ADAMS - It hasn't quite been a walk in the park for Weedsport's Chelsea Gibson. Rather, it's been a run through the woods and over the hills for the senior cross country standout. Either way, Gibson's been as cool as they come when she's in a race.
For the fifth consecutive year, Gibson saved her best for sectionals and earned another trip to the state cross country meet. She finished second overall (20:22.7) in the Section III, Class D race at South Jefferson Central School on Saturday.
While she appeared to cruise to another top-five finish, Gibson admitted the course was extremely difficult. While the terrain was mostly dry, there were some low-lying muddy areas that only added to the degree of difficulty on the undulating course.
“I was really nervous before the race,” Gibson said. I knew I had to keep it strong up the hills. I knew if I fell back I wouldn't recover (it's probably the hardest course I've ever run.
Weedsport coach John Lawler has watched Gibson get better every year and can't bestow enough praise on his senior star.
“She's usually a dominant runner in every race,” he said. “But this is where she really shines. She really prepares herself and always seems to run her best race in sectionals.”
Gibson and fellow teammate, Sarah Wignall, helped boost the Warriors to a third-place finish. Wignall finished eighth (21:03.0) and missed qualifying for statesby one position after she was passed just before the finish line.
“I'm very pleased, I hope she's pleased,” Lawler said of Wignall.
“Most of all, I hope she gets that taste (of states) and brings it back next year. She'll be our leader next year.”
Lawler's boys' squad gave him another reason to smile after Saturday's meet.
The Warriors got a strong performance from Jim Bos (11th place, 18:25.6) and finished just ahead of Pulaski for third place.
“This is outstanding,” Lawler said.
“We almost had two girls make states and our top boy (Bos) almost made it, too, so I'm very pleased.”
Joining Gibson at next weekend's state championship will be Auburn's Chris Mason, who finished ninth (16:40.1) in the AA race.
“I thought I did well,” Mason said. “At the end I just felt totally renewed. I hit that last hill and went.”
Similar to Gibson, Mason pulled off a state bid but had to watch as a teammate just narrowly missed the cut. The Maroons' Scott Garret ran well but finished 12th (17:07.3) and missed qualifying by two positions.
Auburn girls' runner Rosie Schiebel (11th place, 20:36.0) also missed the state cut by two spots and is familiar with coming up just short at sectionals.
“It happened last year,” Schiebel said. “I missed (qualifying for states) by one spot. It does motivate you but you just have to go out there and compete and wait for next year.”
The Auburn boys and girls teams finished fifth in their respective races.
While both Auburn and Weedsport lived up to the billing, the Skaneateles Lakers may have looked strong on paper, but Jack Reed's squad didn't live up to their own expectations.
After losing the Section III championship in 2004 for the first time in 12 years, the Lakers came up short once again, finishing second by a wide margin to Sauquoit Valley.
Skaneateles has been known as a section powerhouse but may be losing the championship aura that has surrounded the team for over a decade.
This is the first time in more than 12 years Skaneateles hasn't sent a single runner to states.
“It's an enormous disappointment,” Reed said. “We laid down and didn't fight. Our juniors were supposed to be our leaders. (Rachel) Hosie and (Stephanie) Searing ran well but the rest didn't give it a fight.”
Prior to the meet, Hosie was ranked only 24th in Class C but came out strong and finished 14th (21:13.9).
The Lakers' two most reliable runners, Hannah Waite and Rachel Vaivoda, struggled on the 3.1-mile course and fell back to 18th and 19th, respectively.
While Hosie was happy with her own performance, she felt the same dissatisfaction as the rest of her teammates.
“We came in as the underdog and thought we could win,” she said.
“I'm glad I did well and I can walk away knowing I tried my hardest. But who wouldn't be disappointed (with our finish)?”
Also in Class C, Jordan-Elbridge had big days on both the boys and girls side. Jeff Donohue led the Eagles to a fourth-place finish and finished 15th individually (18:08.0). For the girls, Cate White was 12th (20:59.3) and the Eagles placed fifth.
Cato-Meridian's Lisa Cole also had an impressive performance, finishing 15th (21:14.3) and beating out a bulk of the class's best runners.
