For the 61st consecutive year, cross country teams from all over Upstate New York made their way to the Baldwinsville Invitational, only to find that the hosts were not that interested in sharing all of the goodies.
Led by senior Alec Peinkofer, the boys Bees went all the way to the top in the Large School race, earning 68 points to top Fairport (Section V), who was second with 81 points. Franklin Academy (Section X) got third place with 88 points.
Peinkofer, quite familiar with the twists and turns of the Durgee Junior High School course, moved his way to the front of the 90-runner field. Franklin’s Conor Gordon chased him, but Peinkofer won in 15 minutes, 34.7 seconds, with Gordon (15:43.8) settling for the runner-up spot.
Jack Martin was next, as the junior finished sixth in 16:14.2. Fellow junior Josh Perez worked his way to 14th place, in 16:24.7, while senior Andy Fleming got an 18th-place time of 16:28.5. The fact that Perez and Fleming both beat Fairport’s third and fourth runners made a big difference.
Once senior Casey McAllister crossed the line in 27th place in 16:52.1, the title was secure. Not far behind him, junior Steve Petrelli gained 44th place in 17:22.8, two spots ahead of junior Harrison Warner, who finished in 17:25 flat.
B’ville nearly pulled off a clean sweep of the Large School divisions. The girls Bees picked up 58 points, beating everyone in the 13-team field except Liverpool, who prevailed with 52 points.
Senior Annie Peterson landed in fourth place in 19:15.2, while sophomore Rachael Miller was fifth in 19:30.5, both of them trailing Liverpool’s tandem of Abby McNamara (19:11.8) and Morgan Mahoney (19:12.4), who were second and third, respectively.
The Warriors put two more runners, Juliana Basla (ninth) and Emily Butler (10th), in the top 10, allowing it to withstand B’ville’s charge. Senior Emily Thompson was 14th, in 20:02.8, with eighth-grader Mia Bolton roaring to 16th place in 20:04.9 and sophomore Hannah Olds (20:12.3) in 19th place.
Not far behind them, senior Mackenzie Ross was 24th, in 20:24.5, while sophomore Marissa Lathrop also ran well, getting to 27th place in 20:27.5.
B’ville’s boys and girls also had second-place finishes in the JV and modfiied divisions. Antonio Martinez won his JV race in a time of 17:00.4, beating more than half the Varsity Large School field. Julia Johnson took third in the girls Large School JV race with a clocking of 20:28.9.
In the Small School varsity divisions, Hannibal won the boys team title and Tully took home the same honors on the girls side.
Those races featured the day’s fastest times, too, as Marcellus’ Ryan Manahan was the boys pace-setter in 15:21.4 and Fabius-Pompey’s Erin McConnell was the quickest girl of the day with a time of 17:37.9.
Before all this, B’ville, no. 10 in the boys state Class A rankings and no. 14 in the girls state Class A poll, went to 2-0 in league competition last Wednesday with a sweep of Syracuse East.
The girls Bees won by a 15-50 margin, sweeping all of the top spots, led by Miller, who covered the Durgee course in 20:02.68 to beat out Lathrop, who was second in 20:08.24. Bolton, in 20:09.87, was third, just behind Lathrop, while Olds was fourth in 20:11.08. Johnson gained fifth place in 20:27.74.
Ross made her way to sixth place in 20:35.55, just ahead of Peterson (20:37.05). Kelley Hull (20:57.81), Allison Gooley (21:32.78) and Holly McMahon (21:33.02) rounded out the top 10.
In the boys race, B’ville had a much closer race, but still won 25-36 over East, largely due to the fact that East’s Adam Luban (16:27.65) and Alphonse Mugisha (16:35.74) swept the top two spots.
To counter that, the Bees ran together at the top, with Martin, in third place with a time of 16:47.08, followed closely by Perez (16:47.34), Fleming (16:47.55), McAllister (16:47.78) and Peinkofer (16:48.02), to account for the points.
Far behind them, Warner was eighth, in 17:08.46, beating Martinez (17:08.96) by half a second as Petrelli was 10th in 17:22.62.
