Noel Bateman, a senior at Aquinas Institute, has added some more chapters to his stellar high-school running career with a spectacular post-season.
It began when Bateman captured his second straight Section 5 Class B title race on Nov. 5. His time of 16 minutes, 4.7 seconds on the Marcus Whitman High School course was the fastest for all sectional classifications — some 24 seconds faster than the next-best time that day: Zach Rivers of Victor, who won the Class A race, finished in 16:28.7.
One week later, on Nov. 12, Bateman won the state Class B championship. He posted a time of 15:45.0 at Queensbury High School, 7.9 seconds ahead of second-place Dan Busby from New Paltz in Section 8. Bateman had finished second in the states last year and fifth as a sophomore.
Bateman then placed third in the Foot Locker Northeast Regional race on Nov. 26, qualifying him for the national finals to take place Dec. 10 in San Diego, Calif. Bateman finished in 15:31.5 on the Van Cortlandt Park course in New York City. The top 10 finishers qualified for nationals. Bateman is the first Section 5 male runner in 10 years to advance to the national championship meet.
Bateman has also amassed multiple sectional titles in indoor and outdoor track during his dominant tenure at Aquinas.
