VERONA – When Fayetteville-Manlius cross country runners take part in a New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship race, victory is always a possibility.
This was true both for the girls Hornets trying to dethrone Saratoga Springs last Saturday at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill and for boys runners Nolan McGinn and Anthony Otis.
Izzie Sullivan was defending her state individual Class A girls title, knowing she would have to beat, among others, Cicero-North Syracuse’s Kate Putman, who beat Sullivan in the Nov. 5 sectional final on this same course.
And Sullivan would win their head-to-head battle, going 18 minutes, 28.5 seconds, more than half a minute quicker than her 19:02.1 from the sectional meet and besting Putman’s 18:52.4.
Yet all it got for Sullivan was a fourth-place individual finish. Zariel Macchia, a sophomore at William Floyd High School on Long Island, won in 18:02.6, with Frontier’s Lillie Bogdan second in 18:18.4.
Emily Bush, third for Saratoga in 18:22.7, led the nation’s top-ranked Blue Streaks to another state title with 23 points to F-M’s second-place 79, with seven of the top 15 runners in the team competition.
Unable to match this, the Hornets saw Maria Khalifeh finish 14th among team runners (33rd overall) in 19:56.7, while Camille Ryan posted 20:00.4. Hannah Kaercher finished in 20:15 flat as Isabella Adrian (20:49.5), Ava Beecher (21:03.4) and Catherine Walters (22:10.1) followed.
As for McGinn, he had edged Baldwinsville’s Solomon Holden-Betts by one-tenth of a second in the sectional race, but could not quite repeat that effort here.
Amid high winds and cooler temperatures, Holden-Betts flourished, moving in front of a tight pack of runners that could not separate from one another, a group that included Otis and McGinn.
By the time he crossed the finish line in 16:06.9, Holden-Betts had gone exactly one second slower than the 16:05.9 he had recorded when McGinn (16:06.8) edged him a week earlier.
But it was still enough for Holden-Betts to beat out the 16:09.1 from Arlington’s Ethan Green and earn the state championship as Monroe-Woodbury’s Collin Gilstrap was third in 16:11.4.
Otis trailed them, getting fourth place in 16:14.1, while McGinn finished sixth in 16:16.2 and West Genesee’s Peter McMahon was 16th in 16:48.7.
Jamesville-DeWitt was looking for a strong finish when the state Class B got underway right after F-M ran, and it finished sixth among 10 teams as Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake (Section II) again took the state crown.
Connor Clarkson was the fastest Section III individual in the Class B race, his time of 17:58 flat putting him 36th overall and 13th among team runners, just ahead of Hudson Groat’s 18:16.7.
Peter Drew, finishing in 18:56.6, was just ahead of a pack of Red Rams that included Chris Donaghue (19:08.5), Ryan Carter (19:23.9) and Isaiah Sternberg (19:31.9) as Paul Fischi finished in 19:40.2.
Back at the start of the state meet, Christian Brothers Academy runner Charles Raymond took part in the state Class C race, where he finished 39th in a time of 18:23.9.
Westhill’s Drew O’Reilly led the local contingent in that race, finishing fourth in 17:06.1 as Fonda-Fultonville’s Bennett Melita won in 16:36.6.
