Boys cross country: F-M’s McGinn wins by slim margin, Auburn takes sectional title (65 photos)

Verona — Fayetteville-Manlius runner Nolan McGinn held off Baldwinsville’s Solomon Holden Betts by one-tenth of a second and the Auburn boys won the team title, beating out Fayetteville-Manlius in an exciting Class AA boys cross country championship race at the Section III championship meet on Saturday at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill.

McGinn, Connor Clarkson, Drew O’Reilly and Kole Owens were crowned individual champions in their respective class, while the Maroons, Jamesville-DeWitt, Vernon-Verona-Sherrill and Sauquoit all won their respective class team championship.

The top five runners and the winning team from each class will represent Section III at the state cross country championship race, on Saturday back at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School. If a winning team has a runner in the top five, the next winning runner was added to the championship team. Here is a recap and runners in bold advance to the state meet.

>>Full results can be found on LeoneTiming.com here

Class A

“It’s another race and it’s survival and advance,” said Nolan McGinn, who edged out Solomon Holden-Betts by one-tenth of a second. “Solomon’s a great competitor. I respect him immensely and he’s just a great person overall. I was just thinking that we would run the best race we could and we would run together into the finish. We make each other better.”

Top 10 finishers

1 Nolan McGinn, Fayetteville-Manlius 16:05.8

2 Solomon Holden-Betts, Baldwinsville, 16:05.9

3 Peter McMahon, West Genesee, 16:38.6

4 Anthony Otis, Fayetteville-Manlius, 16:39/0

5 Chris Howard, Auburn, 17:07.4

6 Keegan Brady, Auburn, 17:31.1

7 Henry Zhe-Heimerman, Nottingham, 17:31.3

8 Ben Berry, Fayetteville-Manlius 17:35.8

9 Noah Covert, Baldwinsville, 17:36.6

10 Ryan Mahar, Auburn, 19:39.7

Teams

“It was a great team effort and that’s the way they’ve run all year,” Auburn coach Greg Stowell said. “They just rely on each other to do really well and they push each other. They all ran the best they could today and to beat such a good team like F-M shows the kids that they can compete with anyone.”

Teams

1 Auburn, 51

2 Fayetteville-Manlius, 62

3 Baldwinsville 71

4 Liverpool 85

5 West Genesee 120

Class B

Jamesville-DeWitt’s Connor Clarkson won the Class B race.

“It means a lot,” Clarkson said. “I grew up with lot of guys that all encouraged me to get to where I am today. The whole team worked very hard. We pushed each other and it, you know, I led them here and, but they did the work and I’m just happy to be up here. Now as we head to the state meeting I’m just gonna keep training, keep putting in the work. I need to keep a strong mental attitude towards everything and I’ll just smile through it.”

Top Ten finishers

1 Connor Clarkson, Jamesville-DeWitt, 17:46.9

2 Jerome Seidl, Camden, 17:59.0

3 Caleb LeBlanc, Chittenango, 18:02.9

4 Henry Daley, New Hartford, 18:13.8

5 Hudson Groat, Jamesville-DeWitt, 18:17.3

6 Tyson Fuller, Oneida, 18:18.1

7 Hector Ramos, Indian River, 18:38.9

8 Seth Stevens, Whitesboro, 18:49.7

9 Peter Drew, Jamesville-DeWitt 18:56.8

10 Jack Countryman, Indian River, 19:06.4

Teams

1 Jamesville-DeWitt 46

2 New Hartford 50

3 Camden 92

4 Chittenango 113

5 Whitesboro 116

Class C

Drew O’Reilly won the Class C race with a winning time of 17:30.0

“It feels really good and it’s rewarding for all the work that I put in this season and our team put in,” O’Reilly said. “I came into the season knowing that from track and just kind of the competition set stuff me, I kind of knew that I was capable of doing it and I was able to put it out. I mean, there has been a lot of good competition along the way.”

O’Reilly and the top five finishers will now compete in the state championship race, Saturday back at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill.

“I’ll recover from today, keep focused or mentally ready an then go at it and attack it,” O’Reilly said.

Top 10 Finishers

1 Drew O’Reilly, Westhill, 17:34.0

2 Noah Melita, Hannibal, 17:55.1

3 Charles Raymond, CBA 17:57.6

4 Gavin Griffin, Hannibal 18:007.8

5 John Musante, Clinton, 18:11.0

6 Alexander Kunz, Jordan-Elbridge, 18:34.5

7 Jordan Wingert, Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, 18:38.5

8 Nathan Geroux, Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, 18:43.0

9 Brenden McColm, Cazenovia, 18:49.8

10 Peyton Bates, Jordan-Elbridge 18:53.7

Teams

Vernon-Vernon-Sherrill will represent Section III at the state meet on Saturday.

“I’m very excited as we had some concern heading into the race,” V-V-S coach Mike Dunne said. “Our top runner broke his foot so we tried to keep that news under the radar, but for all the other guys to step up and win the title, it was awesome especially since everybody is firing on all cylinders.”

1 Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, 79

2 Cazenovia, 82

3 Mexico, 112

4 Westhill 134

5 Marcellus 159

Class D

Sauquoit Valley’s Kole Owens on the Class D race with a time of 17:15.8.

“Coming from last year when I think I got 10th place and how hard I’ve worked, I wanted to go and get this race,” Owens said. “The work I put in (during) the summers were really probably drive me. I know, I remember last year my coach looked over and he said, next year is our year and this is how we’re gonna do it. But I mean, I’m gonna be honest with you, I’m more happy and proud about it’s my team than anyone else. I mean, they really put it on the line. We had ups and downs and everything else. So at the end of the day, I’m more proud of my team than I am proud of myself.”

Now Owens and his Indians teammates will prepare for the championship race next Saturday.

“Now it just another week for us and we just do what we have to do like we’ve always been doing,” he said. “Its another time to just enjoy the rest of us the next of the rest of our season.”

1 Kole Owens, Sauquoit Valley 17:15.8

2 Connor Zehr, Beaver River, 17:24.3

3 Luke Tighe, Pulaski, 17:42,2

4 MacCoy Maciejko, South Lewis 17:57.6

5 Carter Stevens, Cooperstown, 18:04.1

6 Joe Britschge, Fabius-Pompey, 18:11.9

7 Ian Rauber, Tully 18:11.9

8. Matthew Hanna, Sauquoit Valley, 18:26.2

9 Mason Zehr, Beaver River, 18:46.6

10 Mitchell Domagala, South Lewis, 18:47.2

Teams:

1 Sauquoit Valley 94

2 South Lewis 114

3 Beaver River 116

4 Tully 152

5 Pulaski 163

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