IAC CROSS COUNTRY: NEWARK VALLEY GIRLS, MERRILL GARNER RUNNER-UP HONORS AT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS; BOYS THIRD (21 PHOTOS) (2025-10-29)

Tioga County Sports Report
MARATHON — Hadley Merrill ran to a second-place finish at the IAC Cross Country Championships here Wednesday, leading the Newark Valley girls to a runner-up showing in the team challenge.

In addition to those efforts, the Cardinals won the JV girls team title and the varsity boys took third.

Varsity Girls
Merrill recorded a time of 21:22.2, just 5 ½ seconds behind race winner Janne Anderson from Odessa-Montour.

Brook Illsley was fifth with a time of 21:46.6, Malerie Gregrow placed 15th in 23:42.4, Olivia Vaughn took 21st in 24:22.7, and Leah Lansing rounded out NV’s scoring, clocking 24:44.4 to come in 26th.

Also competing for the Cardinals were Savannah Beebe (32nd, 25:29.7) and Nora McCann (34th, 25:42.3).

O-M scored 58 team points while Newark Valley had 60. Southern Cayuga was third with 82.

Varsity Boys
Leland Houston paced the Newark Valley contingent, crossing the finish line 15th in 19:19.5. Camden King was 23rd with a 20:02.6, Marcos Escalante took 24th in 20:07.6, Sheldon Houston placed 28th in 20:17.1 and Rhyley Payne was 44th, clocking 20:50.1.

Also running for NV were Hunter Tyrrell (64th, 22:56.3) and Reese Illsley (65th, 22:57.6).

Southern Cayuga dominated the race, which had 12 scoring teams entered, winning the team title with 49 points. Lansing edged NV, 112-114, for the runner-up spot.

JV Girls
The Cardinals claimed six of the first seven spots, including the top four, to score 16 points. Lansing, the only other full team entered, had 49.

Emily LaPorte won the race with a time of 26:14.1, followed by Elle Webb (26:46), Abigail Escalante (27:26.9) and Charlotte Vaughn (27:30).

Peyton Rhodes rounded out the team scoring in sixth (28:09.3) while Kaitlyn Bohne logged a non-scoring seventh in 28:59.8).

JV Boys
NV had two entries with Andrew Lelik placing 15th (23:44.9) and Rex Chapman finishing 18th (23:52).

Next up are the Section IV championships at Chenango Valley State Park on Nov. 6.

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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.

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