A near-sweep of the relay events, combined with success in other disciplines, propelled the Fayetteville-Manlius girls indoor track and field team to yet another victory in Wednesday night’s Bob Grieve Memorial Invitational at SRC Arena.
Yet what made this particular meet unique was that each of the area’s four participating schools – F-M, Jamesville-DeWitt, East Syracuse-Minoa and Christian Brothers Academy – earned at least one victory before the meet was done.
Of course, the Hornets had the most to celebrate, having picked up 85.66 points to fend off runner-up West Genesee (57 points) and the rest of the field. J-D had 25 points to finish seventh, with ESM and CBA tying Cicero-North Syracuse for ninth place with 19 points.
F-M’s relay dominance began in the 4×800, where Alana Pearl, Annika Avery, Jenna Farrell and Megan Menz finished in nine minutes, 56.18 seconds, with West Genesee (10:27.50) more than half a minute behind. J-D was seventh in 11:02.95.
Then, in the 4×200, a different Hornets quartet prevailed as Olivia Ryan, Chantal Brennan, Natalie Zazzara and Anna Perrotti finished in 1:51.97, more than two seconds ahead of Mexico (1:54.06) and the field.
In the 4×400, Perrotti joined Nicole Amico, Jessica Howe and Mikayla Ruthig as F-M, in 4:15.52, took second place behind Baldwinsville (4:09.24) in the top spot. Howe, on her own, would take fourth place in the 600-meter run in 1:44.95, with J-D’s Elena Haarer (1:46.74) in fourth.
Avery and Pearl went 1-2 in the 1,000-meter run, as Avery won in 3:00.55 and Pearl got second place in 3:01.60, but that would be the Hornets’ lone individual title.
Meanwhile, CBA’s Anna Schug beat Liverpool star Ore Akinpelu, 7.47 seconds to 7.66, to take the 55-meter dash, and Schug nearly added the 300-meter dash, too, finishing second in 42.39 seconds, nipped by one-hundredth of a second by Corcoran’s Patrice Williams (42.38 seconds).
ESM earned its triumph in the high jump, where Nina Zesky’s season-long dominance continued. Zesky cleared 5 feet 3 inches, one inch better than Baldwinsville’s Emily Soeder. And J-D prevailed in the triple jump as Patrece Martin went 34’6″, nearly a foot better than West Genesee’s Brianna Richarsdon (33’6 3/4″) and the field.
The Hornets’ Christabel Ediziegwu, who was fourth in the high jump (5’1″) behind Zesky, took third place in the long jump, going 15 feet 10 1/4 inches, and added a fourth in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.85 seconds, meaning that she earned 14 points.
Zazzara (43.28 seconds) and Olivia Ryan (43.55 seconds) were third and fourth, respectively, in the 300 behind Schug, giving F-M 10 more points on the board, while Sophia Ryan got to third place in the 1,500-meter run in 5:01.57, just behind ESM’s Natalie Marra, who was second in 4:59 flat as Marcellus’ Rachel Garn (4:54.22) prevailed.
J-D’s Hannah Butler made her way to third place in the 3,000-meter run in 10:51.87, just ahead of F-M’s Samantha Levy (10:56.10) in fourth place as CBA’s Megan Ann Pierce was seventh. The Rams’ Salwa El Hindi got third place in the shot put with a throw of 30’1 3/4″ as Emilee Carpenter finished fifth (5:06.61) in the 1,500.
F-M’s Abby Konys and Sophia Wojnovich tied for fifth in the pole vault, each clearing 7 feet, as CBA’s Kiana Ferguson got seventh place (46.13 seconds) in the 300.
On the boys side at the Bob Grieve Invitational, F-M picked up 66 points, but that left them in second place behind Liverpool, who prevailed with 85 points. J-D tied for fifth with 30 points as ESM was eighth with 21 points and CBA got 12 points.
Half the Hornets’ points came from 1-2 sweeps in distance running events. In the mile, Andrew Berge’ posted a winning time of 4:28.81, just ahead of Peter Ryan, who was second in 4:30.87. It was the same in the 1,000, where Bryce Millar prevailed in 2:38.14, beating out Kyle Barber (2:39.20) for that top spot, with ESM’s Jesse Perrone third in 2:39.67.
Adam Hunt made his way to second place in the 3,200-meter run in 9:57.80, just behind Auburn’s Jordan Middleton (9:55.60), with Riley Hughes grabbing fifth place in 10:11.24. In between them, J-D’s Patrick Dye was third in 10:09.77.
J-D’s Zach Liebmann earned more than half of his team’s points, again prevailing in the pole vault as he cleared 12’6” and also finishing third in the 55-meter dash in 6.84 seconds. Will Cote, sixth in the long jump, did better in the triple jump, going 39’5” to finish third as Barber (39’3”) picked up fifth place for the Hornets.
Tom Grayer got ESM a second-place finish in the long jump, going 19’6 ¼”, just behind Liverpool’s Mark Vanmarter (19’8 ¼”) as Jeremy McGrath (19’1 ¼”) was fifth for the Spartans. F-M’s Justin Jones (10’6”) and ESM’s Caiden Moynihan (10 feet) were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the pole vault.
In the 4×800, F-M’s quartet of Jon Abbott, Hamza ElHabbal, David Benman and Josh Hannan got to third place in 8:31.14. The Spartans’ Kyle Barker was fifth (1:30.29) in the 600, behind CBA’s Jack Brower, who got third place in 1:27.28. Ed Cheaten just missed points in the 300, taking seventh place in 38.78 seconds, but he helped ElHabbal, Parker Noble and Luke Jordan finish fifth (1:40.13) in the 4×200 relay.
Also for the Hornets, Kyle Barber, in 8.53 seconds, was second to Cicero-North Syracuse’s Morgan Auseten (8.01 seconds) in the 55 hurdles, with ESM’s Jeremy McGrath fifth in 8.81 seconds. CBA’s Connor Agnew threw the shot put 45’2 ¼” to finish third, tying Brower for the Brothers’ best effort as J-D’s Joe Murphy (43’6 ½”) was sixth.
