Twice in a five-day span, the Baldwinsville cross country teams went head-to-head with West Genesee, clashing atop the standings in Race 2 at the Sept. 8 Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Invitational and then reuniting last Wednesday on the Bees’ home course.
In each instance, the boys Bees, who debuted at no. 9 in the state Class A rankings, would prevail, including last Wednesday’s 23-36 decision over the Wildcats in a head-to-head Salt City Athletic Conference dual as B’ville also defeated Syracuse East 15-50.
Adam Davis led B’ville as he covered the Durgee course in 16 minutes, 45 seconds to beat out WG’s Sean Byrnes (16:54) for the top spot. After the Wildcats’ Matt Bartolatta got third place in 16:59, the Bees took the next four spots.
Ben Timmons and Connor McManus ran together, each of them posting 17:18, more than half a minute behind Davis. Austin Bolton had a time of 17:21 for sixth place and Joe Licameli finished in 17:32 for seventh place as Kieran Sheridan (17:55) was just ahead of Collin Delaney (18:06).
Meanwhile, the B’ville girls, second to WG at VVS and no. 18 in the state rankings, would take a 22-33 defeat to the no. 9-ranked Wildcats, but salvage a split by beating Syracuse East 15-50.
In a close individual race, Justus Holden-Betts finished in 19:09, but two Wildcats beat her as Carly Benson won in 19:01 and Emily Young, in 19:08, edged Holden-Betts for the runner-up spot.
WG had four of the top five finishers, building an insurmountable lead before the Bees’ second pack crossed the line. Sarah Klein led that group, finishing sixth in 20:46, with Elizabeth Fawwaz (20:55) just ahead of Olivia Creelman (20:56) in seventh place as Anna Demer finished ninth in 21:05.
On Saturday, B’ville went to the Wayne Invitational, held on the same Wayne High School course that will host the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship meet on Nov. 11. And both sides would get top-five finishes in the featured Division I race.
B’ville’s boys team finished fourth out of 30 teams with 186 points, trailing only Fayetteville-Manlius (65 points), Niskayuna (85 points) and Corning (114 points).
Licameli had the top individual effort, finishing 25th in a time of 17:09. Timmons was 33rd, in 17:17, with Vannatta getting 37th place in 17:22. Davis, in 17:33, beat out McManus (17;35) for 45th place ahead of Bolton (17:49) and Sheridan (17:56).
The girls Bees fought its way to fifth place with 188 points as F-M (44 points) and Liverpool (85 points) went 1-2 to represent Section III, with Holden-Betts among the day’s top runners as she rose all the way to seventh place in a time of 19:13.
Klein finished 40th, in 21:04, two seconds ahead of Creelman (21:06) in 41st place. Fawwaz finished 50th in 21:20 as McKenzie Schmidt got to 56th place in 21:26 and Demer posted 21:53 for 73rd place. Jenna Costello finished in 22:58.
