In an intense, competitive Section III Class AA championship race Saturday at Jamesville Beach Park, Baldwinsville’s Shaun Thompson earned another chance to run this weekend.
Thompson, a junior, tore through the 3.1-mile Jamesville Beach course in ideal running conditions (sunshine, temperatures in the 50s), finishing in 16 minutes, 20.6 seconds. That beat everyone in the AA field except Fayetteville-Manlius senior Brendan Farrell, who won in 16:12.6, eight seconds ahead of Thompson.
Still, by being the top individual outside the winning F-M squad, Thompson joins Chris Buchanan (Cicero-North Syracuse), Steve Houghmaster (West Genesee), Alex Wilke and Anthony Brais (both from Liverpool) on the sectional All-Star team headed to this Saturday’s state championship meet at SUNY-Plattsburgh.
As a team, Baldwinsville took fourth place in Class AA, with 81 points, just behind Liverpool (76 points) and West Genesee (79 points) as F-M won with 36 points.
Senior Adam Pacheck found his way to 10th place in 17:06.3, just two spots out of qualifying for the state meet. Fellow senior Nate McCabe was 15th, in 17:24.6, while senior Chris Wicks gained 21st place (17:42.0) and junior Ethan Pacheck was 36th in 18:12.3. Sophomore Connor Martin (18:28.1) and senior Charles Parker (18:32.4) were 41st and 42nd, respectively.
In the girls Class AA meet at Jamesville Beach, B’ville took fifth place, with 138 points, well off the torrid pace set by F-M, who had the top six individual finishers, including Courtney Chapman, who won in 18:30.2.
Annie Peterson came closest to qualifying for the state meet, three spots out of that last spot as the freshman ran to 16th place overall in a clocking of 20:55.4.
Junior Mallory Warner was 31st, in 22:08.8, just ahead of senior Jaimee Balloni (22:09.5) in 32nd place. Senior Ashley Shaheen claimed 35th place in 22:27.1, with senior Sarah Hall (22:39.0) in 39th place and Erika Wilcox 45th in 22:46.6. Another senior, Kristen Biedermann, earned 49th place in 22:56.7.
