BEMUS POINT - The boys' race of the County Championships on Friday will be a race many coaches won't soon forget.
With four ties, coaches and athletes found out just how important the team's sixth runner is, as that was the person who determined the tie breaker.
"It was craziest thing I have ever seen in results," Fredonia coach Carol Zirkle said. "We lost the tie break with Gowanda because our sixth runner didn't beat Gowanda's sixth runner. There were four different cases where the sixth runner is crucial. It was a race to be used as an example for many coaches to illustrate how important all seven runners are."
Maple Grove took the top spot with 57 points. Olean beat out Southwestern in a tie for second place with 100 points. Jamestown took fourth and Dunkirk placed fifth with 121 and 155, respectively. Gowanda won the tie break over Fredonia for sixth place with 170 points. Frewsburg took eighth with 206 while Falconer won the tie break over Randolph with 270 points for ninth place. Silver Creek won the tie break over Sherman with 275 points for 11th place. Allegany-Limestone took 13th at 280 while Franklinville placed last at 373 points.
Maple Grove's Corey Wefing took first place with a time of 16:22.
Dunkirk's Javier Soto took eighth overall at 17:33 while teammate Ethan Francis took 10th place at 17:42. Ray Tarnowski finished 20th at 18:03 for the Marauders.
"They moved up and beat the boys from Fredonia," Dunkirk coach Kurt Warmbrodt said. "This gave us a winning record for the season by beating three teams who have beat us during the league meet.They put it together today and I couldn't be happier. Soto and Francis are sophomores and it was the first year for both of them running."
Fredonia's Jacob Brown placed 12th at 17:45 and teammate Josh Goodhue was right behind at 17:47. Gowanda's Matty Kruszka placed 15th at 17:51 and Cole Smith took 24th at 18:15.
Silver Creek's top runner was Adam Tanner who finished in 36th place with a time of 18:37.
In the girls' race, Maple Grove took first place with 33 points followed by Fredonia 63, Sherman 111, Allegany-Limestone 123, Silver Creek 137, Gowanda 154, Jamestown 164, Falconer 219, Frewsburg 231, Olean 242 and Southwestern 243.
Maple Grove's Hope Pietrocarlo took first place with a time of 18:14 to beat out Fredonia's Lauren Reyda, who took second place at 18:49.
Fredonia's Michaela Tramuta placed ninth with a time of 20:03. Silver Creek's Hannah Seiders took 12th place at 20:33 while Gowanda's Colleen Steward took 14th at 20:46. Fredonia's Clare Foley was right behind her at 20:47. Also for Fredonia, Meredith Zebracki (20:59) and Jillian Kowalski (21:00) placed 18th and 19th, respectively. Gowanda's Hunter Samuelson took 21st at 21:27 while Silver Creek's Emma Seiders placed 23rd at 21:28.
For Dunkirk, Calan Pogorzelski placed 39th at 22:15.