In other races, the Skaneateles boys finished seventh behind Sam Smolenski's 29th-place finish (18:43.8) and the Cato-Meridian boys were ninth and Matt Tucker placed 35th (18:58.2) for the Blue Devils.
While she appeared to cruise to another top-five finish, Gibson admitted the course was extremely difficult. While the terrain was mostly dry, there were some low-lying muddy areas that only added to the degree of difficulty on the undulating course.
“I was really nervous before the race,” Gibson said. I knew I had to keep it strong up the hills. I knew if I fell back I wouldn't recover (it's probably the hardest course I've ever run.
Weedsport coach John Lawler has watched Gibson get better every year and can't bestow enough praise on his senior star.
“She's usually a dominant runner in every race,” he said. “But this is where she really shines. She really prepares herself and always seems to run her best race in sectionals.”
Gibson and fellow teammate, Sarah Wignall, helped boost the Warriors to a third-place finish. Wignall finished eighth (21:03.0) and missed qualifying for statesby one position after she was passed just before the finish line.
“I'm very pleased, I hope she's pleased,” Lawler said of Wignall.
“Most of all, I hope she gets that taste (of states) and brings it back next year. She'll be our leader next year.”
Lawler's boys' squad gave him another reason to smile after Saturday's meet.
The Warriors got a strong performance from Jim Bos (11th place, 18:25.6) and finished just ahead of Pulaski for third place.
“This is outstanding,” Lawler said.
“We almost had two girls make states and our top boy (Bos) almost made it, too, so I'm very pleased.”
Joining Gibson at next weekend's state championship will be Auburn's Chris Mason, who finished ninth (16:40.1) in the AA race.
“I thought I did well,” Mason said. “At the end I just felt totally renewed. I hit that last hill and went.”
Similar to Gibson, Mason pulled off a state bid but had to watch as a teammate just narrowly missed the cut. The Maroons' Scott Garret ran well but finished 12th (17:07.3) and missed qualifying by two positions.
Auburn girls' runner Rosie Schiebel (11th place, 20:36.0) also missed the state cut by two spots and is familiar with coming up just short at sectionals.
“It happened last year,” Schiebel said. “I missed (qualifying for states) by one spot. It does motivate you but you just have to go out there and compete and wait for next year.”
The Auburn boys and girls teams finished fifth in their respective races.
While both Auburn and Weedsport lived up to the billing, the Skaneateles Lakers may have looked strong on paper, but Jack Reed's squad didn't live up to their own expectations.
After losing the Section III championship in 2004 for the first time in 12 years, the Lakers came up short once again, finishing second by a wide margin to Sauquoit Valley.
Skaneateles has been known as a section powerhouse but may be losing the championship aura that has surrounded the team for over a decade.
This is the first time in more than 12 years Skaneateles hasn't sent a single runner to states.
“It's an enormous disappointment,” Reed said. “We laid down and didn't fight. Our juniors were supposed to be our leaders. (Rachel) Hosie and (Stephanie) Searing ran well but the rest didn't give it a fight.”
Prior to the meet, Hosie was ranked only 24th in Class C but came out strong and finished 14th (21:13.9).
The Lakers' two most reliable runners, Hannah Waite and Rachel Vaivoda, struggled on the 3.1-mile course and fell back to 18th and 19th, respectively.
While Hosie was happy with her own performance, she felt the same dissatisfaction as the rest of her teammates.
“We came in as the underdog and thought we could win,” she said.
“I'm glad I did well and I can walk away knowing I tried my hardest. But who wouldn't be disappointed (with our finish)?”
Also in Class C, Jordan-Elbridge had big days on both the boys and girls side. Jeff Donohue led the Eagles to a fourth-place finish and finished 15th individually (18:08.0). For the girls, Cate White was 12th (20:59.3) and the Eagles placed fifth.
Cato-Meridian's Lisa Cole also had an impressive performance, finishing 15th (21:14.3) and beating out a bulk of the class's best runners.
In other races, the Skaneateles boys finished seventh behind Sam Smolenski's 29th-place finish (18:43.8) and the Cato-Meridian boys were ninth and Matt Tucker placed 35th (18:58.2) for the Blue Devils.