The start of post-season action for the area’s cross country teams meant that it was time to step up the performance level – especially for Fayetteville-Manlius, still in possession of the top state ranking on both Class A sides.
During Wednesday’s CNY Counties League American division championships at Baldwinsville, the girls Hornets recorded the second-best speed rating in the country this year, behind only Unionville (Pa.), who beat F-M with a quicker mark at the McQuaid Invitational on Sept. 28.
Eighteen of the top 20 finishers in the race wore F-M green, including the top seven, as Alana Pearl roared to victory in 17 minutes, 28.2 seconds, beating Jenna Farrell (17:35.7) by 7.5 seconds.
Annika Avery, in 17:42.3, earned third place, while Jessica Howe (17:45.9) got fourth place. Sophie Ryan finished fifth in 18:21.9, with Megan Menz in sixth place (18:23.6) as Reilly Madsen (18:52.4) and Olivia Ryan (18:52.4) followed.
Samantha Levy made her way to 10th place in 19:13.8, with Mackenzie Pierie (19:18.2) leading a top-20 group that includes McKenzie Tripp, Katie Krieger, Mikayla Ruthig, Bea Panozzo, Kathleen Neuberger, Annie Loh, Keita Peden and Meaghan Howe.
While the F-M boys didn’t quite have that sort of domination, it still swept the top six positions in its CNYCL America meet, led by Bryce Millar, who won over Andrew Berge even though the pair both covered the Durgee Junior High course in 15 minutes, 19.3 seconds.
Peter Ryan, in 15:20.9, made his way to third place, with Adam Hunt fourth in 15:29.4. Kyle Barber finished fifth in 15:32.3 as Riley Hughes (15:39.0) took sixth place.
Patrick Perry led the next F-M group, getting to 11th place in 16:16.8, followed by Bryan Geehrer (16:28.2) and David Benman (16:39.3) in the 12th and 13th positions. Nick Sischo was 15th, in 17:03.7, while Hamza El Habbal was 16th in 17:12.1.
As for Jamesville-DeWitt and East Syracuse-Minoa, they would take one title apiece from last Wednesday’s OHSL Freedom division championships at Jamesville Beach Park, the same course where the Section III meet takes place on Nov. 2.
Even without Rachel Fairbanks, J-D won the girls race, edging Homer, 48 points to 56, with ESM getting third place with 66 points. Emilee Carpenter led the Red Rams, finishing third in 19:11.8, while the Spartans’ Gabby Pallotta took fourth place in 19:19.4.
J-D saw Laura Wengert run to seventh place in 19:58.4, while three others clinched the league title. Samantha Jaffe was 11th, in 20:47.4, with Emily Pomeroy 13th (21:35.5) and Alexandra Street (21:44.3) getting 14th place.
Adding to the Rams’ depth, Lizzie O’Brien (22:14.1), Casey Keane, Lauren Morelli, Allison Hohreiter, Kim Walsh, Molly Sterriker and Ashley Lawless all finished in the top 30.
ESM’s Cindy Brownson finished eighth in a clocking of 20:13.6. Bridget Benz was 12th, in 21:01.8, with Maria Miner taking 16th place in 21:54.8. Brittany Kubecka (23:00.5), Megan Vandewarker (23:06.7) and Meghan Macri (23:08.8) finished close to each other.
Over in the boys OHSL Freedom race, though, ESM went to the top, picking up 43 points to fend off J-D, who had to settle for second place with 60 points. Chittenango (76 points) was third.
Jesse Perrone led the Spartans as he won the individual race in 16:11.9, well clear of Mexico’s Jacob Zedeck (16:20.7) at the line, while J-D’s duo of Patrick Dye (16:41.5) and Isaac Tupper (16:49.6) settled into the third and fourth spots.
ESM prevailed because it placed all five of its top runners within the top 15. Joe Coogan finished seventh, in 17:13.6, while Jake Barker was ninth in 17:25.7. Jared Henry battled his way to 12th place (17:38.2) and Kyle Willey, with his 14th-place time of 17:47.8, clinched the title. Further back, Matt Young was 23rd (18:20.4) and Nick Schug was 32nd, in 18:49.6.
By contrast, J-D didn’t have a runner in the top 10 other than Dye and Tupper. Matt Murad finished 13th, in 17:45 flat, while Nick Street was 15th in 17:48.2. Jake Parker got to 25th place in 18:34.2, with Matt Salbert (18:43.7), Kyle Torrens (18:51.9) and Austin Philleo (18:54.3) close behind.
