Perhaps as expected, neither of Baldwinsville’s cross country teams could keep up with the powerhouses from Fayetteville-Manlius, Liverpool and West Genesee during Saturday’s Section III Class A championship meet at Vernon-Verona-Sherill.
Still, there was an intense battle for spots in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association meet, set for this Saturday at SUNY-Canton, and on the girls side, the Bees’ Maizy Ludden would get there for the first time.
Ludden, peaking in her senior season, would fall behind the quick pace set by West Genesee freshman Carly Benson, whose winning time of 18:28.5 was the best by any girl in any of the four sectional races.
But with F-M runners occupying most of the lead pack, Ludden still had a chance to advance. Four spots were taken, with just one left, when Ludden crossed the finish line in exactly 20 minutes, 13 seconds, grabbing the state meet berth by 8.2 seconds over West Genesee’s Lindsay Weaver (20:21.2).
So it’s Ludden joining two other Wildcats, Benson and Grace Craig, plus Rome Free Academy’s Marian Draper and Liverpool’s Abby McNamara, on the Section III All-Star squad going to Canton.
During the fight for team honors, B’ville did quite well, too, picking up 115 points to get to fourth place. F-M won with 21 points and WG (62 points) was second, while Liverpool got to third place with 75 points.
Freshman Elizabeth Fawwaz gave the Bees a 19th-place finish in 21:05.1. Marissa Lathrop took 29th place, in 21:43.4, while Kelley Hull was 32nd in 21:55.7. Emily McComb, in 22:16.6, edged out Claire McMahon (22:16.9) for 36th place as Rachael Miller (40th, 22:28.1) and Mia Bolton (43rd, 22:36.5) also managed top-50 finishes ahead of Nadine Dickter (23:03.3) and Sarah Rodman (23:21.3).
Moving to the boys Class A sectional meet at VVS, B’ville also had a fourth-place finish, garnering 129 points, just behind West Genesee (125 points) for that third spot. F-M (24 points) and Liverpool (45 points), the state’s top two-ranked teams, finished out in front.
It was senior Michael Boyce giving the Bees its best individual effort, getting to 21st place in a clocking of 17 minutes, 35.9 seconds. Arden Kellner made his way to 28th place, in 17:53.8, while Ryan Delola took 29th place in 17:57 flat.
Cameron Morrissey rounded out the Bees’ scoring column, getting to 32nd place in 18:02.8, while Austin Bolton was 36th, in 18:13.1, one spot ahead of Andrew Olds (18:13.9) in 37th place. Dennis Keegan was 39th in 18:20.7 and Joey Frink finished 44th in 18:33.2.
