Le Roy Cross Country

Jake Sullivan led the Boys' Cross Country team to accomplish several things they had never done before. This year the boys finished the season 17-4, were ranked among the top small school teams in Section Five every week and had a 4th place team finish out of 17 teams in the Class C Sectional Championships.

At the Sectional Championships, Jake Sullivan was in 12th place and over 200 meters behind 11th place with one mile to go. At the bottom of a long hill, Sullivan shifted into a new gear as he began chasing down a large pack of runners at the top of the hill. Within the next half mile, he caught the back of the pack, but was still in 12th place now with only a half mile to go in the race. Over that final half mile he passed several people and moved into 7th place with the final position for the State Championships right in front of him. As Sullivan began his kick, he moved into 6th place and earned the first sectional championship patch for a Le Roy runner in the sport as well as qualified for the State Championships in Queensbury, NY on Saturday. Coach Jay Laitenberger said, "It was the most exciting race I have ever seen. I just knew at the bottom of the hill that he could do it."

Also in the race, Tyler Murray finished 18th and ran almost two minutes faster than his sectional race last year and moved into the 10th all time Le Roy runners at Marcus Whitman. Captain Jim Schwab capped his senior year with his best race ever at Whitman when he finished 22nd. Freshman Jack Bennett finished 38th with Pat OíHalloran behind him in 41st place.

In the girls' race, Ciera Carhart ran almost three minutes faster than two months ago at the Whitman Invitational to move her into the top 25 all time Le Roy runners at Whitman list. Becky Wetzel has endured injuries all season long and still ran almost a minute and a half faster then the Invitational. Chelsea Baker finished her senior year with her fastest time ever at Sectionals and helped pull teammate Jordan Wright to a solid finish. Freshman Molly Eadie finished her first season of cross country over 90 seconds faster than her Whitman Invite time. The girls' team finished 13th overall, which was 2 spots better than last year even though they lost their top two runners. Coach Laitenberger said, "We were really focused to beat last years performance with a younger team. I think the girls' program is starting to make the improvements that I saw in the boys' team a couple of years ago."