Working together with purpose and determination, the trio of Bryce Millar, Andrew Berge and Peter Ryan made sure the Fayetteville-Manlius boys cross country team did not have its reign as Section III Class A champions stopped by Liverpool.
The Hornets, perched atop the state rankings, beat the no. 3-ranked Warriors, 24 points to 37, in Saturday’s sectional Class A meet at Jamesville Beach Park in large part due to the 1-2-3 sweep Millar, Berge and Ryan executed.
From a pair of head-to-head races against Liverpool during the regular season, F-M knew that the Warriors provided a real threat, but that would dissipate as its top three runners got away from the field.
Millar crossed the finish line in 15 minutes, 37.8 seconds, just three-tenths of a second ahead of Berge (15:38.1) in second place, while Ryan stepped up his pace, getting to third place in 15:41.5, leaving Liverpool’s Ben Petrella (15:46.7) in fourth place.
Having posted the best three times of the entire sectional meet, the Hornets handled the rest, too, as Adam Hunt took seventh place in 16:09.6 and Kyle Barber, in 11th place (16:16.2), closed out the scoring column. Patrick Perry was 23rd, in 17:06.2, with Riley Hughes (17:17.1) in 26th place.
By stark contrast, the F-M girls side didn’t have to worry too much about Liverpool, or anyone else, as it easily won yet another sectional Class A title with 19 points, leaving the Warriors (56 points) far back in second place.
Annika Avery needed exactly 18:02 to post the fastest girls time of the day, half a minute better than Jenna Farrell, who was second in 18:32.9 as F-M runners occupied half of the top 20.
Alana Pearl made her way to fourth place, in 19:09 flat, with Megan Menz stepping up to take fifth place in 19:12.4. Olivia Ryan was seventh in 19:29.8 to clinch the title, with Jessica Howe ninth in 19:39.5. Reilly Madsen took 11th place in 19:48.4, ahead of Samantha Levy in 13th (20:06.2) and eighth-grader Sophie Ryan (20:22.7) in 15th place. Mackenzie Pierie was 19th in 20:32.4.
Both of F-M’s teams will be favored in this Saturday’s state Class A championship meets at Queensbury High School (girls run at 9:40 a.m., boys at 11:40 a.m.), but they’re not the only local runners going to the state meet.
East Syracuse-Minoa’s Jesse Perrone is going, too, as the boys Section III Class B champion. He won the individual race in a time of 16:37.7, beating Mexico’s Jacob Zedack by 5.1 seconds. Jamesville-DeWitt’s duo of Patrick Dye (16:51.6) and Isaac Tupper (16:52.5) were third and fourth, respectively, and also qualified for Queensbury.
As a team, the J-D boys finished third, with 90 points, and ESM was fifth with 131 points as Whitesboro (59 points) got to the top spot.
The Red Rams’ Brady Wing was 15th, in 17:43.3, ahead of Nick Street (17:58.0) in 24th place and Matt Murad (18:37.7) in 46th place, while the Spartans saw Matt Young finish 26th in 18:01 flat, ahead of Jake Barker (18:13.6), Joe Coogan (18:15.1) and Kyle Willey (18:24.5), all of whom beat Murad.
Meanwhile, in the girls Class B sectional race, J-D, without Rachel Fairbanks in the lineup, won a close battle for second place, 102 points to New Hartford’s 109, though both were far behind Westhill/Bishop Ludden, who won with 46 points. ESM was sixth with 139 points.
Individually, the Red Rams’ Emilee Carpenter earned a trip to the state meet by getting to fourth place in a time of 19:46.7. Laura Wengert finished 17th, in 20:56.8, with Samantha Jaffe 21st in 21:10 flat and Alexandra Street (21:16.5) in 22nd place. Lauren Morelli (22:44.9), Emily Pomeroy (22:52.8) and Lizzie O’Brien (23:00.4) finished close to each other.
Cindy Brownson led ESM as she ran to 14th place in 20:44.2, with Natalie Marra gaining 19th place in 21:00.7 and Bridget Benz (21:28.8) finishing 24th. Maria Miner was 36th in 22:23.2 as Brittany Kubecka got 52nd place in 23:14.3.
In the girls Class C sectional race, CBA’s Megan Ann Pierce, who won her race in the Adirondack Invitational a week earlier, finished fourth in a time of 19:46.6 and qualified for the state meet, with Gabrielle Schug 26th in 22:01.4. Dominick Morganti was 10th in the boys race in 17:26.3, with Jack Brower 22nd (18:06.3) as the Brothers took eighth place in the team standings.
