Even before it officially became autumn, the Baldwinsville cross country teams took big early steps toward contending for the CNY Counties League National division title.
The Bees went to Camillus last Wednesday afternoon and conquered a tough challenger in West Genesee, beating the Wildcats 21-35 on the boys side and 25-31 on the girls side.
Shaun Thompson and Adam Pacheck ran 1-2 in the boys meet, beating WG star Steve Houghmaster in the process.
In a time of 16 minutes, 16 seconds, Thompson finished well out in front. Pacheck, for his part, had a clocking of 16:41 that beat Houghmaster (16:53) by 12 seconds.
Tim Chambers, with his fifth-place time of 17:23, led the next wave, four seconds clear of teammate Nathan McCabe (17:27) in sixth place. Chris Wicks got seventh place, in 17:37, while Andy Romeu (18:05) found his way to the top 10, too.
The closer girls race saw WG place three of the top five runners, but no one caught Danae Polsin. All Polsin did was register a time of 19:59, pulling away from the Wildcats’ Colleen Smith to win by 43 seconds.
Kristina Sprague worked her way to third place, in 20:48, but the Bees really won the meet with its third, fourth and fifth runners.
Erika Wilcox led that charge, getting sixth place in 21:21. When Nicole Fecco (seventh, 21:33) and Danielle Reimer (eighth, 21:34) beat WG’s Katie Bott (21:38) to the line, the Bees had the points for a victory. Ashley Shaheen finished right behind Bott in 10th place.
Baldwinsville will host an invitational meet on Saturday morning, starting at 10 a.m.
