Cross Country boys sweep home meet
Coach Jessie Ravage wrote up this report from the team's lone home meet
CROSS COUNTRY
Hawkeye boys win three meets; individual Coop girls place third, fourth
(Runners start on the Clark Tower Course during Cooperstown’s home cross country meet Wednesday in Middlefield. Photo by Lina Furlan.)
Cooperstown cross country hosted in Week 1 of the Center State Conference season Wednesday, Sept. 18, in a meet versus Dolgeville, Little Falls and Mount Markham on the Irish Tower trails off Beaver Meadow Road. The challenging, mainly wooded, double-loop 3.05-mile course was in good condition. The weather continued the hot dry pattern of the past 10 days, although with rising humidity.
The home teams ran very well. Most exceeded races posted here last year a week later in the season.
Cooperstown fielded two runners — sophomores Nora Craig and Olivia Temp — in the varsity girls race. They finished third (25:01) and fourth (27:35) behind Dolgeville’s one-two combo of Grace Seeley (23:14) and Celine Juchheim (24:00). Because Dolgeville fielded a complete team of five, Cooperstown lost to them 21-inc. Cooperstown also lost to Mount Markham 8-inc. Little Falls had just two runners, making the score for that match up inc-inc. The girls record is 0-3, with divisional losses to Dolgeville and Mount Markham.
Cooperstown’s varsity boys won all three meets in dual scoring, bringing them to 3-0 overall in the conference; 2-0 in Division II. The boys won v. Dolgeville 18-inc; Little Falls 15-inc; and Mount Markham 16-inc. Mount Markham’s Brandon Kniseley won the race over the 3.05-mile course in 19:35. Cooperstown’s Jonah Hitchcock was second (20:05) followed in third overall by Jacob Johnson (20:25). Freshman Hu Agostino was fifth (21:33), followed closely by Owen Capozza Flannigan (sixth, 21:40). Junior Brendan Heavner rounded out Cooperstown’s scoring five in seventh overall (22:22). Juniors Elias MacLeish and Theo Feury finished in the displacement positions (a team’s sixth and seventh runners) in ninth (23:34) and tenth (24:07) overall. Seton Davis Fralick (12th, 25:26) posted the most improved time on the squad. George Riesenfeld was 15th in 26:57. Sophomore Seven Archer finished in 28:40 in his first 5K race. Ryan Norwood and Owen Nolan finished 17th (29:16) and 18th (29:37).
Cooperstown’s Maggie Heavner and Wyatt Capozza Flannigan finished first in the girls and boys junior high races over the single-loop 1.4-mile course in 9:43 and 11:22 respectively. This was Wyatt’s first race; Maggie bettered her 2023 time by more than a minute. Eighth-grade girls Annie Cooper and new team member Willow Burr finished second (11:49) and third (13:18). Eighth-grade veteran Taylor Kepner finished tenth in the boys race (12:23), an improvement of nearly two minutes over 2023.
(Nora Craig led the Cooperstown girls, finishing third. Photo by Lina Furlan.)
(Jonah Hitchcock led the Cooperstown boys, finishing second overall. Photo by Lina Furlan.)
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