Breymeier finishes a place away from states

The Williamsville South girls and boys cross country teams completed their seasons last Friday at the Section VI Championships at Elma Meadows Golf Course.

Members of both teams finished off their season-long improvement as individuals by running the races well, said coach Chuck Godfrey.

The girls team, which had lost three of its top six runners to injuries, finished ninth out of 12 teams.

Amanda Breymeier led South with a seventh place finish, coming in with a time of 20:57. She missed a trip to Saturday's New York State Championships by one runner.

Sophomore Jenny Mooney was 27th in 22:28 and senior captain Colleen Hurtubise was 57th in 24:52. Junior Laura Johnston continued her great improvement from last year by finishing 54th in 24:31. Sophomores Rachel Zucker and Santana Coon were 59th in 25:01 and 61st in 25:57, respectively, while junior Lauren Mosier was 67th in 27:20.

Injuries to sophomores M.C. Aungst, who generally was finishing second or third for the team earlier in the season and Maxine Meyerhofer, last year's MVP, hurt the team's finish, but rest of the team never gave up and worked harder to produce results, said Godfrey.

The boys team was led by senior Alex Podvezko, who finished 29th in 18:51. He was followed by freshman Mike Herr (46th, 19:50), junior John Stark (47th, 19:51) and sophomore Bruce Hibler (56th, 20:12), Chris Bowers (71st, 21:28) and Will Freeman (79th, 22:38) and freshman Robert Freeman (81st, 23:29.)

As with the girls team, the boys team was weakened by the loss of three of its top six runners during the season, but dedicated itself to hard work and all members were able to improve significantly during the season, said Godfrey.

"With the teams losing only two seniors to graduation next spring, and the anticipated return of the rest of the athletes, the outlook for South's cross country team looks good for next year," said Godfrey.