High School

Five students from Southwest Elementary were recognized at Thursday’s Board of Education meeting for their exemplary efforts in the school’s Penny War for Charity.

Georgia Maddox, Bentley Clark, Lillian Weber, Graysen Hintgen and Miles Griswald are 5th graders who were tasked with writing persuasive essays to convince classmates to donate to their favorite charity. Essays were read outloud to their classes, with the essays receiving the most votes winning and donating to the charity of each student’s choice.

“Our 5th graders wrote a lot of outstanding essays and the ones written by these students really stuck out to our staff, as well as their peers,” said Southwest Principal Brian Hofer. “I am very happy to honor and thank them for their efforts.”

Fifth graders also collected change and competed to see who could raise the most money. The students raised a total of $377.69, which was donated to the Geneseo Humane Society, Pegasus Special Riders, Champions for Cures, St. Jude Children's Hospital, and Navy Safe Harbor Foundation.

Pictured below are the essay winners–Miles Griswold, Georgia Maddox, Lillian Weber, Graysen Hintgen, and Bentley Clark–who were awarded Maple Leaf Medallions from Superintendent Dr. Adam Brumbaugh.

Student-athletes from Geneseo High School’s cross country teams were also on hand to be honored, as both the boys’ and girls’ teams qualified for the state meet in the fall.

Head Coach Aaron Skopec introduced the girls, which included Jeslen Rink, Elanor DeBlieck, Brooklyn Smith, Ayla Schultz, Lucy Wachtel, Evy DeBaene, Hannah Stone, Liberty Brumbaugh and Alivia Brown.

The girls’ team finished 7th at the sectional meet and became Geneseo’s first girls’ cross country team to qualify for the state meet since 2012. The girls were Western Big 6 conference champions for the second year in a row, with Brooklyn Smith finishing as the conference runner-up, and a regional and sectional medalist. Five girls earned either 1st or 2nd team all-conference, and four seniors earned academic all-conference.

Head Coach Todd Ehlert introduced the state qualifiers for the boys’ team, which included Dylan Gehl, Jaxson Sottos, Graysen Carlson, Henley Bourne, Aidan Bries, Kaden Elmer, Max Johnson, Jack Kreiss, Greyson Claerhout, Rylan Lambert, Kael McCord, Alex Aleman, Micah Johnson and Fritz Bolme.

The boys’ team qualified for the state meet for the fifth consecutive year, the first time in school history that has happened. Dylan Gehl placed 14th at the state meet and became the first boys’ runner in school history to turn in two years as an All-State performer. Gehl also won the Western Big 6 individual championship, the first time a Geneseo runner has captured that title.

Congratulations to both teams for all of their hard work and success!