Even with the abundance of talented athletes around them and plenty of real competition, no one could keep the Fayetteville-Manlius girls indoor track and field team from its championship destiny.
The Hornets lay claim to the Section III Class AA title Saturday at SRC Arena, earning 142 points to finish comfortably in front of runner-up Cicero-North Syracuse’s 106 points.
At the foundation of F-M’s victory was its relay sweep, which began in the 4×400 when Phoebe White, Grace Kaercher, Arianna Caron and Fiona Mejico went four minutes, 4.09 seconds, more than 18 seconds ahead of the field.
In the 4×800, Grace and Hannah Kaercher joined Maddy Duggleby and Debbie Lucchetti to win in 9:44.86, again well clear of second-place Rome Free Academy’s 9:59.37.
And in the closing 4×200, Mejico, running the anchor leg, overtook Baldwinsville to have the Hornets win 1:48.72 to the Bees’ 1:48.73, with Samantha Pynn, Maya McKenzie and Elrose Hanlon running the other legs.
Walters, in 10:05.02, beat out Hannah Kaercher (10:10.78) at 3,000 meters, with Amelia Amack third and Ani Sydorowych sixth. In the 1,500-meter run, Walters prevailed in 4:40.56, while Kaercher was third in 4:55.06.
Also, Walters was a close second (2:55.25) to C-NS’s Kate Putman (2:55.13) in the 1,000-meter run with Maddy Duggelby third in 3:05.88 and Debbie Lucchetti sixth
White had a win of her own in the 600-meter run, posting 1:37.71 as Grace Kaercher was third in 1:40.98. In the 300-meter dash, White took second in 43.05 seconds, with Mejico (43.20) in fifth place.
Also, Wren Usiatynski cleared 10 feet in the pole vault, two feet better than anyone else, for another Hornets victory as Isabel Zuber was second in the triple jump with 36’9 1/4”, just behind the 36’10 1/2” from C-NS’s Brooke Blaisdell.
Zuber also was fourth in the long jump, going 16’6 1/2” ahead of Pynn (15’7”) in sixth place, Pynn improving to fifth in the triple jump with 33’1”.
Harper Stoppacher was second in the high jump, clearing 5’1” as Katie Berge’ was seventh. Natalee Barber was sixth in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.63 seconds, with Tochi Ezidegwu eighth and Bella Pierie ninth in the shot put.
Meanwhile, the F-M boys indoor track team made a real push for the sectional AA title, too, earning 80 points for third place, not far from the winning 91.5 put up by C-NS as Baldwinsville (88 points) was second.
The Hornets ran 1-2-3 at 3,200 meters, Geoff Howles taking the race in 9:39.50 to hold off Peyton Geehrer (9:39.79) and Sam Otis (9:39.90) as they nearly hit the finish line together.
In yet another top-three sweep in the 1,600-meter run, it was Geehrer going to the front in 4:27.09, again part of a group that included Otis going 4:27.24 and Howles finishing in 4:27.26.
After all that, Otis, Howles, Geehrer and Jack Altimonda were victorious in the 4×800 in 8:25.13 to Baldiwnsville’s second-place 8:28.89. The Hornets finished fifth in the 4×200 in 1:37.76.
Ben Hutz, Corey Gallgaher, Ian Brown and Owen Snyder were second (3:37.84) to Utica Proctor (3:35.57) in the 4×400, with Dan Sokolovic fourth in the shot put, heaving it 44’10 3/4” to go with a sixth (49’4”) in the weight throw.
Gallagher was third in the 300 in 37.76 seconds, while Hutz finished sixth in the 600 in 1:31.88 and Snyder took seventh in the 55 hurdles in 8.94 seconds.
Later that day, in the sectional Class B-1 championships, Christian Brothers Academy finished fifth out of 12 teams on the boys side with 44 points, earning three different race wins.
Zach Medicis gave the Brothers a first-place time of 2:40.75 in the 1,000, nearly 10 seconds ahead of Westhill’s Brandon Mulholland (2:50.72). Then, in the 600, Joel Gaffney prevailed in 1:25.03 to the 1:27.76 from another Westhill runner, Mike Ferrara.
Gaffney and Medicis paired up with Michael McMahon and Cooper Groat to win the 4×800 in 8:50.49, the only time in the field under nine minutes. McMahon finished third in the 3,200 in 10:15.65, with Groat third in the 1,600 in 4:57.92 and Aiden Schimpf fifth in the 300.
Also, in the girls sectional B-1 meet, CBA’s Isabella Cannizzo was victorious in the 3,000 in 11:29.37 to the 11:23.49 from Camden’s Morgan Lucason, with the Brothers fifth in the 4×400 and Jillianne Junio fifth in the triple jump.
