Medina boys 2nd at sectionals in cross country
Newfane girls repeat, led by Kylie Bowman in 1st
Photos by Tom Rivers: Cameron Castanon races up a hill and finishes second in today’s Class C-1 cross country sectionals in Bemus Point, capping a stellar season for the Medina senior.
The Medina boys cross country closed out the season with a second place finish at sectionals, behind only Alden and also just ahead of last year’s champs, Newfane.
Arian Cayea just edged Nick Baes of Newfane at the finish line with Cayea at 17:32.96 for fourth place and Baes at 17:33.00 in fifth.
It is a dramatic turnaround for Medina, which was 11th out of 16 teams a year ago among Class C. This year the Class C was split into two eight-team divisions. C2 is scheduled to race on Sunday at Bemus Point Golf Club.
Medina has been on the rise this year, led by Cameron Castanon, who won the Niagara-Orleans League title and finished second today at 17:29, behind Kyle Urban of Alden in 16:30.
Medina’s top five finishers are the point scorers for the team. Besides Castanon, Medina had Arian Cayea in 4th at 17:32, Alwyn Cayea in 7th at 17:58, Gabriel Mark in 19th at 18:46 and Isaac Pace in 21st at 19:09.
Alden in 1st with 36 points, Medina in 2nd with 53, Newfane 3rd with 58, Albion 4th with 122, Akron 5th with 124, Springville in 6th with 151, Fredonia in 7th with 159, and Dunkirk in 8th with 237.
Niagara-Orleans runners in the top 20 in the C1 race include: Cameron Castanon of Medina, 2nd at 17:29; Arian Cayea of Medina, 4th at 17:32; Nick Baes of Newfane, 5th at 17:33; Reuben Rivers of Albion, 6th at 17:44; Alwyn Cayea of Medina, 7th at 17:58; John Chubb of Akron, 8th at 17:59; Gannon Gibson of Newfane, 11th at 18:11.72; Austin Burkard of Newfane, 12th at 18:11.97; Andrew Cuzzacrea of Newfane, 14th at 18:19; Landin Chaffee of Albion, 15th at 18:22.31; Jayden Reynolds of Newfane, 16th at 18:26; Connor Cuzzacrea of Newfane, 17th at 18:29; and Gabriel Mark of Medina, 19th at 18:46.
Kylie Bowman of Newfane won today’s girls race in 19:45.
In the girls C-1 race, Newfane defended their section title, with Kylie Bowman, a Newfane freshman, winning the race in 19:45. Bowman also won the Niagara-Orleans title two weeks ago. Newfane girls have now won sectionals five straight years.
Newfane cruised to the sectional team championship with 31 points, followed by Akron in 2nd with 56, Alden in 3rd with 77, Albion in 4th with and Fredonia in 5th with 99. Springville and Dunkirk also had runners compete but they didn’t have full teams with at least five runners.
This year this isn’t a state meet. The races this weekend didn’t include spectators due to rising Covid-19 cases in the region.
Niagara-Orleans runners among the top 20 include: Kylie Bowman of Newfane, 1st in 19:45; Leah Siegmann of Newfane, 3rd in 20:31; Alanna Holman of Albion, 4th in 20:39; Lauren Wagner of Akron, 5th in 20:49; Catalena Ersing of Newfane, 6th in 20:55; Kayla Murray of Akron, 7th in 21:39; Kaila Szczygielski of Akron, 8th in 21:55; Melissa Robinson of Albion, 9th in 22:21; Sara Siegmann of Newfane, 12th in 22:50; Shelby Nerber of Newfane, 13th in 23:00; S’koi Sanders-Smith of Albion, 20th in 24:26.
Alanna Holman, an Albion senior, finished fourth in 20:39 while Leah Siegmann, a Newfane junior, was third in 20:31.
