Local trio qualifies for states 

The Lakeland/Panas boys and girls cross-country teams each placed ninth in Class A at the Section 1 championships Nov. 7 at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls. The boys finished 18th overall, while the girls placed 24th overall.

Two Lakeland/Panas runners qualified for the state championships, scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 14, at Queensbury High School: boys junior captain Ian Mejia (second in Class A, fourth overall, 16:50.0) and girls senior captain Cassidy Dineen-Herzog (fourth in Class A, 13th overall, 20:03.2).

“For Ian and Cass to qualify for states is awesome, they both wanted this since early July and the hard work paid off for them,” said Lakeland/Panas coach John Benvin. “We got another week of training before we head north to Queensbury and depending on how they do, they may qualify for the Federation meet, which would be back at Bowdoin Park for a fifth race.”

Senior captain Billy Pike (18th in Class A, 47th overall, 17:52.0), freshman Gabriel Eduful (18:46.6), sophomore Kyle Coronel (19:41.5), freshman Michael Della Sala (19:58.2) and sophomore Rishi Grabe (20:09.7) also turned in strong performances for the boys.

On the girls side, freshmen Paige Siracusa (23:24.7), Evie Gorman (24:56.0) and Avery Edlich (26:05.2), along with sophomores Ally Waugh (25:04.0) and Delancey Bray (26:05.7), contributed to the team's finish.
 

"I'm extremely happy with today's results,” Benvin said. “We had an up and down season with some success and some disappointment week to week in the meets on our schedule. Coming in we were missing a few runners on each side due to injury and sickness, causing us to line up a young squad for both teams, a handful being in their first year running for us. But due to our scheduling, we ran this course four times this year.  So they've certainly gotten accustomed to the terrain and layout which I think was a huge help in how well they did out there. It also means many of them are back to build on their results and we can aim for a higher finish next fall in all the big meets (league, county, and sectionals).” 

Yorktown  

The Huskers competed in the Section 1 Class B championships at Bowdoin Park, where junior Catherine Hansel placed fifth in 19:52.1 to qualify for the state championships.

The Yorktown girls finished sixth with 154 points. Other competitors included Emily Cullen (53rd, 21:32.1), Anna Dudek (86th, 22:17.9), Dharma Bernales (105th, 22:50.0), Elena Weickert (109th, 22:54.2), Hannah McCann (136th, 23:35.0), Andie Sperber (142nd, 23:40.1), Evelyn Hager (292nd, 24:57.7) and Mary Cabral (219th, 25:25.2).

The Yorktown boys placed 11th with 303 points, led by John Quis (27th, 18:09.3), Aashray Vuppala (41st, 18:50.6), Chris Jara (64th, 19:41.4), Anthony Gade (87th, 20:17.6), Eamon Hansel (119th, 21:30.5), Emmanuel Reid (122nd, 21:49.1), Aiden Howard (125th, 22:12.3), Vincenzo Pozzuto (130th, 22:35.5), James DeMella (131st, 22:40.6) and Jamison Adams (136th, 24:16.9).

“The teams finished with one of their best finishes in a long time,” said Yorktown coach Keith Smith. “This was one of the strongest girls teams that we have had in many years. Catherine Hansel saved her best race of the year for sectionals and she earned a spot in the state championships. It was an exciting race to watch.”