Le Roy Cross Country

NOV. 1, 2004 - Ever since losing by one point to Pembroke on October 5, the Le Roy Boys' Cross Country team has been on a roll. Only a few days after the 27-28 loss, Tyler Murray won the Le Roy Invitational and led the boys team to their first ever Invitational victory. The boys defeated 6 teams, including Pembroke, to remain undefeated at home. The following Tuesday, Le Roy easily ran past Holley, Alexander and Mt. Morris at home. Then on a cold, wet and windy Saturday they ran solid races at the Pembroke Invitational, but came up a few points short of winning.

On Tuesday, October 19th, the boys closed out their regular season at Avon with easy wins over Cal-Mum, Wheatland - Chili, Pavilion and Avon. Jake Sullivan led the boys team when he won the race with Tyler Murray just behind him taking 3rd.

Saturdayís Clarence Invitational at Akron Falls Park has always been a final tune up before the County Championships and Sectionals. Competing against 24 teams from Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, Le Roy boys were hoping to finish in the top 5 as a team. With less than a mile to go in the course, Tyler was in 13th place out of over 200 runners and a large hill ahead of him. Tyler, Jake, Jim Schwab, Pat OíHalloran and Brandon Weig all had dramatic finishes as they moved through a large pack of runners to claim the 2nd place team trophy. Coach Laitenberger said "watching the race unfold was so exciting seeing our boys just move through the course picking off runner after runner - even on the large hill."

The Girls' Cross Country team has been led by the impressive individual performance of Janessa Shearer. Like the boys team, the girls also have a hard working pack of runners. Katie Hall, Becky Wetzel, Chelsea Baker and Jordan Wright have pushed through a lot of pain and fatigue this season. The pack helped them to a 3rd place finish at the Le Roy Invitational and a 4th place finish one week later at the Pembroke Invite.

At Tuesdayís league meet at Avon, the girls team had a solid game plan against Wheatland - Chili and the pack executed it perfectly to a 25-30 win. Becky Wetzel was instrumental in that victory as she passed countless girls over the 3 mile course.

At Saturdayís Clarence Invitational, the girls were hoping to build off Beckyís strong performance on Tuesday and push into the top half of the meet. Janessa got out to a strong race and gradually moved through the pack, passing several people over the challenging course. Becky, Katie, Chelsea and Jordan had good races as they remained determined to push each other. The team finished 15th overall behind Janessaís 6th place performance - the best individual finish ever by a Le Roy runner, boy or girl at Clarence. Coach Laitenberger said, "She is a gifted natural athlete and the rest of the girls team is determined to work just as hard in practice."

In the Boys' Varsity "B" race, Jack Bennett continued to lead the team with his 71st place finish - out of more than 350 runners. Riley Carhart, Ed Englerth, Mark Constable and Jeff Borgus all scored in their 18th place team finish out of over 40 teams. Markís race was over 2:30 faster than last year on the same course.

The boys and girls teams raced on Thursday at Genesee Community College in the County Championships and are in the Sectional Championships on November 6th at Marcus Whitman High School.