Newfane sweeps N-O Cross-Country titles

By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 21 October 2023 at 1:44 pm

Photos by Tom Rivers: (Left) Kylie Bowman, a senior at Newfane, won the race and made it four straight years as the Niagara-Orleans League champion. (Right) Isabella Pasquale of Newfane was second overall, followed by teammate Jenna Achtyl.

Newfane scored a sweep at the annual Niagara-Orleans All-League Cross-Country meet held at Lakeside Beach State Park today.

The Newfane girls captured a ninth straight N-O championship and the Panthers boys squad claimed the league crown for the sixth time in the last seven years.

The Newfane girls had 5 of the top 6 place finishers and won the meet with a near perfect 16 points. Akron was second with 88 points followed by Barker 97, Roy-Hart 101, Albion 114, Medina 119 and Wilson 146.

Newfane’s Kyle Bowman won the race for the fourth straight year with a time of 20:50.77. She was followed across the finish line by her teammates Isabella Pasquale, Jenna Achtyl, Jordyn Centner and Kayla Hallman who finished 2-3-4-6 respectively.

Bowman, a senior, used to play soccer in the fall until switching to cross country in eighth grade. Her first year running she was second in the league and now has the league title the past four years.

“I like the challenge of it,” she said about the sport. “You can achieve individually and as a team.”

Mikala Woock of Barker races in the drizzle along Lake Ontario. She finished seventh and earned a spot on first team, All League.

Rounding out the top seven finishers, which comprises the All-League first team, was the Barker duo of Emma Evans and Mikala Woock who placed 5th and 7th respectively.

The Newfane girls finish the N-O season with an overall record of 12-0 followed by Barker 9-3, Akron 8-4, Roy-Hart 6-6, Albion 4-8, Medina 3-9 and Wilson 0-12.

The girls All-League second team, which is comprised of runners who finished 8-14, included in order Cordelia Rivers (Albion), Madeline Mark (Medina), Emma Marie Forrestal (Akron), Kylee Rebmann (Akron), Hannah Schulz (Newfane), Faith Baker-Austin (Medina) and Marissa Bryant (Roy-Hart).

Jaydan Ruble, a junior at Wilson, won today’s Niagara-Orleans Cross Country Championship at lakeside Beach State Park in Carlton. Here he is running alone the Lake Ontario shoreline. Ruble completed the race in 17:17, more than a minute ahead of the second place finished.

The Newfane boys were led by the 3-6 finish of Liam Betteridge and Sean Milczarski. The Panthers other point getters were Zachary Szratter who finished 10th, Aidan Gillings 11th and Andrew Kimball 13th.

The Panthers garnered 43 points to win the meet followed by Barker 54, Akron 65, Wilson 96, Roy-Hart 133, Medina 136 and Albion 160.

Wilson’s duo of Jaydan Ruble and Joey-Dane Jones finished 1-2. Ruble had a winning time of 17:17.02.

Ruble won the race by more than a minute. He was the runner-up last year and worked even harder this summer, running 250 training miles.

“Unlike other sports, everyone out here deals with the pain,” Ruble said after the race.

He likes to compete as an individual, and as a team. He credited his teammates with working hard during the season. Ruble said he expects he will rue under 17 minutes at Sectionals and wants to compete at the state meet.

Barker’s duo of Luke Fay and Peyton Wagner finished 4-5 and Akron’s Dawson Stone took 7th to round out the All-League first team.

Rounding out by boys All-League second team were Akron’s Colton Cleveland 8th, Roy-Hart’s Ronan Klug 9th, Barker’s Albert Cimato 12th and Barker’s Owen Harris 14th.

The Newfane boys finish the N-O season with an overall record of 11-1 followed by Barker 10-2, Akron 9-3, Wilson 6-6, Roy-Hart 4-8, Medina 2-10 and Albion 0-12.

Newfane, Barker and Akron had finished the regular N-O season in a three-way tie for first place at 5-1.

This group battled throughout the race for spots 2-4. From left include Liam Betteridge of Newfane, who finished third overall; Joey-Dane Jones of Wilson, who was second; and Luke Fay of Barker, who was fourth.

These runners are up a hill and then need to turn right past the yellow flag. This group includes Logan Meyers of Akron (who finished 15th), Ryder Jones of Medina (who was 16th) and Owen Harris of Barker (who finished 14th).