Five local girls finished in the top 20 at Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association Cross Country Championships in Plattsburgh. From the left are Maple Grove’s Abby Brunenavs, Ava Crist and Christina Peppy; Clymer/Sherman/Panama’s Kylee Odell, who also received the Section VI Sportsmanship Award; and Frewsburg’s Acacia Barber. Submitted photo

PLATTSBURGH — It was once again a day of near misses for local runners at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association cross country championships Saturday.

The Maple Grove girls, who finished second to Tully in the Class D race a year ago with 50 points, finished with 55 points this year, which was good for second place behind Delhi.

“We ran very well, but Delhi had an even better race,” Maple Grove head coach Steve Matteson said. “It would’ve been very hard to make up those five points. Hopefully we’ll have an answer for next year.”

Junior Ava Crist was the Lady Red Dragons’ top finisher in sixth place with a time of 18:08.3 while junior Christina Peppy was 10th in 18:16.6 and sophomore Abby Brunenavs was 15th in 18:30.2. Junior Tori Pavlock (40th, 19:39.4) and sophomore Hannah Tarbrake (48th, 20:20.4) completed the quintet of scorers from Maple Grove.

“My top three girls all ran very, very well, At the beginning they were pretty much right together. They separated by the end, but they all ran strong,” Matteson said. “Tori and Hannah both ran season-best times, even with the conditions.”

Maple Grove’s boys, who were also second in 2018, finished fourth this year with 102 points. Sophomore Lukas Baer was the Red Dragons’ top finisher in 27th place with a time of 16:14.9 while senior Riley Auer was 29th in 16:19.7 and senior Darius Jones was 39th in 16:41.6. Junior Drew Kelemen was 40th in 16:46.7 and senior Nick Brunenavs was 60th in 17:21.6. Beaver River won the team competition for the third-straight year with 26 points.

“The top 20 in the state in each class receive medals, so that was their goal. Lukas and Riley had very strong races. Darius and Drew ran together in a pack and it was good for them,” Matteson said. “Beaver River will compete for top one or two in the state and Delhi ran very well today. We just didn’t have enough to catch them this year.”

A pair of seniors ended their high school careers with matching fifth-place individual honors.

Randolph’s Ronan McDonald took fifth in the Class D boys race with a time of 15:12.5, just over 46 seconds behind winner Kal Lewis of Shelter Island. McDonald’s Cardinals senior teammate Josh Walters was 36th in 16:37.6, Frewsburg sophomore Toby Gifford was 62nd in 17:26.9 and Maple Grove eighth-grader Alex Crist was 78th in 17:55.2.

With his result, McDonald has been invited to attend the Federation race next weekend at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls.

In the Class D girls race, Clymer/Sherman/Panama’s Kylee Odell — who received the Section VI Sportsmanship Award — took fifth in 18:05.3, over two minutes behind Brooke Rauber of Tully.

Also in the Class D girls race, Frewsburg junior Acacia Barber was 14th in 18:27.7, Clymer/Sherman/Panama freshman Hannah Schauman was 35th in 19:25, Randolph junior Elisabeth Root was 39th in 19:36.4, Clymer/Sherman/Panama eighth-grader Haley Odell was 46th in 20:08.5, Maple Grove eighth-grader Allison Bohall was 54th in 20:48.5 and Maple Grove junior Carling Lockwood was 55th in 20:51.5.

“I’m really proud of all three of our C/S/P girls,” Wolfpack head coach Ray Shrout said. “Kylee has battled different injuries and ailments for most of the season, but ran healthy today. She was in 14th with a half-mile to go and picked off several runners over the last stretch. She has meant so much to the growth of our program.”

Fredonia/Westfield senior Emily Brown took 12th in the Class C girls race with a time of 17:49.0.

Jamestown junior Drew Carlson was 102nd in the Class A boys race with a time of 16:45.7.

Southwestern’s boys, the only other local team to qualify for the state meet, finished fifth in Class C with 119 points, led by senior Dagon Bryant in 28th with a time of 15:50.4. Senior Eddie Scroxton was 41st in 16:08.3, sophomore Trenton Shutters was 47th in 16:15.6, freshman Nate Lewis was 69th in 16:37.4 and sophomore Ethan Luce was 71st in 16:39.0.

Although they didn’t count toward scoring, Southwestern senior Brady Fye was 78th (16:45.4) in the Class C boys race and Trojans junior Carter McKotch was 90th (16:51.4).

Other boys individual winners were: Warwick Valley senior Behailu Bekele-Arcuri with a time of 14:31.7 in Class A; Pittsford Mendon senior Sam Lawler with a time of 14:26.1 in Class B; and Skaneateles junior Caleb Bender with a time of 14:41.6 in Class C.

Other girls individual winners were: North Rockland senior Katelyn Tuohy with a time of 15:36.5 in Class A; Mount Sinai senior Sarah Connelly with a time of 16:47.1 in Class B; and Camden sophomore Elizabeth Lucason with a time of 16:51.6 in Class C.

Boys team winners were: Fayetteville-Manlius with 42 points in Class A; Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake with 44 points in Class B; and Saranac Lake with 28 points in Class C.

Girls team winners were: Fayetteville-Manlius with 34 points in Class A; East Aurora with 50 points in Class B; and Camden with 75 points in Class C.