Though it was the Baldwinsville boys cross country team with the better finish in Saturday’s Section III Class A championships at Chittenango High School, it was the girls Bees who would send someone forward to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association meet.
Sophomore Justus Holden-Betts, a standout for the girls Bees throughout the fall, would take part in a fierce race for the top five individual positions outside of the winning team from Fayetteville-Manlius, who swept the top five as the Hornets’ Claire Walters broke the girls Chittenango course record to win in 17:59 flat.
More than a minute behind Walter, Holden-Betts held her own and beat most of the rest of the field. In exactly 19 minutes, 19 seconds, Holden-Betts crossed the finish line in seventh place, but second among the non-F-M runners. Only Liverpool’s Jenna Schulz (18:53.3) fared better.
As a result, Holden-Betts and Schulz would join Liverpool’s Madison Neuner and West Genesee teammates Mia Mitchell and Emily Young on the Section III All-Star squad that will run at Chenango Valley State Park in Saturday’s state meet.
B’ville would take fourth place in the girls Class A team standings behind F-M, West Genesee and Liverpool, with sophomore Sarah Klein working her way to 12th place in a time of 20:04.8.
Junior Anna Demer was 27th, in 21:30.7, just ahead of sophomore Leah Carpenter, who took 30th place in 21:40 flat. Three B’ville seniors follwed as Mia Bolton got 34th place in the team standings (36th overall) in 21:58.3, one spot ahead of Lyndsay Slavik (22:03.5) as Nadine Dickter (22;11.1) beat a group that included Natalie Farnett (22:15.6), Elizabeth Fawwaz (22:17.1) and Sarah Rodman (22:21.4), all of whom finished in the top 50.
In the boys sectional Class A race, B’ville was quite strong, picking up 69 points to finish comfortably in third place, though it couldn’t quite get to the battle at the top, where Liverpool, with 35 points, kept F-M (46 points) from dethroning them.
Largely, this was due to the fact that the Warriors swept the top three spots, with Stevie Schulz , in 15:49.7, beating out Ty Brownlow (15:57.9) and Josh Hickmott (15:58.4). This meant that anyone who finished eighth or better would get to the state meet, since no other Liverpool runner cracked the top 10.
Bees sophomore Garrett Vannatta was ready for the battle, and he covered the Chittenango course in 16 minutes, 52 seconds, but that left him in ninth place, one spot and 11.1 seconds behind F-M’s Joe Walters (16:40.9) for the final berth in the state meet.
All told, six B’ville runners cracked the top 20, with senior Cameron Morrissey getting to 12th place in 17:09.5, just ahead of sophomore Joe Licameli, who was 14th in 17:11.8. Senior John Kresovich got 16th place in 17:18.3 as junior Ben Timmons was 18th in 17:23.5 and senior Andrew Olds (17:27.4) finished 20th.
More solid efforts came from a quartet of Bees that included senior Evan Biedermann, who made his way to 23rd place in a clocking of 17:38.9. Sophomore Austin Bolton, in 17:52.4, beat out fellow 10th grader Adam Davis (17:53.9) for 28th place, while senior Evan Vannatta finished 31st in 18:01.5.
