Kayla Greco | Democrat Runners for Fallsburg, Liberty, James I. O’Neill, Sullivan West and Burke take off near the Liberty football field to start the OCIAA Division 4 championship meet. Despite sweeping the top three spots, Sullivan West lost the team title to O’Neill by three points..

SW's VanWagner wins cross country title

Story by Kayla Greco
LIBERTY — October 18, 2013 — Corrine Vanwagner from Sullivan West finished first at the OCIAA Division 4 girls’ championship meet held Tuesday at Liberty. She was followed across the finish line by teammates Kelsey Dutton and Courtney Meyerer for a sweep of the top three spots.
James I. O’Neill’s depth however – the Raiders took the next eight out of nine spots – racked up enough points to nudge past Sullivan West for the team title, 30-33.
VanWagner’s time of 19:58 was the only sub 20-minute finish. She hopes she can go even faster in the coming weeks.
“I want to focus on having a really good time at sectionals this year,” said VanWagner. “That’s my main goal.”
On the boys’ side, Anthony Pelella and Liam Neary finished first and second to lead O’Neill to a narrow 30-36 victory over Sullivan West. Ethan Siedl, Dan Paparella and Chris Scott placed third, fifth and seventh respectively for Sullivan West. Liberty’s Luis Campos came in fourth.
“We have a really good shot at the section title so we just have to keep working hard,” said Pelella, a junior who ran the Liberty course in a brisk 16:24.
For Seidl, he’s not holding anything back in his preparation for sectionals and hopefully states.
“I followed my coaches training schedule the best I could and I gave all my effort each day in training,” said the Sullivan West junior.
Next up for Sullivan West and Liberty is the OCIAA championship meet October 25 at Bear Mountain State Park where runners from all schools in all Divisions compete against each other.