VERONA – A warm, windy Saturday morning at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School brought about a memorable duel for the individual Section III Class A boys cross country championship.
Baldwinsville senior Solomon Holden-Betts found himself separated from everyone in the field of more than 120 runners except for Fayetteville-Manlius junior Nolan McGinn, the pair getting half a minute ahead of the pack.
And by the time 5,000 meters were done, the league rivals were hitting the finish line nearly at the same time.
Holden-Betts had a time of 16 minutes, 5.9 seconds. But McGinn finished in 16:05.8, the margin a mere one-tenth of a second.
Still, both of them easily earned return trips to VVS for this Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships, where their duel could resume.
From a team standpoint, B’ville could not replicate defeating F-M, as it did head-to-head and again in the Oct. 19 Salt City Athletic Conference Metro Division race.
The Bees had 71 points to the Hornets’ 62, and both of them ended up trailing Auburn, who, by having five of the top 16 finishers, earned 51 points to earn the sectional title.
Noah Covert nearly joined Holden-Betts in the field for the state meet, the junior’s time of 17:36.6 putting him in ninth place, seventh among runners outside of Auburn when the top five in that group advanced.
Senior Arthur Bauer made his way to 11th place in 17:47.3, while junior Paul Clark, in 18:32.5, beat out senior teammate Kyle Sheckler (18:35.6) for 24th place.
Two others seniors ran for well, Jeff Ragonese taking 30th place in 18:47.7 and Ryan Quinn 31st in 18:52.4 as Ryan Wilson (19:02.4), Jack McAllister (19:10.4) and Jacob Guelli (19:18.5) followed.
In the girls Class A sectional race two hours later, B’ville was seventh out of 11 teams with 185 points as F-M, with 35 points, again claimed the top spot.
Freshman Yolanda Wei led the Bees, recording a 25th-place clocking of 22:04.8, while fellow ninth-grader Kamryn Barton made her way to 34th place among team runners (35th overall) in 22:51.3.
Just behind Barton, senior Mary Sabastino was 37th in 22:53.8, with junior Sophia Cavalieri, in 23:21.9, just ahead of the 23:55.8 from sophomore Margaret Solomon.
Also running for the Bees, Brianna Grosso finished in 24:43.6, with Avamarie Davis posting 25:09.1 ahead of Clare Horan (25:18.9), Lily Horan (25:28.9) and Erin Seitzer (27:07.7).
