Two objectives were within the sights of the Baldwinsville boys cross country team as it went to Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School for last Saturday’s Section III Class A championship meet.
First, the state no. 18-ranked Bees wanted to rise to second place in the team standings, since catching state no. 2-ranked Fayetteville-Manlius wasn’t likely. Second, B’ville wanted some individuals to make it to this Saturday’s state championship meet at Wayne High School.
On both fronts, it proved a complete success.
B’ville finished with 55 points, well clear of Liverpool (93 points) for that runner-up spot, and getting its junior trio of Garrett Vannatta, Joe Licamelli and Connor McManus all to the state meet.
F-M swept the top six spots, led by Ben Otis, who won in 16 minutes, 5.8 seconds. But it was Vannatta in front of the chasing pack as, with a time of 16:53.5, he was seventh overall and tops outside the Hornets’ elite circle.
Licameli, meanwhile, finished ninth in 16:59.1, with Liverpool’s Nathan Reeves (16:55.0) between Vannatta and Licamelli. With West Genesee’s Matt Bartolotta posting 16:59.6, one more spot remained for the state meet.
And it came down to two B’ville runners, with McManus winning the battle over senior teammate Ben Timmons by 2.7 seconds, McManus posting 17:01.3 to Bartolotta’s 17:04 flat.
A bit further back, Adam Davis finished 18th in 17:25.1, while Kieran Sheridan got 22nd place in 17:37.9. Austin Bolton had a 29th-place time of 17:45.8 as Zach Hahn (18:18.2) was three spots ahead of Sam Kellner (18:28.9) in 47th place.
Meanwhile, in the girls sectional Class A meet, B’ville, with its no. 16 state rankings, had junior Justus Holden-Betts aiming to advance to the state meet amid a strong field that included top runners from F-M, Liverpool and West Genesee.
Holden-Betts did so, as she posted a time of 19 minutes, 5.4 seconds to finish eighth overall, but third among runners outside of F-M. She would join Liverpool’s trio of Jenna Schulz, Madison Neuner and Natalie Kurz, plus WG’s Carly Benson, in advancing to the state meet.
From a team standpoint, B’ville finished third with 89 points behind F-M and Liverpool, with Elizabeth Fawwaz stepping up as she made her way to 15th place in a time of 20:17.1.
McKenzie Schmidt finished 21st in 20:39.3, while Sarah Klein got 27th place in 20:59.6. Olivia Creelman gained 35th place in 21:43.1 and Anna Demer was 37th in 21:51.6. Maya Hewitt (22:01.6) and Patricia Conlan (22:07.7) were 39th and 41st, respectively, with Jenna Costello (23:20.8) in 58th place.
