- By Becca Lovenheim
- Sports
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Girls XC Climbs State Rankings, Boys XC Continuing to Improve
It was a perfect day for cross country racing, and harriers from across the country seized on the ideal racing conditions with impressive performances resulting. Over 7000 runners would cross the finish line by days end, representing 262 teams from New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, Missouri, California – and Canada!
In the girls unseeded small school race, the Ladycats of Lansing were victorious over a field of 39 schools, taking home a coveted McQuaid plaque. Catie Eisenhut '20, in just her fifth cross country race ever, led the 365 runners in this race from the start, finishing first in an elite time of 18:18.9. Her teammate, Emmy Jackson '21, spent 2.9 miles of the 3 mile race in second place, just being outkicked in the final stretch but holding on for a third place finish overall.
Varsity girls receiving champion plaque L R top Catie Eisenhut Eden Jackson Allison Keefe Teresa Garcia. Bottom Kinsley Jacobs Hana Thibault Emmy Jackson Photo by Becca Lovenheim
Modified girls team. Photo by Lisa ScanlonEighth-grader, Kinsley Jacobs, was 6th place in last year's junior high race and stepped up in a big way, cracking the top 25 overall at the varsity level. With Teresa Garcia '20 and Eden Jackson '19 rounding out the scoring five and with Hana Thibault '21 and Allison Keefe '19 finishing ahead of rival Waverly's 6th and 7th runner, the Lansing squad not only enjoyed an important victory in program history, but they also climbed the state rankings. Milesplit NY currently ranks the team as the 3rd overall program in Class C.
Mod boys team. Photo by Amber HafnerThe boys varsity team from Lansing saw some impressive personal efforts. Captain Jack Thomas '20 was top finisher for the Bobcats once again, breaking into the top 50 with his 35th place finish in a time of 17:11.7 – two minutes faster than when he first raced on this course as a freshman. Junior Ryan Barton got to experience his first McQuaid Invitational – he moved here from Maryland at the beginning of the year – and ran to a top 75 finish.
Rounding out the top five for Lansing were Teddy Brenner '21, Sam Bell '22 and Caden Michalec '22. Falconer was the winning team in the boys small school race with cross-lake rival Trumansburg finishing 10th in a field of 41 teams. Lansing's young squad placed 25th with hopes for climbing into the top of these results in the coming years.
In addition to this meet marking the first ever team win by Lansing at McQuaid, it also was the first time that Lansing fielded five scoring teams across small school fields of modified boys and girls, JV boys, and varsity boys and girls.
Complete results from McQuaid can be found here.
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