Nick Ryan fell again at the start of the mile at Wednesday night’s Section III state qualifier at SRC Arena, just as he had at the Nike Cross Nationals in Oregon two months ago.
Only this time, Ryan got a reprieve, and the Fayetteville-Manlius senior took full advantage, winning that race and anchoring a successful 4×800 relay on a productive night for local indoor track and field stars.
Pushed to the ground just after the opening gun of the 1,600, Ryan was saved by a rule that says a fall in the first 100 meters requires a complete restart.
Everyone got away cleanly on the second try. Ryan went to the front and stayed there, roaring to a time of four minutes, 19.61 seconds to hold off Mexico’s James Gowans (4:21.84) for that top spot among Division I (large school) runners.
Of course, Ryan’s work was not done. He joined F-M’s 4×800 side, who had lost to Baldwinsville in the Class AA meet a week earlier, and helped turn things around.
Joined by Connor Farrell, Colin Fitzgibbons and Bryce Millar, Ryan and the Hornets pulled away early and breezed to victory in 8:19.63, improving by more than two seconds from the week before. B’ville (8:37.35) settled for third place behind F-M and Liverpool (8:34.11).
Earlier in the meet, Millar, leading from start to finish, claimed victory in the 3,200-meter run in 9:29.24, more than five seconds ahead of Auburn’s Justin Middleton, with Adam Hunt third (9:46.39) and Andrew Berger fourth (9:51.08).
The 600-meter dash was closer, but F-M’s Charlie Beeler held on for yet another victory in 1:26.58, with Division II champion Bill DiRenzo (Jordan-Elbridge) second in 1:27.46.
Beeler, Ed Cheatham, Kyle Barber and Jake Pulver were second (3:34.34) to B’ville (3:27.85) in the 4×400 relay, where CBA’s quartet of Jack Brower, Zach Zajdel, Matt Stedman and Liam Price won Division II honors in 3:35.39 and Jamesville-DeWitt (3:35.74) ran well, too.
Where J-D did prevail was in the pole vault, as Zach Liebmann scored a clean victory by clearing 13 feet 3 inches, nine inches better than Travis Chewning-Kulick (Liverpool) and Division II pace-setter Carson Schwab (Skaneateles). East Syracuse-Minoa’s Corey Vollmer cleared 12′ for fourth place.
In the triple jump, the Hornets’ Zhengyue Zhu got second place with a leap of 41’10 1/4″, topped only by Central Square’s Dan Fehrman (44’1 1/4″).
Moving to the girls state qualifier, J-D won here, too, as in the long jump Sierra Vasiliou took down all the challengers, the senior going 17 feet 3 1/2 inches, barely off the 17’4 1/4″ she put up in the Class A meet a week earlier. No one else got to 17 feet.
Taylor-Ray Danforth tied Liverpool’s Angela Kulpa for second in the pole vault, each of them clearing 9’6″, but unable to get to 10′, where West Genesee’s Abby Uczen won.
Patrece Martin was fourth in the triple jump with 34’6 1/2″, while Tangela Hightower got to seventh (30′ 1/4″) in the shot put. From ESM, Nina Zesky cleared 5’2″ in the high jump, topping everyone except Dana Husband (Rome Free Academy), who won with 5’3″. Ally Fox was third (7.56 seconds) in the 55 sprint.
F-M, of course, ruled on the oval, capped by a 4×800 relay where the Hornets’ team of Olivia Ryan, Jillian Fanning, Mary Barger and Alana Pearl posted 9:47.96. J-D was second as Samantha Clemons, Emilee Carpenter, Laura Wengert and Rachel Fairbanks finished in 9:55.64.
Earlier in the meet, the Hornets went 1-2 in the 1,000, where Katie Brislin, in a time of 2:57 flat, beat Barger (2:57.91) by less than a second, with Wengert fourth in 3:14.87. Jenna Farrell got second (10:27.89) to Liverpool’s Morgan Mahoney (10:25.15) in the Division I 3,000-meter event.
Ryan, in the 600 final, had to hang on as Fairbanks charged at her, but the Hornets’ sophomore won, 1:40.30 to Fairbanks’ 1:40.38, while ESM’s Juliette Miller (1:45.38) chased them both. Miller’s teammate, Gabby Pallotta, earned fifth place (11:03.15) in the 3,000.
Ryan, Michelle Duffy, Christine Lavoie and Anna Perrotti were second (4:07.62) in the 4×400, with B’ville in front (4:01.32), just like the boys meet. Pearl nearly won the 1,500-meter run, too, but got chased down on the final turn by West Genesee star Laura Leff, who won with a time of 4:39.21 to Pearl’s 4:40.37.
ESM’s Natalie Marra was third (4:52.82) and Fairbanks fourth (4:54.18) in the Division I 1,500, while CBA’s Megan Ann Pierce (4:58.90) was third in the Division II portion.
So a large contingent of local athletes have earned berths in the state championship meet, set for March 2 and again taking place at Cornell University’s Barton Hall.
