ECICs - Cross Country
Amherst's Symoniak wins Division II girls race
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Amherst's Brenna Symoniak won the Division II girls race at ECICs with a time of 20:25.2. Amherst finished second in Division II as a team with 61 points. Photo by John Normile

Freshman Brenna Symoniak led a healthy Amherst Central team to a second place finish in Division II at Saturday's ECIC Cross Country Championships held at East Aurora High School. Amherst finished with 61 points. Starpoint won with 31 points.

Symoniak took first in Division II in 20:23 in a cold, down pouring rain-hail mix. The time was fifth overall.

"There was mud a couple of inches deep," said Amherst coach Bob O'Donnell. "She was in mud up to her ankles at times. Her time was very good for this course."

Arielle Januszkiewicz was seventh in the race, 20th overall, in 21:27. First-year runner Erin Cotter was 12th in 22:24. Symoniak, Januszkiewicz and Cotter earned all-star status. (You need to place in the top 14 to be an all-star.)

Sarah Lister (23:30), Victoria Sosnowski (23:32), Claire Wietig (23:30) and Diane Herzog (24:30) rounded out the squad.

"It's the fourth time we've had a full roster all year," said Amherst coach Bob O'Donnell. "We've been kind of fighting nagging injuries. All seven ran which was good. They're starting to come along the way they should be."

Williamsville North's Chris Deptula finished fifth in the Division I boys race at ECICs Saturday at East Aurora High School. North finished fifth as a team in ECIC Division I. Photo by John Normile

The Amherst boys finished seventh in Division II with 169 points. Andy Wong (20:15), Steve Dalton (20:39), Jeremy Jones (21), Andy Taube (21:43), Nick Reynolds (21:55), Elliot Bible (22:05) and Billy Wieczorek (23:09) also ran.

The Section VI Championships will be held Nov. 3 at Long Point State Park in Bemus Point.

Williamsville East

East coach Kurt Holme said his team had a couple of injuries and were not at their best.

"The athletes will always remember this meet, but only for the weather and conditions," said Holme. "The weather and conditions were some of the worst ever seen by most of the coaches there. They shortened the course down to 2.9 miles. That, plus the mud and standing water, made the times irrelevant. Just a hideous day."

The East boys' best finisher was senior Dan White, who finished 14th in Division II and received a Second Team Division all star award.

Junior Anna Stolzenburg was first among the East girls who ran and finished 27th in the division.

The East boys finished 4-4. The girls were 2-6.

Sweet Home

The Sweet Home finished second in ECIC Division I with a 7-5 record and second at ECICs behind Clarence with a score of 81.

Jacob Hagen was second in the race and fourth overall in a time of 17:42.1. Ryan Poley was sixth in the race, 10th overall in 18:08.3. Both earned First Team all-star status.

The Sweet Home girls were third in Division I with 100 points. Megan Niblock finished third in the division and 11th overall in 20:55.4. Katie Niblock was fifth and 18th overall in 21:23.3.

Williamsville North

The Spartans placed fifth in Division I with 104 points and were tenth overall.

Chris Deptula was fifth in the race with a time of 17:54.2.

The North girls were last in Division I with 210 points and were 19th overall. Kaila Raybuck was the team's top finisher with a time of 25:10.8.

Williamsville South

The South boys were sixth in Division II with 158 points and 15th overall. Dave Quinlan was tenth in the race in 19:03.6.

The South girls did not place as a team. Maxine Meyerhofer was the team's top finisher in 24:31.7.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com