Oil City, Rocky Grove XC boys have podium finishes at McQuaid

It was a strong showing for the local boys cross country teams who competed today at the McQuaid Invitational at the Genesee Valley Park in Rochester, NY.

Oil City High School boys varsity cross country team took first place in their division (Small School A-1) out of the 50 teams. Oil City scored 92 points, which was a significant gap over the second-place team - Southwestern, N.Y., who had 152 points.

The average race time for the five-scoring team members was 16 minutes and 46 seconds. All the Oilers finished in the top 100 in a race with more than 350 runners.

Jack Mumford paced the Oilers, coming in third place as one of only four runners to finish in less than 16 minutes.

Keegan Kirkwood and Elijah Brosius also had top 10 finishes, with back-to-back ninth and tenth place finishes. They, along with 23rd place Elijah Collins, completed the race in less than 17 minutes. Rounding out the Oil City finishers and their scoring places were Colin Liederbach, 47th; Brandon Murry, 59th; and Andrew McGarvie, 63rd.
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The girls varsity team placed 22nd out of 36 teams in their division. Kennedy Liederbach led the team with a 51st place finish.

The Rocky Grove boys finished second out of 52 teams in their division (Small School A-2). Ethan Knapp finished first for the team and 13th overall with a time of 16 minutes 20 seconds. Also placing in the top 50 for the Orioles were Evan Wolfgong, 27th; Easton Adamcyzk, 41st; Gauge Geirlach, 44th; Schiffer Anderson, 50th. Nathaniel Bolley (74th) and Cael Daily (114th) rounded out Rocky Grove runners for the day.
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The average race time for the team was 16 minutes 50 seconds. There were 464 runners in their division and the team scored 161 points.

The Rocky Grove girls team placed 30th out of 38 teams. They were led by Isabel Griffin who place 95th out of 355 racers.

(Photo provided by the team.)

(File photo of Ethan Knapp from the 2021 season.) 

We are hoping to catch a lot of our local teams in action on October 15 when Rocky Grove High School hosts its annual invitational at Two Mile Run County Park. In the past, the race has included high school boys and girls competitions, as well as races for junior high, elementary school and an open division. For information on participating, contact RGHS head coach Josh Beightol at [email protected].