For the most part, it’s fair to say that the Fayetteville-Manlius track and field team’s move to the CNY Counties League National division was a successful one.
By margins both narrow and comfortable, the boys and girls Hornets won their respective league championship meets on a warm, windy Thursday afternoon where every point proved valuable.
This was especially the case in the CNYCL National boys meet at Liverpool High School Stadium, where F-M’s total of 148 points was just enough to squeak past host Liverpool’s 147 points, with Cicero-North Syracuse (127 points) close behind in third.
It helped, of course, to build up points through a sweep of the distance events, starting with the 4×800 relay, where Bryce Millar, Andrew Berge’, Jon Abbott and Hamza ElHabbal covered the two miles in exactly eight minutes, 12 seconds, with Liverpool (8:32.84) second, a difference of two points.
Individually, Berge’ went right to the mile and, in 4:25.74, held off Millar (4:26.12) in a 1-2 Hornets finish, and then also prevailed in the 800-meter run in 2:00.96, with Abbott fourth in 2:02.56. Millar comfortably slid into second place in the 3,200-meter run (9:41.28) behind teammate Adam Hunt, who won in 9:35.20.
Kyle Barber earned a pair of titles, too, none more thrilling than the 400-meter hurdles, where in 55.49 seconds he edged out C-NS’s Pete Girardi (55.51 seconds) by 0.02 seconds for first place, with Kyle Harbour fifth. He also had a second-place triple jump of 40 feet 7 inches behind Liverpool’s Mark Vanmarter (42’7″.
Having also won the 400-meter dash in 49.91 seconds over Baldwinsville’s Jeff Mahar (50.37 seconds), with ElHabbal in fourth (53.42 seconds), Barber turned to the 4×400 relay, where he, along with ElHabbal, Abbott and Ed Cheathen, posted 3:29.71 to, again, beat Liverpool (3:30.99) for decisive points.
Parker Noble, who was sixth in the long jump, nearly added a 200-meter dash title, finishing second in 24.35 seconds to B’ville’s Brian Mahar (24.23 seconds), with Noble adding a fourth (12.33 seconds) in the 100-meter dash and helping Justin Jones, Jules Ngadula and Eli Pinner get fourth in the 4×100 relay in 46.54 seconds.
Patrick Perry, in 10:23.18, rose to third place in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, with Paul Billington sixth. Cheathen (17.63 seconds) and Harbour (18.25 seconds) were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 110 high hurdles.
Jones cleared 11 feet 6 inches in the pole vault to finish second to C-NS’s Mark Hentges (12 feet). Chibu Ezidegwu got to fourth place in the high jump, clearing 5’8″. Kyle Bronson and David Riccione were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the shot put, with Bronson also fifth (117’11”) in the discus.
Meanwhile, at Baldwinsville’s Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, the F-M girls were picking up 157 points to claim the CNYCL National title, this time with C-NS (131 points) in the runner-up spot.
Alana Pearl pulled off a unique double. After she beat out Annika Avery, 4:51.42 to 4:51.45, in a 1-2 finish in the 1,500-meter run, Pearl went to the 2,000-meter steeplechase and won there, too, in 7:25.4, nearly half a minute clear of the field as Sophia Ryan, in 7:59 flat, was fourth.
Avery had her own title in the 800 in 2:17.12, with Jessica Howe second in 2:19.25, followed by a 3,000-meter run where Jenna Farrell pulled away and, in 10:16.27, left runner-up Samantha Levy (10:31.17) nearly 15 seconds behind.
Together, Pearl, Avery, Farrell and Howe rolled to a time of 9:36.86 in the 4×800, far ahead of LIverpool (9:57.46) and the field, with Howe and Avery returning for the 4×400 to help Olivia Ryan and Anna Perrotti win in 4:01.97, with B’ville (4:06.94) closest to them.
Christabel Ezidegwu went 15′ 5 3/4″ in the high jump to get third place, the same spot where she finished in the triple jump by going 33′ 1 1/4″. Ezidegwu was also was fourth in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.98 seconds, with Anna Castro seventh.
Nearly getting a relay sweep, F-M’s 4×100 quartet of Chantal Brennan, Sarah Olick-Sutphen, Rachel Dise and Nicole Amico went 52.24 seconds, beating everyone except B’ville, who won in 51.39 seconds.
Dise, in 1:09.83, was second to Liverpool star Ore Akinpelu (1:07.10) in the 400 hurdles. Ryan took third in the 400 sprint in 1:00.35, ahead of Perrotti (1:01.63) in fourth place. Olick-Sutphen made it to fourth place in the 200 in 27.91 seconds, with Brennan fifth in 27.99 seconds. Amico was fifth (13.78 seconds) and Brennan sixth (13.80 seconds) in the 100 sprint.
Castro had her best showing in the high jump, clearing 4’10” to finish third as she gained fifth place in the long jump (14’4 1/2″), with Savannah Pidkaminy third in the pole vault by topping 8 feet and adding a fourth in the discus with a throw of 85 feet.
