MARATHON –For those in the active high school cross-country and track scene, the Marathon invitational is one of the region’s most competitive cross-country meets in New York State. Usually held on a weekend in the the fall, hundreds of runners alike from across New York make their pilgrimage to this cross-country haven. This year, the Norwich boys and girls varsity cross-country teams traveled on Friday April 16 to compete in the ‘Fall 2’ version of the invitational.

In the division 1 varsity boys’ race, the Norwich Purple Tornado finished seventh out of the 10 teams in their division, scoring 133 points. Norwich senior Julian Roque lead NHS with a 12th place finish out of the competitive field of 178 harriers. Roque crossed the tape in a time of 19:01.9 minutes. With Roque finishing among the top 21 runners, he earned a Second Team All-Star finish at the long-standing invitational.

Rounding out the remaining boys varsity finishers for the Purple Tornado were a pair of juniors in Stephen Kman and Makaio Sutton who finished 22nd and 23rd respectively, with Kman timing 19:30.3 and Sutton finishing in a time of 19:30.8. Sophomore Zander Sutton finished 73rd with a time of 21:48.8, Norwich senior Andrew Meccariello finished just five spots back in 78th place in a time of 21:12.8 to round out the scoring for the Purple Tornado.