Burnt Hills boys repeat as Class B champs
ONTARIO CENTER, N.Y. » Both Aidan Gillooley and Tyler Berg agreed it was the hardest race they’ve ever run.
It was evident from the amount of mud that covered them like a second uniform — and from the result.
Gillooley placed third overall in 16:19 and Berg was right behind in fourth (16:20.1) to help Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake’s boys cross country team repeat as NYSPHSAA Boys Class B team champs.
“I’ve never run a harder race in my life than that,” Gillooley said. “My team stuck with it. We’ve put in a lot of work this season. Our coach (Chip) Button, we wouldn’t be here right now if it weren’t for him.”
No. 1 ranked Spartans were also aided by David Metacarpa’s 12-place overall finish, Evan Brennan in 16th and Michael Messare in 17th.
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake beat Pittsford-Mendon 25-91.
“It is quite a mixture out there with ice and mud and water,” Berg said. “Aidan and I worked really well together and I think that helped us a lot.”
The impressive performance qualified the Spartans for next week’s Federation meet and a chance to improve on last year’s runner up performance.
“We focused on states today,” Gillooley said. “Next focus is feds. After that is regionals. Hopefully we make top two in regionals and go to nationals.”
Class A
An injury late in the season could threatened to end Saratoga Springs junior Shea Weilbaker’s fall running season. He recovered in time to take third in last week’s Section II meet and followed it up with 11th in the Class A state meet. It was an improvement on his 20th place finish as a sophomore a year ago and just left him hungry to keep gaining on his rivals.
“I was trying to stay up with the top pack but I didn’t have it
it today,” Weilbaker said. “It’s good that I didn’t do as well as I wanted today knowing I have another race. It motivates me to work hard. We’ll see what happens in a couple weeks at regionals.”
Weilbaker beat Maazin Ahmed, who won the Section II meet lasts week. Bethlehem’s Jack Huber was the top Capital District finisher and Ballston Spa’s Tim Dwyer was 58th overall.