For the third straight year, Fredonia's Lauren Reyda took first place at the Dunkirk Cross Country Invitational at Point Gratiot.
Reyda's time Friday (19:45) was 46 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.
"She has trained hard and works hard," Fredonia coach Carol Zirkle said. "When you work hard, it pays off. Thats the case with her."
Article Photos
OBSERVER?Photos by Craig Harvey
Dunkirk’s Ethan Francis, left, Silver Creek’s Hannah?Seiders, right, and Fredonia’s Lauren Reyda, below, compete in the annual Dunkirk Cross Country Invitational at Point Gratiot on Friday.
"I don't know if people remember or really knew, she was the runner of the year last year in Western New York," Dunkirk coach Kurt Warmbrodt raved. "That's a giant thing. When I think of all the good female runners the last couple years, there is a lot of good runners, so that's quite impressive."
Fredonia took first place with 18 points while Silver Creek took second with 45 points and Dunkirk was incomplete.
Reyda's teammate, Michaela Tramuta placed second at 20:31 while Silver Creek's Hannah Seiders followed at 20:41. Fredonia then took places four through eight - Gwen Stokes (21:17), Meredith Zebracki (21:26), Jillian Kowalski (21:27), Cori Gullo (21:40) and Clare Foley (22:18).
Silver Creek's Emma Seiders (22:21) and Rachel Radack (22:26) took ninth and 10th place, respectively.
Other top finishers in the local scene were Fredonia's Maitland Langworthy (11th, 22:38), Silver Creek's Sarah Adams (12th, 23:18), Silver Creek's Claire Castiglia (13th 23:30), Fredonia's Claire O'Brien (14th, 23:40), Fredonia's Mary Polvino (15th, 24:51), Fredonia's Haley Supkoski (16th, 25:05) and Dunkirk's Katie Promber (16th, 27:57).
"The Fredonia girls were very strong," Warmbrodt said. "It was very competitive. They all ran strong."
The boys' race was a close battle as St. Francis pulled out a close win with 41 points while Fredonia finished with 46 and Dunkirk with 48. Silver Creek finished fourth with 90 points.
"It was great," Warmbrodt said of the competitive race. "It was very exciting at the end. No one was quite sure who won. The kids really enjoyed that. It all turned out. I'm happy."
Fredonia's Jake Brown took first place as he pulled away from the field in the last half mile to win by 13 seconds. His time on the 3.1-mile course was charted at 17:55.
Dunkirk's Javier Soto placed third at 18:11 followed by Fredonia's Josh Goodue (18:18). Dunkirk's Ethan Francis placed sixth at 18:23 while teammate Ray Tarnowski took eighth at 18:30. Also for Dunkirk, Kevin Moralez placed ninth at 18:39 and Silver Creek's Adam Tanner was 10th at 18:48.
Other top runners included Fredonia's Mike Meredith (11th, 18:53), Steven Formanowicz (12th, 18:57), Silver Creek's Tyler Steklasa (16th, 19:17), Fredonia's Jacob Eckman (18th, 19:37), Silver Creek's Jake Mullen (19th, 19:38), Jake McDaneld (20th, 19:58), Fredonia's Ryan Meredith (21st, 20:15) and Dunkirk's Billy Bradley (25th, 20:16) and Tom Logan (23rd, 21:02).
"It was an exciting race to watch," Zirkle said. "If you didn't have paper out, you had no idea how any of the teams were doing. I couldnt predict where we were. I knew it was close."
