Carrying over what it did in the regular season, the Fayetteville-Manlius track and field teams easily turned back all challengers to repeat in Thursday’s CNY Counties League American division championship meets at Central Square.
On the girls side, the Hornets earned 226 points, more than double the total of the host Central Square Red Hawks, who with 96 points edged Corcoran (92 points) for the runner-up spot.
It started with a relay sweep, as in the 4×800 Hannah Smith, Jessica Howe, Michelle Duffy and Katie Brislin posted a time of 9:28.98, while in the 4×400 Brislin joined Natalie Zazzara, Christine Lavoie and Olivia Ryan to win in 4:02.57. And in the 4×100, Zazzara, Jordan Noble, Sarah Olick-Sutphen and Anna Perrotti held off Corcoran, 50.92 seconds to 51.79.
Individually, Brislin, in 4:46.86, and Mary Barger (4:52.80) went 1-2 in the 1,500-meter run, and Brislin added a second title in the 800-meter run in 2:16.34, with Smith (2:22.20) second. Alana Pearl claimed the 3,000-meter run in 10:03.43, the best time in Section III this spring, with Jenna Farrell (10:27.95) in the second spot.
Christabel Ezidiegwu would beat Caitlin Ferro, 16.91 seconds to 17.83, in the 100-meter hurdles, but Ferro prevailed in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:10.28, with Nancy Bansbach second in 1:13.65. Ezidiegwu also won the triple jump, going 35 feet 3 1/2 inches, and was second (4’10”) in the high jump, where Anna Castro was third after finishing fourth in the long jump.
Annika Avery joined in when she won the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 7:28.60, where Maggie Malone (7:41.25) was third. Savannah Pidkaminy threw the discus 95’11” and won that event, with Jessica Puro (87’6″) in third.
Ryan was second in the 400-meter dash in 1:00.23, with Perrotti (1:01.09) was third. Noble got to third in the 100-meter dash in 13.85 seconds, edging Olick-Sutphen (13.90 seconds) in fourth, while Zazzara was third in the 200-meter dash in 28.05 seconds, again with Olick-Sutphen (28.06 seconds) close behind in fourth place.
Just as in the girls meet, F-M’s boys team used a relay sweep as the basis for a league title, finishing with 199 points. Once more, the hosts from Central Square slid into the second spot, with 106 points.
Nick Ryan, joining Bryce Millar, Charlie Beeler and Connor Farrell, won the 4×800 in 8:11.95, with Beeler, Farrell, Jake Wittig and Ed Cheatham taking the 4×400 in 3:31.62. In the 4×100, Wittig helped Zaire Ashley, Parker Noble and Austin Perez as the Hornets prevailed in 44.27 seconds.
Ryan, who set the Section III record in the 3,200-meter run on May 10 at the Oneida Invitational, won the 800 this time, blazing to 1:56.68 as Beeler (1:59.18) also broke the two-minute mark. Beeler got his victory in the 500 in 50.68 seconds, with Ryan (51.85 seconds) in second.
As to the longer distances, Andrew Berge would win the 3,200 in 9:42.42, and Adam Hunt (9:45.07) finished second. Millar (4:29.31) and Farrell (4:42.69) were second and third, respectively, in the mile, with Riley Hughes second (10:16.97) and Paul Billinson third (10:35.84) in the 3,000 steeplechase, both events won by Auburn’s Justin Middleton.
Kyle Barber held off Cheatham, 59.21 seconds to 59.62, in the 400 hurdles, and also took second (16.41 seconds) in the 110 high hurdles, adding a fourth in the triple jump (39’6″) ahead of Noble in fifth place.
Perez got to second place in the 100 (11.71 seconds), with Ashley third (11.83 seconds), and Perez got a close second (22.59 seconds) behind Nottingham’s Tyquan Hightower (22.49 seconds) in the 200, with Wittig fourth.
Justin Jones gave the Hornets a win in the pole vault, topping 10’6″. Terius Wheatley was second in the high jump, clearing 6 feet, and was fourth in the long jump as Kyle Harbour finished sixth in both events. David Riccione was fifth in the shot put (39’7″), with Gabe Zogby fifth (101’9″) in the discus.
This all leads to next week’s Section III Class AA championships, with the girls meet Tuesday at Fulton and the boys to follow on Wednesday at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium.
