Though Baldiwnsville’s cross country teams got swallowed up (like everyone else) by powerful Fayetteville-Manlius in Saturday’s Section III Class A championship meet at Jamesville Beach Park, it didn’t keep Alec Peinkofer and Rachael Miller from advancing further.
In the boys race, Peinkofer, a junior, covered the 3.1-mile Jamesville Beach course in 16 minutes, 47.5 seconds, which left him in sixth place, well off the torrid pace F-M’s Nick Ryan set as he won in a meet-best 15:34.4.
However, Peinkofer did finish second among individuals outside the winning Hornets side, so he joins Martin Leff (West Genesee), Neil Gill (Cicero-North Syracuse), Anthony Ostuni (Liverpool) and Adam Luban (Syracuse East) in going to this Saturday’s state meet at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill as part of the Section III All-Stars.
Miller, a freshman, had a closer call in the girls race, but she finished in 20 minutes, 22.7 seconds and earned the fifth and final All-Star berth in the state meet, joining West Genesee’s Laura Leff and the CNS trio of Jackie Halstead, Nicole Watterud and Taylor Parry.
B’ville’s Class A boys team had to settle for third place, with 102 points, as Liverpool, with 82 points, jumped ahead of the Bees to get second place behind F-M.
This happened despite junior Andy Fleming working his way to 13th place in 17:24.8. Three Warrior runners then crossed the line before senior Matt Pond got 20th place in 17:40.7.
Sophomores Josh Perez (17:59 flat) and Jack Martin (18:04.1) were 31st and 32nd, respectively, while senior Pat Colligan was 41st in 18:14.5. Junior Antonio Martinez was 48th, in 18:20.7, while junior Casey McAllister (18:31.6), sophomore Harrison Warner (18:44.7) and junior Nate Wicks (18:56.9) all were within the top 70.
Moving to the girls side in Class A at Jamesville Beach, B’ville took fifth place, with 114 points. Miller earned her state meet berth just two spots ahead of junior Annie Peterson, who worked her way to 16th place in 20:34.5.
A pair of juniors, Julia Johnson (21:45.3) and Emily Thompson (21:46.8), earned the 30th and 31st spots, respectively, while freshman Hannah Olds was 33rd in 21:58.2.
Two more ninth-graders, Amanda McMahon (22:09.6) and Maizy Ludden (22:28.1), also cracked the top 40 ahead of freshman Emily McComb (44th, 22:34.8), junior Kim Cushman (45th, 22:35.6) and junior Mackenzie Ross, who was 60th in 23:18.8.
