North boys defeat Orchard Park, lose to Clarence

Williamsville North's boys cross country team split an ECIC Division I meet last Tuesday with Orchard Park and Clarence.

The Spartans defeated Orchard Park, 22-33, and lost to Clarence, 21-38. The meet was hosted by Orchard Park on their 5,000-meter home course.

Geoff Hurley led the Spartans with a third place finish. Mike Thielman came in fifth. Also running strong competitive races were Joe Seitz (seventh, 19:07); Ryan Perry (11th; 19:32) and Tom Calandra (12th, 19:55). Also competing well was Pat Steadman (20:16), Steve Willert (20:16), Robert Golightly (20:26), Carl Copeland (21:38), Nate Chertack (20:15), Rich Rockwell (23:04), Don Seitz (23:34), John Boser (24:45) and Charles Jordan (25:45).

The Lady Spartans battled valiantly but lost to Orchard Park, 22-34, and Clarence, 15-48.

Against Orchard Park, Rachel Dorogi finished third (22:04) and Sarah Loud came in fifth (22:09). Kim Berus came in seventh (23:08) and Natalie Worley finished ninth (23:47).

Also running strong races were Michelle Bauman (24:08), Amy Loud (24:23), Kaila Rayback (25:08), Dawn Hu (25:46), Shelby Gray (26:30), Jessica Leising (26:53), Stephanie Kranz (27:17) and Eden Fried (30:21).

The North boys and girls closed out last week by competing Saturday at the Alden Bulldog Stampede at Alden High School.

The Spartan boys finished eighth with 180 points, led by Hurley's 14th place finish in 17:09. Thielman finished 21st (17:23), Joe Seitz came in 37th (18:02), Perry was 56th (18:35) and Calandra placed 78th (19:15).

Other strong races came from Willert (19:23) and Golightly (19:57). Copeland (21:04), Chertack (21:13), Don Seitz (21:57), Boser (21:14), Matt Helm (22:14), Rockwell (22:37), Jordan (23:36), and Brad Weinstein (25:58) were also strong performances on a very windy day.

The Lady Spartans finished 14th behind Dorogi (22:01), Berus (22:39), Bauman (23:07), Rayback (24:13) and Hu (24:19). Other strong performances were turned in by Leising (25:12), Gray (25:52), Kranz (26:36), and Fried (27:54).