Both of the cross country programs from East Syracuse-Minoa and Jamesville-DeWitt would walk away from last Wednesday’s head-to-head showdown with some sense of accomplishment.
On the boys side, it was the Spartans prevailing over the Red Rams, 25-30 and, by doing so, clinching the OHSL Freedom division regular-season title. Both sides would beat Fulton in the three-way meet – ESM by a 22-35 margin, and J-D by a score of 23-33.
Jesse Perrone set the pace for everyone, as the ESM star tore through the Fulton course in 15 minutes, 46 seconds, the only sub-16-minute effort as J-D’s Patrick Dye finished second, in 16:02.
Dye’s teammate, Isaac Tupper, earned third place in 16:06, but ESM started to pull in front with Joe Coogan, running well despite battling illness, getting to fifth place in 16:43 and Kyle Willey, in 16:45, edging the Rams’ Matt Murad (16:46) for seventh place. Then freshman Jared Henry (16:56) and Jake Barker (16:57) crossed the line, and ESM had enough points to hold off J-D.
Meanwhile, the girls race saw J-D defeat ESM 21-34, with both sides sweeping Fulton 15-50. It was Rachel Fairbanks and Emilee Carpenter going 1-2 for the Red Rams, as Fairbanks won in 18:19 and Carpenter got second place in 18:24.
The Spartans saw Gabby Pallott finish third, in 18:51, with Juliette Miller fifth (19:44). J-D clinched the race by having Laura Wengert get to fourth place in 19:05, with Samantha Jaffe sixth (19:47) and Alexandra Street eighth in 20:19. ESM’s Cindy Brownson was seventh in 19:55, ahead of Brittany Kubecka (20:55) and Maria Miner (21:01) also in the top 10.
In stark contrast to that drama, Fayetteville-Manlius locked up the CNY Counties League American division thanks to a pair of 15-50 sweeps over West Genesee.
Since both teams were headed to the Manhattan Invitational on the weekend, and since the Hornets had a large advantage in terms of depth on both teams, the best runners on each side treated the meet as a long warm-up.
Still, F-M’s David Benman won the boys race in 17:31.2, with Andrew Berge’ (17:37.7) edging Riley Hughes (17:38 flat) for second place. Kyle Barber, Bryce Millar, Peter Ryan and Bryan Greeher all finished within a second of each other, while Adam Hunt (17:42.1) and Patrick Perry (17:42.6) took the eighth and ninth spots, respectively.
As for the girls race, Mackenzie Pierie, in a time of 20:49 flat, beat Sophie Ryan (20:51.8) for the individual title, while Jenna Farrell (20:53.7), Alana Pearl, Annika Avery and Jessica Howe all finished within a second of each other. Megan Menz, in 20:56.4, led the next group that included Reilly Madsen (20:57.2), McKenzie Tripp (21:05.7) and Mikayla Ruthig (21:10.4).
Then F-M made that trip to Manhattan. On the 4,000-meter Van Cortlandt Park course in the Bronx, the girls Hornets got close to upending the same Unionville side that beat them in the Sept. 28 McQuaid Invitational in Rochester, finishing with 82 points to Unionville’s total of 79 points.
Avery led F-M as she posted a time of 14:28.4 and took fifth place, two spots behind Unionville’s Courtney Smith (14:26.0), a key factor in a race so tight. Pearl was ninth, in 14:49.8, with Jenna Farrell getting to 14th place in 15:04.1. Howe gained 26th place (15:18.2) as Madsen, in 38th place (15:40.3), rounded out the scoring ahead of Menz (15:53.4) and Olivia Ryan (16:05.1).
The F-M boys also had a runner-up effort in the Eastern State Invitational with 114 points behind New Jersey’s Christian Brothers Academy, who prevailed with 90 points, this despite Millar rising to second place among individuals, his time of 12:21.1 just behind the winner, Tonly Russell (West Chester Henderson), who won the race in 12:20 flat.
Berge’ gained fifth place in 12:27.1, but CBA’s third and fourth runners crossed the line before Peter Ryan did so in 29th place in 12:57.6. Hunt, in 13:04.5, took 34th place, just ahead of Barber (13:08.0) and Hughes (13:13.3) as Perry finished in 13:46.4.
In the girls Varsity B division, J-D saw Fairbanks finish seventh, in 15:35.5, edging out Carpenter, who was eighth in 15:36.4. Wengert finished 41st in 16:32.5 as Jaffe (17:28.1), Alexandra Street (17:46.4) and Kim Walsh (17:56.4) trailed behind.
Dye had the best finish among the boys J-D runners in Varsity Race A, getting to 42nd place in 13:55.1, just four spots ahead of Tupper (13:58.2) in 46th place. Nick Street (14:39.7), Matt Murad (15:07.7) and Austin Philleo (15:22.0) rounded out the J-D slate.
