Due to circumstances well beyond its control, the Fayetteville-Manlius boys and girls track and field teams were together again Wednesday at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium for the Section III Class AA championship meet.
What the Hornets could control, though, was the way it responded to those different conditions, and the response was a sweep of the boys and girls sectional titles.
It was all supposed to begin with the girls AA meet at Fulton last Tuesday, but rain and lightning hit before the competition could start. So officials moved the meet to C-NS, pairing it up with the boys AA championships already scheduled for that venue.
Some brief delays took place on Wednesday, pushing a few events (boys 4×100 relay, girls 4×400 and 2,000-meter steeplechase) to Thursday at Rome Free Academy Stadium, but by that point it was clear F-M would finish on top.
That was especially the case in the boys meet, where the Hornets amassed 143 points, far ahead of host C-NS (79 points), who edged Liverpool (76 points) for the runner-up spot.
As in so many other meets, F-M piled up points in distance running, including 22 points in the mile, where Nick Ryan won in 4:23.69, with Bryce Millar second in 4:27.58 and Andrew Berge (4:31.17) in fourth place.
Later, in the 800-meter run, Ryan sped to another victory in 1:52.29, with Charlie Beeler fourth in 1:57.77, and Ryan made it three titles when he ran 3,200 meters in 9:35.53, edging out Millar, who was second in 9:36.04 as Adam Hunt was sixth.
To cap off an event where he won four times, Ryan, teaming with Beeler, Millar and Connor Farrell, ran the 4×800 relay in 8:19.14, more than four seconds ahead of C-NS (8:23.82) and the field.
Beeler and Kyle Barber spread F-M’s domination to shorter events. In the 400-meter dash, Beeler broke the 50-second barrier, winning in 49.83 seconds as B’ville’s Brian Mahar (50.08 seconds) was runner-up. Barber, in the 400-meter hurdles, beat West Genesee’s Pete Richardson, 55.94 seconds to 56.30, to get the top spot, and later was third (42 feet 7 inches) in the triple jump.
Later on, Beeler, Farrell, Jake Wittig and Ed Cheatham were a close second (3:24.78) in the 4×400 relay to Baldwinsville, who won in 3:24.17, and F-M added a third in the 4×100. Riley Hughes was third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10:14.92, with Paul Billinson (10:36.93) fourth.
Kyle Harbour offered an exclamation point with his victory in the pentathlon, picking up 2,763 points in those five events as Liverpool’s Brandon Horton (2,517 points) was second.
Terrius Wheatley got third in the high jump, clearing 6 feet, with Justin Jones third in the pole vault as he topped 10’6”. Austin Perez also was fourth in the 200-meter dash in 22.59 seconds, adding to a seventh in the 100-meter dash. David Riccione was sixth in the shot put as Zhengyue Zhu got to sixth in the triple jump.
Katie Brislin led the F-M girls to 133 points in the girls AA meet, with Liverpool (93 points) settling into second place and C-NS (83 points) in third.
To start with, Brislin, teaming with Hannah Smith, Michelle Duffy and Jessica Howe, cruised to first place in the 4×800 relay in 9:35.12, more than 22 seconds ahead of the field.
Then, in the 1,500-meter run, Brislin prevailed in 4:36.17, ahead of Alana Pearl (4:38.68) in second place, with Smith and Jenna Farrell fourth and fifth, respectively. To cap it off, Brislin won the 800 in 2:15.32 over B’ville star Mackenzie Ross (2:17.66) as Smith (2:19.77) was fourth.
F-M went 1-2-3 in the 3,000-meter run, Alana Pearl winning in 10:16.83 as Duffy was second (10:25.43) and Mary Barger third in 10:29.03, with Farrell in fifth place. In the 2,000 steeplechase a day later, Pearl won again, in 7:12.8, while Maggie Malone took second (7:32.7) and Avery finished fourth.
Anna Castro got to third in the pentathlon with 2,377 points, while Olivia Ryan was fifth in the 400 sprint in 59.22 seconds and Anna Perrotti (1:00.21) was sixth. Jessica Puro got a fifth-place shot put toss of 86’6”.
Caitlin Ferro, sixth in the 100 hurdles, took third in the 400 hurdles in 1:10.04, with Nancy Bansbach fourth (1:12.30) and Anna Konys fifth. Perrotti, Natalie Zazzara (sixth in the 200), Sarah Olick-Sutphen and Jordan Noble claimed third (50.83 seconds) in the 4×100 as Zazzara, Ryan, Brislin and Christine Lavoie finished third in the 4×400 a day later.
