Weeks of sunshine, good temperatures and calm conditions were long gone by the time Baldwinsville welcomed all of the Salt City Athletic Conference’s cross country teams to Wednesday’s annual league championship meet.
With steady rain churning up mud all over the Durgee Junior High School course, it took hard work for both the boys and girls Bees to register fourth-place finishes in both the overall standings and the SCAC Metro division.
B’ville’s boys were again led by the duo of Jack Michaels and Colin Delaney, each of whom posted top-10 finishes. Michaels, in 16 minutes, 49.8 seconds, got to seventh place, beating out Delaney, who was eighth in 16:54.5.
Among the SCAC Metro sides, B’ville’s total of 85 points was just behind Liverpool (76) and Cicero-North Syracuse (78) as state Class A no. 1-ranked Fayetteville-Manlius won with 23 points, with Sam Otis (who won in 15:44.8), Geoff Howles and Peyton Geehrer sweeping the top three for the Hornets.
Behind Michaels and Delaney, the Bees had James Cary finish 24th overall in 17:49.4. Solomon Holden-Betts had a 30th-place clocking of 18:07.2 that put him 24th in the SCAC Metro race, while Nate Hludzenski (18:26.4) just beat Aidan Micho (18:27.2) to the line and Tom Hagopian finished in 18:31.6.
The girls SCAC race followed and, as the rain picked up in volume, B’ville again finished fourth behind F-M, C-NS and Liverpool, this time placing all five of its top runners within the top 40 overall.
McKenzie Schmidt led the Bees, the junior going 20:55 flat for 18th place overall and 14th place among SCAC runners as F-M’s Claire Walters claimed the title in 18:03.2.
Vivian Holden-Betts got 25th place for B’ville in 21:17.6, while Anna Conklin was 29th among team runners in 21:32.5. Margaret Solomon, in 22:04.1, beat out Sarah Fawwaz (22:12.3) for 37th place as Sage Springsteen was 43rd in 22:35.5 and Annabelle Horan posted 23:34.3.
