Shea Weilbaker 25th at NXN

BH-BHL boys team 14th overall

PORTLAND, OR >> It took a full year, but Saratoga Springs senior Shea Weilbaker can hold his head up high after redeeming himself on the national stage Saturday afternoon at the Nike Cross Nationals, improving from what he called a ‘disappointing’ finish last year.

Running for the second time in two years as part of the Racing City Running Club, Weilbaker raced to a 25th-place finish overall in 15 minutes, 27.7 seconds compared to his 69th spot last year in 16:10.1 at the Glendoveer Golf Course near the Nike Campus.

California runner Liam Anderson captured the top individual spot in 14:57.6.

In the boys championship team competition, the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School runners, competing as the Deluge RC finished 14th overall with 323 points. The Manlius RC finished fifth with 209 points.

Burnt Hills senior Tyler Berg

led the locals across the finish line in 32nd place at 15:33.6 followed by senior Aidan Gillooley 88th at 16:07.1 and senior Evan Brennan 96th at 16:11.7. Fellow classmate Nick Nunziker was 155th at 16:46.2 sharing the finish line with junior David Metacarpa 156th at 16:48.0.

Junior Kevin Board ran to a 165th-place finish overall at 16:51.6 and classmate Dante Ubriaco finished 191st at 17:17.5.

Purcellville (Virginia) won the overall team title with 77 points followed by Temecula (California) at 114 and Littleton (Colorado) third with 115 followed by Warwick with 206 and Manlius.

The boys championship race was incredibly balanced with the race leaders often eight to 10 runners wide, running side-by-side over the open fairways on the golf course, then merging to four-wide into the turns.

Through the first split Burnt Hills resided in 10thplace in team scoring with New York Regional champion, Manlius in fifth place. Through the second mile split, Manlius moved up into fourth-place overall and Burnt Hills slipped back to 12th overall.