Just as it did a year ago, the Fayetteville-Manlius indoor track and field teams took full command over their respective Section III Class AA fields Wednesday night at SRC Arena.
The girls Hornets went to the top with 114.33 points, enough to fend off Liverpool (80 points) and nine others. In the boys meet, F-M had 110 points as Rome Free Academy (69.33 points) settled into the runner-up spot.
Two days before he signed his college letter of intent to go to Syracuse University for cross country, Nick Ryan was busy winning races across town at Onondaga Community College’s new arena.
In the 600-meter run, Ryan finished in one minute, 24.12 seconds, beating Erik Winberg (RFA) by 1.77 seconds as Charlie Beeler (1:26.93) took third place. Ryan ran together with Connor Farrell in the 1,000-meter run as Ryan prevailed in 2:31.25 and Farrell (2:31.45) was second, ahead of Connor Fitzgibbons in sixth place.
F-M was even more dominant in the mile and 3,200-meter run, each of which produced 1-2-3 sweeps. Bryce Millar, in 4:27.52, took the mile over Ryan (4:27.66), with Farrell in third place in 4:32.72.
Millar also claimed the victory in the 3,200 in 9:35.03, pulling away from Andrew Berger (9:46.35) and Adam Hunt (9:48.53) within the Hornet pack. Combined, the mile and 3,200 produced 48 of F-M’s points.
In the 4×800 relay, Millar, Beeler, Farrell and Fitzgibbons were second in 8:22.30 as Baldwinsville (8:14.60) prevailed. Beeler, teamed with Kyle Barber, Ed Cheatham and Jake Pulver, ended up third (3:36.68) in the 4×400 relay.
Barber was fourth in the triple jump, going 40 feet 1/4 inch, just behind Zhengyue Zhu (41′ 1 3/4″) in third place, and added a sixth in the 55-meter hurdles in 8.49 seconds. The Hornets were also sixth (1:39.47) in the 4×200 relay as Cheatham, Luke Jordan, Eli Pinner and Parker Noble took part.
Moving to the girls side, the Hornets swept through the top five in the 1,500-meter run for 30 of those points, led by Alana Pearl, who won in 4:53.44, edging out Mary Barger (4:53.62) and Michelle Duffy (4:53.70) for that victory. Annika Avery was just behind them in fourth place (4:55.37) as Jenna Farrell was fifth in 5:03.31.
F-M’s victory in the 4×800 included Duffy, Barger, Fanning and Pearl getting to first place in 9:41.38, leaving runner-up B’ville (10:08.03) and the rest of the field far behind. Barger added a second (3:06.30) to West Genesee’s Laura Leff (2:57.32) in the 1,000-meter run, where Katie Brislin was third (3:06.96) and Jessica Howe was fifth.
Pearl was also victorious in the 3,000-meter run in 10:08.03, with Farrell (10:32.46) in third place. The Hornets went 1-2 in the 600, where Brislin, who took sixth place in the 600, prevailed in 1:37.61 and Olivia Ryan (1:39.01) settled into second place.
Ryan, Duffy, Anna Perrotti and Christine Lavoie made their way to second place in the 4×400 relay in 4:08.68, only trailing B’ville (4:05.73). Perrotti, Jordan Noble, Kelly Muller and Chantel Brennan were fifth in the 4×200 relay in 1:54.20.
Christabel Ezdiegwu, who won three times in the CNY Counties League American division meet a week earlier, was fourth in the 55 hurdles in 9.44 seconds and took sixth in the triple jump. Anna Castro tied for third in the high jump, clearing 4 feet 9 inches, while Megan Josephson rose to fifth in the long jump.
A day later, in the sectional Class B meet, CBA finished fifth in the boys team event with 42 points, while the girls picked up 24 points for seventh place in an 11-team field.
It included David Carey winning the boys 3,200 in a time of 10:13.86 and, in the ensuing 4×400 relay, seeing Jack Brower, Zach Zajdel, Matt Stedman and Liam Price getting a top time of 3:38.13, holding off Clinton (3:38.52) for that top spot.
Jack Lenkiewicz took second place in the mile in 4:50.90, where Carey was fifth. Liam Price added a fourth (9.21 seconds) in the 55 hurdles as Brower got sixth in the 600 and Stedman was sixth in the 300. In the 4×400, Lenkiewicz, Brower, Pat Fallon and Sid Perkins were third in 8:57.41.
CBA’s girls side had Maire-Kate McGlynn getting second place in the 1,000 in a time of 3:10.37. Gabrielle Schug was third in the 1,500 (5:18.36), with Emily Garlatti fourth in 5:22.87. McGlynn, Garlatti, Schug and Julie McInvale were third in the 4×800 in 10:46.72.
F-M will be back at SRC Arena next Wednesday for the Section III state qualifier, which will determine who goes to Cornell University’s Barton Hall for the March 2 state meet.
