On almost a perfect day for Cross Country racing East Aurora put in strong performances in their home invite. East Aurora, running in the large school divisions, dominated the girls race winning by 91 points over Orchard Park. The EA girls took 1st and 2nd place individually as freshman Megan Mclaughlin ran a very comfortable 17:48.2 to win by 45 seconds over junior teammate Karis Ertel. Megan's sister, Maggie, took 6th overall in 19:01, while senior Emily Jason was 8th in 19:19, and 8th grader Samantha Hulme was 13th in 19:38. East Aurora had their 6th runner, Geneva Green take 17th in 19:45, giving them six runners in front of everyone other teams fourth runner!
On the boys side Frontier continued their early season dominance, as they outpaced the home school East Aurora. It is the 2nd invite team title for the Falcons this year as they won the Red Dragon invite earlier this year, defeating runner up Clarence there. Frontier again was lead by sophomore Josh Peron, placing fourth in 15:25. Then their pack stepped up as senior Joey Groth was 10th, junior Brian Gleason finished 12th, junior Connor O'Brien was 16th, and junior Alex Monaco was 33rd. That was good for a 39 point win over host East Aurora. East Aurora did outdistance themselves from class B schools Pioneer/Holland and Lew Port as that looks to be the most competitive class in the section this year, as any of those three teams could win the section title. In the individual large school race Lancaster senior Armani Merlino found himself in front of another invite pack, as he was a close 2nd at Red Dragon and won West Seneca last week, but this time was out leaned by McQuaid Jesuit senior Abel Hagos.
In the boys small school race Southwestern took the team title, moving up from their 4th place finish at the Red Dragon invite just two weeks ago. Southwestern defeated Iroquois by 19 points as they put their entire top five in the top 33. Southwestern was led by junior Eddie Scroxton who was 2nd in 15:56, just getting beat to the line by junior Ronan McDonald from Randolph. The win was Ronan's 2nd invitational title in the section 6 season as he won the Red Dragon invite two weeks ago. Springville, who has begun the season strong, was the next section 6 school, as they finished fourth just behind section 5 school Oakfield.
The girls small school race featured Kylee Odell (runner up in the Red Dragon invite), Emily Brown from Fredonia (multiple time track state meet qualifier), and last week's West Seneca invite winner Silver Creek's Ellie Decker. Only seven seconds separated the three girls as Kylee's 18:45 was good enough for the win, Emily's 18:52 was good for second, while Ellie's 18:53 placed her third. Even though Kylee took the individual title it was Ellie's Silver Creek group that won the team title by 6 points over Kylee's Clymer-Sherman-Panama team. A strong front three by Silver Creek (Decker, sophomore Juliana Flick-13th, and freshman Daisy League-24th) gave Silver Creek a lead that no other team could overcome.
Most section 6 schools will be at the McQuaid Invite next week!