Jamestown’s Drew Carlson battles the elements as he nears the finish line at the Section VI Class A cross country championship race at Bemus Point Golf Course on Sunday. P-J photo by Scott Kindberg

Jamestown High School assistant cross country coach Tony Dolce and I were walking toward the general vicinity of the second green at Bemus Point Golf Course at mid-afternoon Sunday.

To our west, the sky was ominous. The weather alerts Tony was receiving confirmed what was coming, so as the Section VI Class A boys championship was past the halfway point, the question was whether the race would be completed before Mother Nature intervened.

Well, Mother Nature “won.”

Not long after watching the leaders make their way down a steep hill and snake their way past me and Tony, the wind picked up dramatically and it began to rain and hail. Yet the athletes from throughout Western New York braved the elements. They kept going, because that’s what they do.

Jamestown senior Drew Carlson, who ended up finishing in second place, said he figured the wind was “probably 60 miles per hour.”

“I got hit so hard on my lip with one of the pieces of hail that it’s like it’s swollen and I can’t really feel it,” said Carlson, who posted a time of 17:47.28, which was behind Zack Winnicki of Lancaster (17:22.0). “I can’t feel my whole face, my arms are obviously red, it was intense, it was insane. I heard branches breaking in the woods. It was insane.”

With about 1,000 meters remaining in the race, Carlson was trying to close the gap with the leader, “but then that wind and hail started to hit and I felt like I wasn’t even moving. I almost started walking. It was blowing so hard I couldn’t run.”

And, yet, he and his fellow competitors, didn’t stop. That’s what the teenagers did all weekend on the shores of Chautauqua Lake.

Among runners from the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association, Lukas Baer of Maple Grove (Class D), Acacia Barber of Frewsburg (Class D), and Ryan Wisniewski and Angelina Napoleon of Allegany-Limestone (Class C-2) won individual titles. Team titles, meanwhile, went to the Maple Grove (Class D) and Falconer/Cassadaga Valley (Class C-2) girls, and the Allegany-Limestone boys (Class C-2).

For Baer, his victory capped a memorable four months. COVID-19 made training with teammates a challenge, so he purchased a road bike in mid-July and has put 1,000 miles on it since.

“I wanted to get better and it definitely built a bunch of muscles for me,” the junior said. “Honestly, I would not be here if I didn’t have my coach (Steve Matteson). He’s so dedicated. He works every day for us.”

Matteson’s girls team was the beneficiary, too, as the Red Dragons did what they usually do this time of year — claim a sectional title — as Christina Peppy, Ava Crist, Abby Brunenavs, Tori Pavlock, Allison Bohall and Hannah Tarbrake all placed in the top 10.

“It’s a different team every year. It’s different struggles that you run through, whether it’s injuries or it’s different obstacles you have to overcome,” Matteson said. “Obviously, the biggest obstacle was COVID and being able to train different ways, but it’s still fun and exciting every year, seeing all the hard work they put into it.”

The only girl who placed ahead of the Red Dragons was Barber, the senior from Frewsburg who managed the mud and wind to hold off Peppy by about 20 seconds.

“Well, honestly, it goes all to my coach (Sandy Ruhlman),” Barber said. “She’s the best I could ever ask for. I wouldn’t know how to race without her. I wasn’t expecting to win, but then I did, so that’s OK.”

Mud, wind and rain aside, all the folks I spoke to Sunday were excited about having the sectional championship at all, even though spectators weren’t permitted.

“We said every day, ‘Take every day as a blessing because you never know what tomorrow brings,” Matteson said. “At the beginning of the season we didn’t know if we’d have a season at all. Then we weren’t sure how long the season would last and then we were just hoping to struggle to the finish.

“Luckily, Section VI was able to go all the way to the Section VI Championships. There are a lot of sections that didn’t get to compete at all and there were a lot of sections who didn’t get a section championship. I told all of our boys and girls to be blessed that we’re allowed to be able to do this together as a team. … There are a lot of teams that weren’t given the opportunity this year.”

The athletes from Section VI, , who were wearing masks and were socially distanced when not competing, had a chance to run one more time Sunday. And as the Class A boys race was coming to a close, workers from the Bemus Point Volunteer Fire Department were clearing the road in front of the golf course after the heavy winds caused a tree to fall.

Welcome to 2020.