Neither of the Fayetteville-Manlius indoor track and field teams was going to get caught in the course of last week’s CNY Counties League American division championship meets, providing a successful follow-up to their Section III Class AA championship sweep a week earlier.
Going first on Wednesday night, the boys Hornets got 158 points in its CNYCL American meet last Wednesday, far ahead of Corcoran, who finished second with 58 points. Auburn, Central Square and Nottingham were further back.
Kyle Barber won twice, as he went 1:23.18 in the 600-meter run, half a second ahead of Auburn’s Leon Atkins (1:23.68), with teammate Jon Abbott third in 1:27.87.
In the 1,000-meter run, Barber and Bryce Millar ran together in the 1,000-meter run, Barber prevailing in 2:39.20 and Millar (2:39.23) in second place, but Millar was victorious in the mile in 4:27.96, holding off Auburn’s Jordan Middleton (4:28.21) as Riley Hughes was third in 4:40.90.
Adam Hunt won the 3,200-meter run in 9:34.92, with Patrick Perry second in 9:40.98. Ed Cheatham prevailed in the 55-meter hurdles in 8.91 seconds, and also took third in the 300-meter dash in 38.86 seconds, where Jules Ngadula (40.28 seconds) was fourth.
F-M swept all three relay races. In the 4×400, Cheatham, Ngadula, Hamza El Habbal and Sean Donlon went 3:39.66, prevailing over runner-up Corcoran by more than 24 seconds.
El Habbal joined Millar, Barber and Abbott in the 4×800, where the Hornets posted 8:10.28, more than 40 seconds clear of the field. Finally, in the 4×200, El Habbal, Ngdaula, Parker Noble and Ben Testani went 1:38.88 to hold off Corcoran (1:41.15) for that top spot.
Noble went to the long jump and won that event, going 18 feet 7 inches, and then claimed the triple jump with a top leap of 39’4” as Conner Florczyk (35 feet) was second. Armando Adrian was third in the 55-meter dash in 7.33 seconds, while Taylor Smach took third (40’2 ¾”) in the shot put.
F-M’s girls managed to top the boys total on Thursday night, ending up with 177 points while also rolling to league honors, again with Corcoran (70 points) far behind in second place.
Sophia Ryan ran 3,000 meters in 10:28.53, pulling away from teammate Mackenzie Pierie (10:58.93) in the first of several 1-2 finishes for the Hornets. Then Olivia Ryan, in the 1,000, rolled to victory in 3:00.88, this time with Samantha Levy (3:15.56) in second place.
Annika Avery roared to a 1,500-meter time of 4:45.56, with Jenna Farrell (4:59.17) in the runner-up spot. Before that, seventh-grader Phoebe White earned a victory in the 600, going 1:49.06 to pull away from Auburn’s Madison Schattinger (1:52.67) for the top spot.
Even in the shorter races and field events, F-M found some success, including the 55 hurdles, where Gwenn Shepardson won in 9.18 seconds to hold off Christabel Ezidegwu (9.40 seconds).
Following that, Ezidegwu won the long jump, her top leap of 16’3 ¾” beating, among others, Megah Josephson (14’8”) in third place. Not stopping there, Ezidegwu also won the triple jump with a top leap of 37’8” as Josephson (29’8”) finished fourth.
F-M’s relay sweep included Avery, Levy and the Ryan sisters going 9:40.53 in a 4×800 rout. Shepardson, Anna Perrotti, Shauna Cheatham and Chrstie Berge’ rolled to a time of 4:18.77 and beat Central Square (4:49.06) by half a minute in the 4×400, with Perrotti and Cheatham joining Maya Chiesa and Sydney O’Dell to win the 4×200, edging out Corcoran, 1:56.17 to the Cougars’ 1:56.25.
Savannah Pidkahminy threw the shot put 28’9”, well back of Nottingham’s Shayna Santrelli-Hansen (38’1 ¾”), but still in second place as Sophia Jones (28’2”) was third. In the pole vault, Pidkaminy topped 8’6”, again in second as Central Square’s Bethany Cripps topped 11 feet.
Cheatham, in 44.68 seconds, finished third, ahead of Perrotti 44.86 seconds), in the 300. Sydney O’Dell (8.09 seconds) edged out Cady Barns (8.10 seconds) for fifth place in the 55 sprint.
