MILTON — It was a day during which teams proved themselves and individuals not only won but did so in some instances by crushing the field.
Saturday, the Westchester County boys and girls cross-country championships and Northern Counties (Putnam and Dutchess) cross-country championships were run on the scenic Hudson Valley Sportsdome course in Ulster County.
But chances are Ryan Sykes, Adriana Pettinelli, Elizabeth Walsh and John Weinman — the boys and girls winners of the respective Westchester and Northern Counties races — did not soak in a lot of Milton's peak fall colors.
Greeley's Sykes, who'll run next year for Harvard, not only beat the other 251 finishers in his race and topped the runner-up by 65 seconds, but his time of 14:31.1 was a high
school record for the Milton course.
Sykes seemed pleased with the win and pleased with a season that has seen him win multiple major meet championships, including the Queensbury pre-states meet and the elite Eastern States Championship at the Manhattan University Invitational.
This is especially so since his junior year was injury-plagued.
"A lot of it's relief," he said of his feelings about this season. "It's good to be back. Last year I was banged up. I was hurt and you know it was definitely a bad feeling," he said, noting one major goal this season is to remain healthy.
Another is to win the boys Class B team championship at the Nov. 7 Section 1 championships, which are the qualifier for the state championships.
Saturday, Greeley won the boys Westchester team title, besting the other 35 teams that had a minimum of five runners finish to qualify for the team competition. (New Rochelle was second and White Plains third with Pleasantville and Irvington fourth and fifth.)
Of the Section 1 championships, Sykes said, "I think the big thing is we want to win as a team. ... That's our big goal. We want to do well together."
Scarsdale's Pettinelli wins Westchester title
As in the boys Westchester race, the individual winner never seemed in doubt. But, with the girls, the team title might have come as at least a small surprise.
Pettinelli, who last year finished second at Westchester to then-John Jay-Cross River senior and current Boston College runner Sloan Wasserman, cut her Westchester time from last year by more than 14 seconds to finish in 17:15.8.
That was No. 1 in a field of 185 and was better than 26 seconds better than Bronxville's Mia Horgan, who took second.
Horgan was close enough, though, that Pettinelli felt pushed.
"I heard a lot of people cheering for Mia when I passed them, so I could hear them the entire time behind me," she said, noting she wasn't sure which Mia was being cheered, since the third place finisher was Mia Haimelin, who helped lead her John Jay-Cross River squad to the girls team title.
Of the cheering and knowing she was being closely pursued, Pettinelli laughed saying, "It was very stressful."
John Jay-Cross River's team performance was special in large part because it came without Wasserman, whose phenomenal 2025 saw her lead her team to the state Class B team title and clock the best time of all girls in all classes at the state championships.
The Wolves placed three runners in the top 15 Saturday and another in the 25th spot, while getting a strong contribution from eighth-grader Cecelia Kaleda at No. 54 for the team win.
Bronxville was second, Scarsdale third, Eastchester fourth and Irvington edged Somers for fifth among the 23 teams that had enough finishers to score.
John Jay-Cross River coach Dey Dey said, "It wasn't too hard" to convince his runners they could still excel without Wasserman.
He said he made sure they knew they were capable but would have to push themselves.
"At the beginning of the year, I said, 'Now you have shoes to fill,' " he explained.
"One had to be the leader and the rest had to get stronger," he said. " I didn't want to put a lot of pressure on them. ... They had to believe they could. ... The top four stepped up big today and we had an eighth-grader (be our) fifth. I want them to know they're not doing it for me. They're doing it for themselves. At least now they believe they can do it themselves. If they don't believe it, they don't do it."
Northern Counties
"You can slow a champion down if they're injured. But a champion always has the heart necessary — always," Arlington coach Steve Arnett said after his girls team won the Northern Counties team title, placing four runners in the top 10 of the 51-runner race.
Arnett was specifically referring to the overall No. 8 finisher, Molly Pool, who clocked 20:25.1. That was much slower than the 18:03.8 she ran the course last year in winning the Northern girls title.
But winning has many definitions and Saturday Pool's performance seemed like nothing but a big win. She returned to running just last week after missing the entire season before that with a stress fracture.
"That just shows what she's made of," Arnett said.
The win went to Pawling's Elizabeth Walsh in 18:13.7
Mahopac's Kira Waring was second in 18:22.4 and Mahopac's Cara O'Halloran took third in 18:46.
Walsh was in a tight contest with Waring before pulling away with about 800 meters to go.
Walsh's time was more than 42 seconds faster than her Northern Counties 2025 finish and a personal best for her over 3.1 miles. The win continued her strong season in which she won her race at the prestigious Manhattan University Invitational.
"I think definitely I felt better going into this race than I did last year," noting her confidence has increased..
Walsh is now focused on the Section 1 championships, hoping to earn a spot again to compete in the state championships. Last year at states she finished 14th in Class C.
Waring's team, which placed five runners in the top 20, including four in the top 11 of the 51-runner competition, was second to Arlington and Carmel edged Ketcham by a point for third in the eight-squad Northern girls team competition.
Waring, a senior, who plans to run in college, said while her team wanted to win the title but she was proud that it had finished second for the third straight year.
"We were trying to win but we worked hard and to win second place, we're still happy to get there," said Waring.
Waring's focus is now on qualifying for the state championships after coming up just short the past two years.
She said her squad also wants to qualify as a team.
John Jay-East Fishkill won the boys Northern Counties team title with Brewster second and Arlington a close third.
John Jay-East Fishkill 's top runner was junior Eamon Curley, who was second in 16:12.9.
Weinman, an Arlington junior, won in 16:00.1.
Brewster's Brody McLoughlin took third among 140 finishers.
Check back later for more on this race.
Nancy Haggerty covers sports for The Journal News/lohud.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Greeley's Sykes sets course record at Westchester XC championships
