North boys open league play with win

THE BEST - East Amherst's Mike Dobmeier (No. 789) won the open division race at Friday's Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Ind. Dobmeier, running for the Michigan Wolverines, covered the 8K course in a time of 25:13.

Williamsville North's boys cross-country team opened its ECIC Division I season with a convincing 24-31 win over West Seneca West at Bassett Park last Wednesday.

Senior co-captain Geoff Hurley placed second in 17:23; senior co-captain Mike Thielman was third in 17:35. Junior Joe Seitz (fifth, 18:40), sophomore Ryan Perry (sixth, 18:44) and junior Steve Willert (eighth, 19:12) also posted good times.

Other outstanding performances included Pat Steadman (20:05), Rob Golightly (20:25), Tom Calandra (20:41), Matt Helm (22:18), Nate Chertack (22:53), Rich Rockwell (23:10), John Boser (23:15), Charles Jordan (23:32) and Don Seitz (23:39).

The same day, the North girls team lost to West Seneca West, the No. 1 ranked team in Western New York, 15-47.

Eighth-grader Rachel Dorogi placed sixth with an impressive time of 21:40 over the 5,000-meter (3.1) course, establishing a Spartan course record. Eighth-grader Sarah Loud also ran impressively in 22:30 for eighth. Natalie Worley (10th, 23:20), Kim Berus (11th, 23:27) and Michelle Bauman (12th, 24:01) also posted good times. Other fine performances came from Amy Loud (24:11), Kaila Raybuck (25:10), Dawn Hu (25:23), Jessica Leising (26:16), Stephanie Kranz (26:46) and Shelby Gray (28:17).

The North boys and girls teams also competed last Saturday at the McQuaid Invitational at Genesee Valley Park in Rochester.

The boys finished 16th out of 27 teams (409 points), beating Frontier, Jamestown, Orchard Park and Kenmore West in the large school unseeded race (3.0 miles). Hurley (22nd, 16:34), Thielman (32nd, 16:43), Joe Seitz (97th, 17:40), Perry (119th, 17:58) and Willert (165th, 18:58) also competed.

Other fine performances were Golightly (19:08), Steadman (19:05), Calandra (18:55), Carl Copeland (20:21), Chertack (20:46), Don Seitz (21:50), Rockwell (21:52), Helm (22:08), Boser (22:09) and Brad Weinstein (25:17).

The Spartan girls also ran well at McQuaid, led by Dorogi, who finished 115th in 21:41. Berus (118th, 21:43), Worley (164th, 22:21), Amy Loud (181st, 22:40) and Raybuck (245th, 23:53) also ran. Other good times came from Hu (24:03), Gray (24:49), Leising (25:14) and Kranz (26:10).

North ran against Frontier and Lancaster on Tuesday at Lancaster, but results were unavailable before The Bee went to press. North will compete along with Amherst, Sweet Home, Williamsville East and Williamsville South at the Town of Amherst Championships on Friday at Sweet Home. North has won overall team score between boys and girls and the boys race the past five years.