Story by Jon Dinan
Eldred senior Alex Campanella finished third in the New York State Class D cross country championships Saturday at Elma Meadows Golf Course, qualifying him for the State Federation meet Saturday at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls.
Campanella however, will forgo the Federation meet to run in Nike XC National NY-NE Regional meet on November 24, also at Bowdoin Park.
Campanella’s time of 16:22.5 was 22.5 seconds off the winning pace set by Gabe Rodriguez of Geneseo. Teammate David Powers finished 72nd in the Class D race.
The next best finish by a Sullivan runner went to Sullivan West’s Reed Scott who came in 10th in the Class C race.
Tri-Valley – the only qualifying team – finished eighth out of 11 schools in the Class C team competition. Individually, freshman Autumn Bender placed 14th in the Class C race followed by Sullivan West’s Kelsye Dutton at 52nd.
Two local seventh graders raced at the state meet. Eldred’s Kayla Maas finished 67th in the Class D race, but was the third fastest 7th grader. Tri-Valley’s Brittany Pennell was one of two 7th graders to run in the Class C race.