Riley Sweet (Norwood-Norfolk), Logan Bradley (Norwood-Norfolk), and Bailey Vink (Potsdam) from Class C.