At the 2015 States XC at Monroe-Woodbury in Central Valley, the boys got first crack at the tough course and in alphabetical order for the class races at A-B-C-D. None of the races were that close as B had the smallest gaps at 6.1 seconds and 11 points for individual and team winners. For the first time ever at States for the guys there were repeat individual and team champions in two different classes, as B and C were both replays of 2014.
Ben Petrella got a small winning trend going for Liverpool in Class A in advance of Ty Brownlow's win in 2016 at Chenango Valley. Petrella broke away from fellow seniors Aidan Tooker of Saratoga and Danny Glavin of McQuaid after finishing 2nd to Fayetteville-Manlius's Bryce Millar in 2014. In Class B, Carthage junior Noah Affolder claimed a repeat title over a game Pittsford Mendon sophomore Nathan Lawler who would take the next two B titles. The race also introduced a big six pack of freshmen in the top 50 -- Sam Affolder of Carthage, Josh Farmer of New Hartford, Ray Sambrotto of West Seneca East, Aidan Gilloley of Burnt Hills, Parker Stokes of Maine-Endwell, and Pat McCann of Pearl River -- after having only then freshman Nathan Lawler and 8th grader Sam Affolder representing the youngest runners in the T50 in 2014. In Class C, East Aurora's Kenny Vasbinder captured a repeat title by more than 36 seconds with a time that was bested on the day only by Petrella in Class A. In Class D, East Rochester's Dawson Bathgate was the top returner with a 4th in 2014, and he defended that position with a win by more than 11 seconds, while Shelter Island 8th-grader Kal Lewis finished 22nd two years before he began a three-year reign in States D.
In the team battles, Liverpool ended FM's rule in Section 3 and two-year reign in Class A as it moved to the top and took a 19-point win over future 2016 and 2017 winner Corning. In Class B Pittsford Mendon used a top pack of seniors plus sophomore leader Lawler to run to a third straight title with a fairly narrow 11 point win over Maine-Endwell following a 41-point margin in 2014. In Class C a senior-heavy squad for East Aurora backed champ Vasbinder and expanded the Blue Devils' winning margin from 16 in 2014 to 63 over future 2016 winner Watkins Glen. In Class D Lake Placid won its first States title and second ever by a Section 7 team as senior Karl Schulz was the first D team runner finisher in 6th.
At Monroe-Woodbury we were just allowed to film the finishes of the top 20 or so runners, so that's all we can show here. A page is devoted
to each race.