BY TIM TAYLORSouthern Tier Sports Report
CHENANGO FORKS — Dominant is an understatement in describing the Corning boys cross country team’s performance at the Section IV Class A championships held at Chenango Valley State Park here Thursday.
The Hawks claimed four of the first five spots to win the team title and placed all five scoring runners in the top 10 to roll to the team title, scoring 20 points to runner-up Ithaca’s 57, and qualifying the team’s top seven runners for the NYSPHSAA championships next Saturday.
Corning’s Christopher Lawson built a big lead early in the 5K race and cruised to victory in 16:46.
“It was good, it was a solid effort,” Lawson said of his victory. “I just took it smooth because I just want to feel as fresh as I can for states, and I want to get that one point for my team so my team can go. I'm super excited. I love my team and those guys, and it'll be super fun to go to states with them. It'll be a great time.”
Lawson becomes joins two of his siblings as sectional champions as his older sisters Jessica and Sarah both won titles.
The Hawks’ Ashtyn Stark was the runner-up in 16:58, edging out teammate Elijah Sonner by two seconds.
Corning’s Graham Wightman placed fifth in 17:09 and the Hawks’ Andrew Miller rounded out the scoring in ninth with a time of 17:33.
“I was very happy with that,” coach Ray Lawson said of the Hawks’ performance. “Championship season, people are going to get out hard and on paper we were the favorite, but Ithaca's been there a lot and they've been champions a lot, and they got out hard and I think our boys handled that well. They were prepared for a fast start and I was pleased with the way we worked up.
“The goal is to qualify for the state meet and they took care of that today. We had a little bit of improvement, tightened our pack up a little bit, like two through seven got tighter so that was good.
Still, the coach was a little surprised at how dominant the team was.
“I thought we might be able to get three of the top four, but our guy who's been our fourth, sophomore Elijah Sonner … he was in our two coming up the hill so he's been coming on. That makes you a lot better team when you start closing some of those gaps so that was a pleasant surprise that we had four there. That was good progress.
Corning’s top runner did what was expected of him — win.
“That was just making sure he ran a race, making sure his team was out well, and that he was able to break away a little bit,” coach Lawson said. “He struggled the last mile a little bit so the group caught back up to him, but again, he qualified and that's what you want. I was happy with the individual win for him and the win for our team.”
Joining the quintet at next week’s state meet will be Connor Harrington and Andrew Wilkerson, who placed 12th and 13th, respectively, each clocking 17:45.
Continuing those winning efforts is something ChristopherLawson would like to see continue at the state meet.
“I think for the team, we're just going to try to win. That's the big goal,” he said. “It'll be hard. It'll take everyone to have phenomenal days. And then individually, I want to win states. That'd be great.”
Also competing for Corning were Isaac Ho (14th, 17:51), Charlie Wukovitz (20th, 18:32) and Britton Chapman (22nd, 18:51).
In the girls race, Bella Martinec was the first non-Ithaca competitor to cross the finish line, placing fourth in 20:40.2 to highlight Corning’s second place team showing.
Kateland Dininny led an 8th-12th place grouping for the Hawks with a time of 21:02.2. She was followed by Hazel Fuchs in 21:06.2, Mia Owens at 21:13.5 and Vanessa Topielec with a 21:21 to round out the team scoring. Right behind them was teammate Lillian Deuerlein, who clocked 21:47.2.
Also competing for Corning were Eleanor Robson (15th, 22:09.6), Finley Bloor (16th, 22:39) and Kai Bronfenbrenner (19th, 22:46.8).
Martinec, Dininny and Fuchs will be joining the boys team at the state meet on Nov. 14.
“Making the state meet for me, it's very exciting because it's my first year of cross country, so it's very big,” said Martinec. “I'm just going to keep doing my best in the state meet.”
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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
