What set apart the Jamesville-DeWitt girls cross country team’s sweep of Homer and Cortland last Wednesday afternoon from previous victories was the performance of Rachel Fairbanks, who smashed the J-D course record she already held by nearly half a minute.
The previous best time was 18 minutes, 45 seconds, but in perfect running conditions Fairbanks tore through the 3.1-mile course in 18:19, beating out Emilee Carpenter, who also set a new personal mark when she took second place in 18:44.
All of this was part of the Red Rams’ double victory, as it beat the Trojans 20-41 and the Purple Tigers 19-42. Laura Wengert finished fourth among individuals in 19:28, while Samantha Jaffe was eighth (20:34), Jess Picone was ninth (21:52) and Emily Pomeroy was 10th in 22 minutes flat.
J-D’s boys team would also sweep Homer (16-44) and Cortland (15-48) behind a top-four individual sweep. Patrick Dyer pulled away to win the race in a time of 16:36, with Nick Street (17:10) edging Isaac Tupper (17:13) for the runner-up spot and Brady Wing (17:25) finishing fourth. Also, Matt Murad took sixth place in 17:56 as Jake Parker (18:14) slid into eighth place.
Fayetteville-Manlius cruised past Oswego in a pair of 15-50 sweeps. David Benman went to the front in the boys race, posting a time of 17:16 to beat Pat Perry (17:20) by four seconds.
Peter Ryan, in 17:32, was just in front of a pack in 17:33 that included Riley Hughes, Bryce Millar and Andrew Berge’, with Paul Billinson (17:55), Nick Sischo (17:59) and Ken Kaiser (18:04) rounding out the Hornets’ top-10 sweep.
For the girls Hornets, Sophie Ryan won in 19:50, two seconds ahead of Mackenzie Pierie. Annika Avery and Jessica Howe both finished in 19:55, with Jenna Farrell (19:56) and Alana Pearl (19:56) close behind. Reilly Madsen (20:03) got past Megan Menz (20:04) for seventh, with Olivia Ryan ninth (20:13) and Samantha Levy (20:25) in 10th place.
Another two-sided victory came from East Syracuse-Minoa, who pulled off the trick in a trip to Jamesville Beach Park, where it handled Chittenango Bears 20-41 on the girls side and 17-38 on the boys side.
Though Anna Galbraith pulled away to win the girls race for the Bears in 20:07, ESM’s trio of Gabby Pallotta, Natalie Marra and Juliette Miller stayed together and grabbed the next spots, each of them finishing in 21:48. Cindy Brownson (22:02) and Bridget Benz (22:06) were close behind as Brittany Kubecka (23:30) got past Maria Miner (23:31) for eighth place.
ESM, in the boys race, saw Jared Henry win the individual race in a time of 17:53, just ahead of Jesse Perrone and Joe Coogan (17:54 each) in a top-three sweep. Kyle Willey, in fifth place (18:07) and Jake Barker, in seventh place (18:25), helped the Spartans hold off the Bears.
CBA met Phoenix, and gained a split, winning the girls race 25-31 because four of its runners trailed the Firebirds’ Haylie Virgnia (who won in a time of 20:56) to the line.
Gabrielle Schug and Emily Garlatti stayed together, the pair finishing in 22:25 as Schug got credit for second place. Megan Ann Pierce was fourth, in 22:33, with Meredith Strott fourth in 23:05.
The Brothers lost 24-42 in the boys race despite Dan Morganti winning the individual event in a time of 18:51. The Firebirds grabbed the next three finishing spots before Jack Toole took fifth place, in 19:11, with Jack Brower seventh in 19:17.
