When it was time to start running again, the West Genesee boys cross country team wasted little time going to the top of the standings. On a gorgeous Saturday afternoon at Jamesville Beach Park, the Wildcats beat a field of 10 other top teams, including Marcellus, to take the Division II portion of the Chittenango Invitational, and as a bonus freshman sensation Laura Leff won the girls Division II individual race. Overall, WG’s boys had 65 points, enough to fend off Cicero-North Syracuse, who was second with 89 points. Marcellus claimed fourth place with 119 points, edging out Liverpool (120) for that spot, while another local team, Jordan-Elbridge, finished eighth. John Delallo, finishing third in 15 minutes, 50.6 seconds, led the Wildcats’ winning effort, the senior closely followed by junior Martin Leff, who was fifth in 15:53.6. Senior Billy Gabriel also cracked the top 10, finishing eighth in 16:21.2. Another senior, Matt Byrnes, checked into 12th place in 16:34.9, and when senior Matt Serrao crossed the line in 41st place (17:35.4), WG had the victory. Meanwhile, in the girls Division II race, Leff, so impressive as an eighth-grade, began a new season by pulling away from the rest of the field. Leff finished in 18 minutes, 14.2 seconds, more than half a minute ahead of Cicero-North Syracuse’s Nicole Watterud. Still, the girls Wildcats had to settle for third place (91 points) in the team standings behind the Northstars and Hilton. Sophomore Anna Leo was eighth, in 20:16.4, while Abby Kastick finished 20th (21:26.1), Amy Hannahan 26th (21:55.7) and Kaitlyn Richards 36th in 22:28.7. Marcellus sophomore Ryan Manahan contended for individual honors, beating Leff as he took second place in a time of 15:43 flat. Only Rochester McQuaid’s Robert Hurlbut (15:28.7) fared better. Jesse Garn gave the Mustangs a ninth-place clocking of 16:30.3, while Joe Fallon fit into 28th place (17:14.3). John Bell was 38th (17:31.7) and Mike Epp was 49th in 17:57.7. J-E saw freshman Jack Gugel put together an impressive 14th-place showing in 16:41.7. Greg Bader (17:18.2) and Steve Slonosky (17:18.9) were 29th and 31st, respectively, while Tom Poppe got 43rd place (17:40.7). Scott Sullivan (18:55.2) edged out Derrick Cheney for the last point placement. On the girls side, Marcellus was seventh out of 10 teams in Division II despite freshman Rachel Garn taking seventh among individuals in a time of 20:02.3. Sophomore Maggie Dunn was 14th (20:42.2), with Molly McGuane 27th (21:59.6). Eliza Bell (23:15.7) and Olivia Higgins (23:17.9) rounded out the scoring. Westhill began its season at the South Jefferson Invitational in Adams, where it finished third in both divisions. A front-loaded girls Warriors squad had four of the top 12 finishers. Jessica Curry was second in 20:03.7 behind Pulaski star Katie Weisenburger (19:55.5), while Aimee Beaudette finished fourth (20:36.1), Betsy Black took fifth (20:58.4) and Lissa DiPaola claimed 12th in 22:25.7. On the boys side, Jon Moore led the Warriors with a 14th-place clocking of 19:01.9, just ahead of Peter Lynch (19:05.6) in 15th place. Casey Bunce (19:14.3) and Mitchell Lamb (19:31.8) were 18th and 20th, respectively.