BEMUS POINT, N.Y. – Logan Caruso and twins Tyler and Andrew Kraft led Bradford High to a seventh-place showing in Saturday’s Red Dragon Invitational in Bemus Point, N.Y.
Competing in the large school division on the course of the New York sectional championships, Bradford High finished with 207 points. Clarence won the team title with 91 points. The field was made up of 174 runners.
“This was a very challenging course with some tough hills so our times were pretty good,” Owls head coach Tom Tessena said. “We were without our fourth, fifth and sixth runners due to injuries, so we could have potentially done quite a bit better. We still averaged 17:51 for our top five.”
Caruso finished ninth overall at 16:46, running “an extremely good race,” while the Tyler Kraft was in 18th place (17:21) and Andrew 34th (17:43).
“These three guys run well each meet and get better,” Tessena said. “This is only the third race for Tyler so this is an impressive run.”
Junior David Allen posted a personal best with a time of 18:37 (69th), while freshman Gabe Mitchell also had his best race of the season with a time of 18:48 (78th). Senior Jordan Achar also had his best time as well (19:19, 104th).
“We had to move up Gabe and Jordan from the JV race to have a chance in the varsity race and they did well,” Tessena said, noting Mitchell would have placed second in the JV race while Archer would have been fourth.
“They are team guys and took one for the team today,” Tessena said. “I thought this would kill our team chances for the JV squad, but these guys stepped up and actually won the JV championship.”
Sophomore Dom Cary led the way with fifth-place finish (19:38). Freshman Ryan Cottillion(19:52, 13th), Drake Hayden(19:58, 15th), Stephen Morgan (20:01, 17th) and Quentin Minard (20:16, 22nd) all had personal-best times.
“These guys had only a 39-second split from first to fifth and that is great,” Tessena said. “They averaged 19:59. Our other three guys were at or better than their best marks for the year.”
Billy Naglik was 54th in 21:06, while freshman Devin Benson was 61st (21:14) and Ethan Hollamby was 77th (21:49).
“This group is getting better each week and they are gaining confidence as well,” Tessena said. “Their race had the largest field with 245 runners, so they beat a bunch of guys. They all beat over 168 runners and the top five beat over 200 runners.”
The Owls have Tuesday off before their home invitational at George G. Blaisdell Elementary School on Saturday morning.
“I hope we can get at least one of the runners we didn’t have today back for this Saturday for our own Bradford Invitational,” Tessena said, “but if we don’t, we will go with what we have. I am proud of all our guys today. They came to run and showed their pride and that is all a coach can ask for today.”
Tessena said around 15 teams from around the area will be at Saturday’s invite.
“Elk County looks like the class of the field. They were second in the Class A race last year and are running well this season,” Tessena said. “Smethport features some top runners as well. Our guys will have to improve if they want to do well.”
Racing on Saturday begins at 9:30 a.m. with the girls varsity race followed by the boys varsity at 10 a.m. Middle school races follow at 10:30 and 11 a.m.
