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CCAA’s Finest

Jamestown’s Carlson, Gators’ Napoleon top field in Bemus Point

OBSERVER Photos by Scott Kindberg Above, Silver Creek/Forestville’s Juliana Flick, finished ninth in the girls race at the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Cross Country Championships on Friday at Bemus Point Golf Course. Second right, Falconer/Cassadaga Valley’s Joe Krenzer (375) finished third and Joey Pillittieri (381) finished sixth in the boys race.

BEMUS POINT — Steve Sipior was “incredibly nervous” before the first wave of runners toed the start line at the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Championships on Friday morning.

And by the time race favorite Drew Carlson disappeared out of sight on the Bemus Point Golf Club and Tap House layout, the Jamestown coach acknowledged he “started growing gray hairs.”

Sipior needn’t have worried.

Carlson ultimately won his “wave,” the first of three due to COVID-19 restrictions, and by day’s end, his time stood up as the best among all runners to claim the individual crown.

“Drew just brought it today,” Sipior said after Carlson toured the 3.1-mile course in 17:08.05. “He beat the guys he wanted to beat.”

Lukas Baer of Maple Grove (17:16.58) was second and Joe Krenzer of Falconer/Cassadaga Valley (17:20.24) placed third. Ryan Wisniewski of Allegany-Limestone (17:28.33) and Nate Lewis of Southwestern 17:28.36) rounded out the top five.

Lewis’ was one of five Trojans — Ethan Luce (eighth), Trenton Shutters (ninth), Carter McKotch (11th) and Griffin Bogdanowicz (15th) were the others — to place in the top 15, leading them to the boys team title with 48 points. Allegany-Limestone was second with 50 points, Falconer/Cassadaga Valley was third with 80 and Jamestown, led by Carlson, was fourth with 141.

“In the beginning, it was really close (with Baer), but once I got on the hills back there, I started pushing up (them) as fast as I could,” Carlson said. “That’s where I kind of gained some ground. I felt good. It was a good race.”

See CROSS COUNTRY, Page C3

Rounding out the top 10 for the boys were Joey Pillittieri of Falconer/Cassadaga Valley (17:35.77, sixth place); Daniel Casey of Allegany-Limestone (17:35.77, seventh place); and John Swabik of Clymer/Sherman/Panama (17:52.99, 10th place).

OBSERVER Photo by Scott Kindberg Maple Grove’s Christina Peppy (135) and Ava Crist (130) run during one of the girls races at the CCAA Cross Country Championships at Bemus Point Golf Course on Friday.

Posting impressive individual outings among the girls on a cold, wet and occasionally snowy day near the shores of Chautauqua Lake, were Angelina Napoleon of Allegany-Limestone and Acacia Barber of Frewsburg. They each won their “waves” in convincing style with Napoleon crossing the finish line in 19:42.93, while Barber did so in 19:47.02 to place 1-2 overall.

“It was harder to run since it was so muddy,” Barber said, “and it was different by myself today, too, because usually you have more competition, but I was on my own, so it was harder to pace that way.”

Maple Grove’s Christina Peppy was third (20:12.02) and teammate Ava Crist was fourth (20:25.24), helping the Red Dragons claim the team title with 32 points. Also finishing in the top 10 for Maple Grove were Abby Brunenavs (21:03.14) and Tori Pavlock (21:31.46), who finished fifth and seventh, respectively.

Falconer/Cassadaga Valley, led by Marie Lemay (21:9.58, sixth place) and Mikaela LeBaron (21:38.7, eighth place), was second with 60 points followed by Clymer/Sherman/Panama (93) and Silver Creek/Forestville (113). The Hornets’ Juliana Flick (21:45.58) and Frewsburg’s Teghan Trocki (21:48.90) placed ninth and 10th, respectively.

While the Section VI Championships will be held in two weeks at the same venue, select CCAA runners will have the opportunity to compete in one more tuneup race a week from today at the Martin Road Complex. Eligible competitors are those in the top 25 in the league rankings and those who finished in the top 25 from the merged times yesterday.

“They’ll kind of get to race off against each other,” Clymer/Sherman/Panama coach Ray Shrout said. “Without any invitationals this year, this is as close as we’re going to come. The overall race numbers will still be low, but we’ll be bringing the top kids together.”

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