Not even two months from now, both of Baldwinsville’s cross country teams will make their way to Vernon-Verona-Sherrill to compete in the Section III championships.
At the very least, the Bees enjoyed the first visit, claiming boys and girls team honors during Saturday’s VVS Invitational.
More than 1,600 varsity runners took part in eight races in comfortable conditions. B’ville was assigned to Varsity Race 2, alongside the likes of West Genesee and Marcellus.
In the boys race, the Bees had 11 of the top 40 finishers, including a quartet that accounted for most of the winning margin as, with 36 points, B’ville topped West Genesee (54 points) and the rest of a 14-team field.
Alec Peinkofer led the group, the senior finishing in 16 minutes, 31.1 seconds, bettered only by Marcellus star Ryan Manahan, whose 15:53.2 was the best time of the entire meet.
Just behind Peinkofer, Josh Perez claimed third place in 16:57.6. Andy Fleming worked his way to fourth place in 17:06.5 as Jack Martin earned fifth place in 17:14.5.
Casey McAllister, who finished 22nd in 18:12.7, led the Bees’ next group as Harrison Warner was 26th in 18:28.5. Steve Petrelli was 30th (18:34.8), just ahead of Mike Boyce (18:35.3) and Antonio Martinez (18:38.5) as Arden Kellner (18:43.5) and Ryan Delola (18:44.6) also ran well.
Moving to the girls side, B’ville faced nearly the same circumstances and the same main obstacle to victory, but with 35 points, the Bees easily got past West Genesee, who did not run star junior Laura Leff but still finished second with 77 points.
Again, a Marcellus runner prevailed (Rachel Garn, in 19:39.6), but B’ville’s pack was soon to follow, led by Annie Peterson, who was third in a clocking of 20:27.2.
Rachael Miller had a strong effort, too, claiming fifth place in 20:56.8, while Marissa Lathrop finished eighth in 21:02.9 and Emily Thompson was ninth in 21:03.4.
More than half of the top 17 spots belonged to B’ville runners. Mia Bolton, who took 11th place in 21:24.5, led the next pack as Mackenzie Ross landed in 13th place (21:27.3).
Hannah Olds earned 15th place in 21:31 flat, just ahead of Julia Johnson in 16th (21:33.6) and Kim Cushman in 17th place (21:41.5). Kelley Hull (22:40.0) and Emily McComb (22:51.6) also had solid runs for the Bees.
Three days earlier, the Bees had its first CNY Counties League meet, easily handling Syracuse West with a 15-50 victory on the girls side and a 23-40 decision on the boys side.
B’ville swept the top spots in the girls race. Lathrop won in 20 minutes, 41.30 seconds on the Durgee course, just ahead of Miller, who was second in 20:41.52. Bolton took third place, in 20:46.90, as Olds (20:48.18) and Peterson (20:55.65) rounded out the top five.
Ross claimed sixth place in 20:58.46, with Thompson (21:06.62) in seventh place. McComb found her way to eighth place in 21:09.68 as Johnson (21:16.99) and Cushman (21:51.27) were ninth and 10th, respectively.
In the boys race, Syracuse West’s Eli Welling managed to win the individual race in 16 minutes, 53.49 seconds, but B’ville occupied the rest of the top 10 spots.
Martinez, in second place in 17:20.84, was just ahead of McAllister (17:21.14) and Warner (17:21.81), with Martin fifth in 17:22.25. Fleming, who won the Jordan-Elbridge Invitational on Sept. 8, was sixth here in 17:22.84, ahead of Perez (17:23.30), Peinkofer (17:23.55), Chris Twichell (17:35.96) and Petrelli (18:04.65) as the Bees mostly geared up for the VVS meet.
