OBSERVER Staff Report
ELLERY - Lauren Reyda raced to a first-place finish and the Fredonia Lady Hillbillies placed second overall at the Maple Grove Red Dragon Invitational.
All seven of Fredonia's runners finished in the top 22, led by Reyda's finish in 18:57.11.
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Fredonia’s Lauren?Reyda runs at the Red Dragon Invitational, on Saturday, at Longpoint State Park, in Ellery.
"She's trained hard all summer," Fredonia coach Carol Zirkle said of Reyda. "All of the girls have trained hard. (Reyda) has continued to improve. She gets up and does extra work in the morning. She takes her running seriously."
Michaela Tramuta was also among the top finishers when she crossed seventh in 20:29.87.
"Michaela ran a great race today," Zirkle continued. "She really showed a lot of improvement from Tuesday. She stayed strong and put in a lot of effort."
A pair of freshman - Gwen Stokes (21:20) and Clare Foley (21:21) - finished 12th and 13th, respectively while Meredith Zebracki was right behind them in 15th place at 21:26.
Jillian Kowalski (17th - 21:45) and Cori Gullo (22nd - 22:18) completed the scoring for Fredonia.
Maple Grove won the girls' meet with 31 points. Fredonia (48), Williamsville North (141), Orchard Park (149), Jamestown (150), Gowanda (167), Pioneer (184), Allegany-Limestone (217), Falconer (225), Southwestern (226), Frewsburg (228) and Olean (268) followed. Dunkirk, Silver Creek, Randolph, Eisenhower and Franklinville were incomplete.
Colleen Steward was Gowanda's top finisher in 21st place at 22:17. Hunter Samuelson (23rd - 22:18), Sarah Grubbs (30th - 22:32), Krystal Haggart (43rd - 23:29), Elizabeth Omicioli (50th - 24:34), Marcella Torres (25:27) and Taylor Kickbush (59th - 25:28) completed the Lady Panthers' scoring.
Katie Promber (27:54), Nicole Bannister (31:39) and Brittany Geise (43:09) competed for Dunkirk while Silver Creek was represented by Hannah Seiders (20:55), Sarah Adams (23:55) and Claire Castiglia (26:26).
In the boys' meet, Gowanda finished eighth, Fredonia took ninth and Dunkirk was 10th. Silver Creek fielded an incomplete team.
Gowanda's top finisher was Matty Kruszka (32nd - 18:28). Cole Smith (37th - 18:39) wasn't far behind him while Johnny Shaw (44th - 18:54), Ben Myzel (52nd - 19:10), Kevin Frederickson (54th - 19:10), Dylan Accordino (62nd - 19:23) and Joey Kruszka (64th -19:29) rounded out the Panthers' scoring.
Senior Jacob Brown led Fredonia with his ninth-place finish in 17:28.
"Jake ran a very good race," Zirkle commented. "He's our lone senior between the girls' and boys' teams. He's shown a lot of leadership and put in a lot of effort."
Also competing for the Hillbillies were Josh Goodhue (18th - 18:07), Mike Meredith (58th - 19:18), Stephen Formanowicz (68th - 19:34), Jacob Eckman (69th - 19:45) and Alex Brown (80th - 20:19).
Dunkirk was paced by Javier Soto (27th - 18:19). He was joined by Ethan Francis (42nd - 18:51), Ray Tarnowski (45th - 18:54), Kevin Morales (63rd - 19:35), Billy Bradley (82nd - 20:20), Tom Logan (93rd - 21:37) and Andrew Saye (107th - 29:31).
Silver Creek, while incomplete, received strong performances from Adam Tanner (19:25), Jake Mullen (20:24), Jake McDaneld (21:24) and Jack McAlevey (23:07).
