BINGHAMTON – The lone Tornado runner to advance to the New York State Championship meet – Ben Ericksen – excelled to his fastest 5k race of the season.

The Class C NYS Championships in the sport of Cross Country were held at Chenango Valley State Park on Nov. 12, a race that featured the best runners at the varsity level.

Emerging from the race was Tornado senior Ben Ericksen with 25th place finish off his seasons best time of 16:55.4. This marks the second straight year for the senior that he has advanced to the state meet to represent Norwich. Ericksen slid his way into the top 25 out of the 131 Section IV Class C runners when he defeated Chris Celecki, a senior from Holland Patent, Celecki finished in 26th with a time of 17:01.0.