Aquinas Institute cross-country star Noel Bateman had a terrific post-season, running to a first-place finish in the Section 5 meet and a second place in the state.
Bateman won the Section 5 Class B title on Nov. 6. His time of 16 minutes, 42.9 seconds on the course at Marcus Whitman High School near Canandaigua was the best of all sectional classifications that day — nearly 10 seconds faster than the second-place time of 16:52.3 by Honeoye Falls-Lima’s Trevor Rundell.
The AQ junior went on to another great finish on Nov. 13, finishing second in Class B at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association title race. Bateman posted a time of 16:14.0 at Chenango Valley State Park near Binghamton. Dan Busby of New Paltz won the race in 15:50.9.
Bateman, who was named Section 5 boys’ Runner of the Year, also performed very respectably at the state Federation championships, held Nov. 20 at Bowdoin Park near Poughkeepsie. He placed 17th with a time of 16:22.8, which was the best time among any Section 5 participant. The Federation race combines all public, private and New York City schools as well as enrollment classifications.
