For the second time in a five-day span, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls indoor track and field team hunted down a title – and this time, got it.
The Hornets, second to Cazenovia at Monday’s Bob Grieve Invitational, returned to Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena and, without the Lakers to worry about, pulled away for a first-place finish over Jamesville-DeWitt and more than 20 other entrants.
Overall, F-M had 72 points, well clear of J-D, who finished with 46 points for the runner-up spot. East Syracuse-Minoa had its best showing of the season, too, grabbing fifth place with 23 points.
Points for the Hornets piled up in distance races, including the 1,000-meter run, where Jillian Fanning, in 3:00.36, and Hannah Smith, in 3:04.19, pulled off a 1-2 finish.
Katie Brislin took her turn in the 600-meter run, prevailing in 1:37.55 as Katie Sischo (1:43.46) was third. It was the same in the 3,000-meter run, where Christie Rutledge won in 10:21.09 as Jenna Farrell pulled into third place in 11:02.26. CBA’s Megan Pierce was fourth (11:06.01) in the 3,000.
F-M also beat the field in the 4×800 relay, where Annika Avery, Emily McGurrin, Alana Pearl and Mary Barger had a time of 9:54.92. Heather Martin was third in the long jump (15 feet 8 1/2 inches) and Jessica Puro was fourth in the 55-meter hurdles (10.24 seconds).
J-D’s relay victory came in the 4×200 as Sierra Vasiliou, Katy Pieri, Liz Pieri and Ally Fox posted a top time of 1:50.41, more than a second ahead of the field as F-M (1:52.95) settled for fifth.
Maggie Fuller topped the field in the high jump, clearing 5 feet 4 inches, with ESM’s Nina Zesky (4 feet 10 inches) getting to fourth place. Vasiliou, on her own, won the long jump, going 16 feet 11 1/2 inches to top ESM’s Amanda Wall, who was second with 16 feet 7 1/2 inches.
It was reversed in the triple jump as Wall won with 33 feet 10 inches and the Red Rams’ Patrece Martin (32 feet 9 1/4 inches) was second. Fox gained fourth in the 55-meter dash (7.69 seconds), while Liz Pieri was fifth in the triple jump and Katy Pieri was fifth in the pole vault.
On the boys side at the Kirschenheiter meet, F-M again contended, and again settled for second place with 48 points, again seeing Cicero-North Syracuse (63 points) go to the front. J-D was fourth, with 26 points, and CBA got fifth with 20 points.
Though the Hornets’ Nick Ryan pulled away to take the 3,200-meter run in 9:25.67 and Colin Fitzgibbons was sixth, it was the Brothers’ Brendan Smith winning the 1,000 in 2:38.08, leaving the Hornets’ Ben Thomas second (2:42.11) and Bryce Millar fifth.
Ryan, Thomas, Millar and Fitzgibbons got together and rolled to a victory in the 4×800 relay in 8:30.88, while the quartet of Tanner Carter, Aaron Blitz, Austin Perez and Langston Lightcap were second in the 4×200 in 1:37.10 as CBA was fourth (1:38 flat) and J-D (1:38.33) was fifth.
Lightcap, by himself, claimed second in the 600 in 1:25.68. J-D’s Amani Jackson had a second-place time of 6.75 seconds in the 55 sprint, while Will Sterriker drove to second in the 55 hurdles in 8.18 seconds, with Nate Sturgeon (8.36 seconds) in fifth. Zach Liebmann cleared 11 feet 6 inches for third place in the pole vault.
Each of the local teams rest next week before the CNY Counties League and OHSL championships at SRC Arena, which take place Jan. 30 (girls) and Feb. 1 (boys).
