Photos and article by Laura Luft

The Dash in the Dark event was hosted by the Oakfield-Alabama/Elba Cross Country Teams right on the OAE school grounds. There were around 70 schools in attendance, traveling from as far away as Pennsylvania.

There were more than 1,100 runners in races throughout the night. This was mostly a 3-person relay with each runner doing a 2-mile distance.

• Girls Blue Race Large school winner was Fairport (40:18.3 time), and the small school winner was Harley Allendale Columbia (47:59.0 time).
• Boys Blue Race Large school winner was Fairport (35:21.5 time), and the small school winner was Akron (35:35.4).
• The boys individual race winners were Brendan Jacoby (11:48.6 time) from Brighton and John Alfiero (11:58.9 time) from Attica.
• Girls Gold Race Large school winner was Fairport (37:17.9), and the small school winner was East Aurora (35:08.6).
• Boys Gold Race Large school winner was Spencerport (31:41.6), and the small school winner was East Aurora (30:40.2)

There was also an intense race among the mascots in attendance.

The hosting OAE cross-country team had a historic night, according to Coach Robert. 

Eli Williams, Elijah Loysen, Trevor Enes, Jackson Gilbert, Angelina Luker, Evelyn Chadbourne, and Mackenzie Domoy have all earned top 10 best OAE runners lists per their respective grade levels. On top of that, Caroline Luft not only became the 3rd fastest sophomore in OAE history but also became the 8th fastest OAE runner in Dash in the Dark history regardless of grade.

Logan Clark became the 2nd best Junior and 2nd best OAE runner in Dash in the Dark history. 

Connor Domoy became the top OAE senior runner as well as running the 2nd fastest time in Dash in the Dark history, becoming the only OAE runner to break the 10-minute barrier at this race. 

Last but certainly not least, Connor Domoy, Eli Williams, and Logan Clark not only got 2nd at Dash as a team, but became the fastest OAE relay team in Dash in the Dark’s 13-year history, overtaking the 2018 gold relay team of Kyle Mott, Zack Hall, and Derek McIntire by over a minute. 

A nice start to the season by the hosting OAE XC teams. 

Big thanks to all the dozens of people who helped to make this happen and the schools that come and support it. It is a fun night to kick off the Cross Country season for all area schools.

Oakfield-Alabama High School hosted its annual Dash in the Dark on Friday evening.

Photos by Laura Luft.

The girls relay of Laurie Call, Emily McCracken, and Anna Warner finished 3rd among the small schools.  Laurie Call had the 2nd fastest time among the 16 competing small schools and ove 60 runners, running 12:29.40 and Anna Warner was the 5th fastest running 12:49.18.  Emily ran 13:58.42.  The 'B' relay of Shelby McGinnis (14:27.26), Emily Sherman (15:43.59) and Serena Strollo-DiCenso(15:14.15) finished in 12th.  Abby Bleier (14:56.34) and Rose Flumerfeldt (16:12.73) also represented the Irish.

The boys team split up to have a little inter-team competition, with the relay squad of Ryan Fuller (12:12.95), Dennis Bleier (12:44.22), and Bryan Moscicki (14:02.83) taking 12th place among the small school and the relay of Jusitn Carlson (12:17.17), Dylan Fix (12:36.85), and Caleb Nellis (16:10.98) finishing 22nd.  Ryan Shormann also completed his first XC race covering the 2 mile in 16:30.

The Irish open up their regular season Tuesday at Genesee County Park Course 2 at Area A off Raymond Road.