On October 22, the best of Section V met at the historic Parma Park to determine who was champion of the county. Last year, the Fairport boys and the Brighton girls took home the crown, and both sides were in the hunt to defend their titles, but would face serious challenges from teams who were looking to take back the county title.
First up were the boys, where Fairport just watched their non-varsity runners put up 22 points in the boys race prior, and were feeling good about their chances. Early on, Webster Thomas looked to front run with their top three, but Fairport, once again without their true varsity squad, would end up prevailing over the two schools, posting 52 points for the win. Webster Thomas finished 2nd with 89 points, Churchville-Chili was 3rd with 101 points, Rush-Henrietta finished 4th with 106 points and Pittsford Mendon was 5th with 154 points to round out the top 5 teams. Jake Passalugo, current Fairport junior, ended up pulling away with about a mile to go from Connor Thomas of Webster Thomas to take the win in 15:42. The next 4 for Fairport were Owen Willard finishing 5th in 16:15, Landon Ruder in 14th in 16:50, Jackson Warnett in 15th in 16:51 and Brady Kolson in 17th running 16:59 to round out the scoring for Fairport to seal the county title.
Next up were the girls, where Brighton would look to defend their title from last year, but would face a heavy assault from Fairport, who like the boys, watched their non-varsity runners put up an impressive 16 points in the race before. In an exciting team finish, Fairport ended up taking down Brighton by just one point, 120 to 121. Honeoye Falls-Lima was 3rd with 131 points, Webster Thomas was 4th with 158 points and Rush-Henrietta finished 5th with 168 points. On the individual side, Kyra Pellegrino, the senior from Gates Chili, won the race in 18:32, practically leading from the gun and winning the race by 10 seconds. Haylie Smith of Rush-Henrietta was 2nd in 18:42 and Ari Reback of Fairport was 3rd in 18:54 to round out the top 3.
All the teams that competed at the Monroe County Championships will return in just 2 weeks for the Section V Championships that will be held at Letchworth State Park and will vouch for spots at the state meet that will be held November 12th at VVS High School.