HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY: HUGE DAY FOR CORNING'S RUNNERS; GREGORSKI QUALIFIES FOR NATIONALS; HORSEHEADS ALSO HAS TWO RUN AT REGIONALS (2021-11-27)
By Brian FeesSouthern Tier Sports ReportIt’s been quite a season for the Corning cross country team, and on Saturday they showed just how dominant they were.
Running against the best runners in the Eastern Part of the United States senior Jack Gregorski finished seventh at the Eastbay Cross Country Northeast Regional.
The finish makes Gregorski the first boy qualifier for Eastbay Nationals in Corning history as he came across the line in 15:27.7.
“We were at the Nike meet with the team, my wife was down there with Sarah and Jack and Ashton,†Corning coach Jack Lawson said. “They went down to the Footlocker Regional. To be a part of it, that’s very exciting. Going into it he (Gregorski) was seeded 13th, but everybody in front of him is a top runner from the Northeast and everyone right behind him is a top runner from the Northeast. It’s a super high quality meet and a tremendous performance from him.â€
Gregorski will now head to Balboa Park in San Diego on Dec. 11 for the championship meet.
“Only 40 kids out of the nation make it, 10 from each region,†Lawson said. “It’s an amazing accomplishment. We’ve never had a guy from Corning qualify for that meet before.â€
The national meet will be a special atmosphere for Gregorski.
“They really host a prestigious meet,†Lawson said. “Just top notch the way they run the meet, the way they treat the kids. Quite a few professional runners there. Each region gets his own coach for the weekend. They treat the kids really well who make it there. It’s a super quality race, a challenging course. It’s probably going to be 80 degrees there when he races and it’s a pretty tough course.â€
As dominant as Gregorski was, it was that kind of day across the board for the Hawks.
Ashton Bange took 17th and Sarah Lawson took 16th in both the boys and girls races at Eastbay, and with both of them being underclassmen they set up for a good shot at making nationals themselves in the future.
“17th there, he (Bange) was probably 30th going in, and he was ranked 30th based on his best race of the season,†Lawson said. “He got better this week, which is very impressive. He’ll be one of the top rated cross country returners in the state for sure next year.
“Sarah got 16th in the girls race which is quite good for her to. She also is somebody hoping to be top 10. It was a tall order, I think she went in ranked 19th and got 16th.â€
Bange finished in 15:50.1 and Lawson finished in 18:40.6.
While the three were in the Bronx for that race, the rest of the Hawks were at Wappingers Falls for the Nike Regional meet. With both the boys and girls running without their top two runners (Gregorski and Bange for the boys and Lawson and Faithe Ketchum for the girls), the boys took second as a team and the girls were fourth.
The Corning boys finished with a team score of 47, while the Deluge Cross Country team, from Burnt Hills, finished at 35.
“Here at regionals we did well,†Lawson said. “The boys got second to Burnt Hills and Burnt Hills has been No. 2 in New York all season long, we are deep, we ran well, we just weren’t able to beat them without our top two runners.
“Halfway through the race we were two points behind them at the halfway point, then they finished a little stronger than we were able to. Still to go tot he regional meet and get second was very good, the kids enjoyed it, they had fun. The girls team was fourth and like the guys team without Faithe and Sarah there they ran very well. I’m very pleased with the way we closed out the season. It was a good ending to what seemed like a more normal year, now we get ready for indoor.â€
Even without Gregorski and Bange, the Corning boys had four runners in the top 17 and all five of their runners in the top 24.
Matt Gensel led Corning with a sixth-place finish in 16:49.3 and Tevin McLaren finished 11th in 16:59. Gabe Cornfield finished 16th in 17:17 and Joshua Beres finished 17th in 17:17.3. Marcus Homa finished 24th in 17:33.5. DJ Cornfield was 33rd in 17:51.9 and Nathan Webb finished 43rd in 18:09.5.
Sadie Beres led the Corning girls with a 31st place finish in 20:58.5 and Bri Urban was 37th in 21:12.6. Olivia Grinnell was 39th in 21:50.1 and Ella Grinnell finished 42nd in 21:58.1 while Cassandra Collins took 44th in 22:02.3. Christina Gaskievicz was 4th in 22:26.3.
Corning wasn’t the only team to have runners at the Nike meet. Axl Andrus was 29th for Horseheads in 17:43 and Ace Andrus was 58th in 18:48.3.
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IN TOP PHOTO: Corning’s Jack Gregorski gets his medal for taking seventh at the Eastbay Regional meet. . . PROVIDED PHOTOS