SECTION 4 GIRLS' CROSS COUNTRY: HAWKS TOP ITHACA TO CAPTURE SECTIONAL TITLE (17 PHOTOS) (2024-11-07)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
CHENANGO VALLEY — The Corning Hawks were a new-look team this year, and all season long they have been looking to put everything together.

That happened on Thursday night as the Hawks ran their way to the title at the Section 4, Class A Championships at Chenango Valley State Park, finishing with a team score of 27. Ithaca was second at 35.

“It feels really good, especially coming in as the underdog, we are proud of this team,” Lauren Roche said.

All season Corning coach Ray Lawson thought the girls were capable of beating Ithaca, but it didn’t happen until Thursday afternoon.

“Each week I kept feeling like we were good enough,” Lawson said. “And, we could win some of the matchups and then we kept having people sick and having people have off days. I just kept expecting it to happen. We lost the STAC meet by three points and so one of the practices I just laid out the way it scored and I said you guys figure out how you are going to win this. And, they came up with a thing and said they were going to score 27 points and it’s exactly what they scored today. So, maybe I’ll just start doing that fro now on and say you guys figure it out.”

It’s been an adjustment this year for the Hawks with a new-look roster who has dealt with injuries during the season.

“We have been training off,” Lawson said. “Often times we keep training right until the state meet. It depends on how the season is going. We had to try and dial our workouts a little and get people recovered and people fresh. That doesn’t always work. Sometimes you try and get people fresh and use that in the race and these girls really did. They used that today. A lot of them had their personal bests today. A lot of the girls in the top seven it’s their first cross country season ever. I have three seniors that it’s their first season of cross country. A junior, first season of cross country, besides the freshman there. To have people it be their first championship race and to do so well it’s really a credit to them and they were locked in today.”

Junior Olivia Martinec, who played soccer a year ago, led Corning with a third-place finish in 19:57.

“Coach has been telling me for a long time (to run),” Martinec said. “It’s a new experience. It just feels good to have something new to do.”

Many of Martinec’s teammates tried to get her to join the team.

“It took a lot of hard work, we pushed her,” Roche said.

Martinec, who is a standout track runner, is someone who Lawson always thought could be special.

“Sometimes you can see the talent and be like you are one of the top runners in the state,” Lawson said. “And, she enjoys it. I never want somebody to be racing a cross country race and wish they were doing another sport. Because, it’s brutal out there and you suffer so they have to want to do it. Because, you can’t fake it when you are out there racing a 5K.

“There were a lot of girls who were middle distance runners, indoor and outdoor. I think we graduated seven seniors last year and I think they could see there was an opportunity to compete at a high level and they stepped up. It’s not easy to go from racing 800 meters to racing 5000 meters, but they stepped up today and  I was really proud of them.

Roche is a returner for the Hawks, finishing fifth on Thursday in 20:57.20.

“We worked really hard over the summer,” Roche said. “We have an entirely new top seven. We only have one returning, so it’s really special and we worked really hard for this.”

Ithaca’s Tsadia Bercuvitz (18:09.10) and Avery Whittaker (19:37.90) went 1-2 in the race. But, Corning took the next four spots. After Martinec and Roche was Kyra Gross (21:36.30) and Elianna Schneider (21:39.80). Leila Ianovic was 11th in 21:50.80 and Madie Sweet (21:59.30), Lillian Deuerlein (22:04) and Kaitlyn Lee (22:14.30) gave Corning eight runners before Ithaca’s fourth runner.

“Our coach has always told us if we could get our top five in front of their top three we’d be in a good place to win,” Ianovici said. “Kyra, me and Elianna (Schneider) have kind of been training together to pack and get the finish behind their three.

“I’ve only been to states for track and it’s my first year doing cross country. I don’t really know what to expect, but I’m really excited.”

Schneider could hear the cheers for Ithaca’s third runner and knew she was behind the Hawks runner.

“I heard them cheering for her which was a motivator to go faster,” Schneider said. “We are really excited (for states). I think it will be a great opportunity and a lot of fun.”

Gross swam last year and made states in that sport, and now she’s going to states in cross country as well.

“It’s great to see our hard work pay off,” she said. “Our coaches kept pushing us and it’s really helpful to have them on the course to push us too.

“It’s crazy to be able to get another experience and try it all out.”

For Sweet and Deuerlein getting in front of Ithaca’s fourth and fifth runners was big.

“I thought it was good,” Sweet said. :I knew that we were confident we were going to have a good outcome.”

“Definitely tiring,” Deuerlein said. “But, I felt good about the race.”

Kendall Curreri was 17th for Corning in 23:03.90 followed by Madeline Kirk (23:08.40).
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES

PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE MEET:




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