When it was time for the Fayetteville-Manlius track and field teams to enter their first large-scale meet of the spring, they did not disappoint.
During Friday’s Chittenango Invitational, the Hornets nearly pulled off a sweep, edging Cicero-North Syracuse by a single point, 87 to 86, on the boys side and, in the girls meet, finishing a close second (131 points) to Rush-Henrietta (Section V), who won with 137 points.
The featured event on both sides was the Fleet Feet Mile. Bryce Millar won the boys edition with a time of four minutes, 19.58 seconds, a step ahead of teammate Kyle Barber (4:19.66) in second place as Jon Abbott (4:27.98) got sixth place. The other mile race saw F-M’s Brian Geehrer prevail in 4:46.47, giving the boys Hornets 10 more crucial points.
Then, in the girls Fleet Feet Mile, Sophia Ryan posted a time of 5:08.31, finishing second behind Hamilton star Sage Hurta, who won in 5:04.31. Olivia Ryan finished fourth in 5:11.16. Hurta also won the 3,000-meter run in 10:10.31 ahead of the Hornets’ Samantha Levy in second place (10:28.39) and Reilly Madsen (10:58.04) in fourth place.
To help the boys Hornets prevail, Millar and Barber joined Hamza El Habbal and Jules Ngadula to blaze to first place in the 4×400 relay in 3:30.20. Another relay win came in the 4×100 as Ngadula, Ed Cheatham, Parker Noble and Christian Bagabo went 46.08 seconds to hold off Cazenovia (46.43 seconds) and the rest of the field.
Just as important was Riley Hughes going to the front in the boys 3,000-meter steeplechase, winning in 10:02.97, more than half a minute ahead of Marathon’s Dylan Brickner (10:34.09). Annika Avery won the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 7:34.52, the only time under eight minutes.
F-M’s girls featured Christabel Ezidiegwu, who won twice, taking the 100-meter high hurdles in 16.32 seconds, going 1-2 with Gwenn Shepardson (16.80 seconds), and also claiming the triple jump by going 36 feet 4 inches, more than three feet ahead of Baldwinsville’s Haleigh Jaquint (33’1 ¾”). Ezidiegwu also took fifth in the high jump, clearing 4’6”.
Shepardson was second in the 400 hurdles in 1:10.22 to Rush-Henrietta’s Ceara Watson (1:08.88), and in the 4×100 relay paired with Shauna Cheathem, Sarah Olick-Sutphen and Cady Barns to go 54.19 seconds, again second to the Royal Comets, who won in 51.12 seconds.
On her own, Olick-Sutphen claimed the long jump, her best attempt of 14’8” one inch better than Rush-Henrietta’s Tori Thompson (14’7”), and she also was fifth (13.71 seconds) in the 100-meter dash.
In the full-field mile, Phoebe White won in 5:31.88, with Mackenzie Pierie third in 5:41.70. Avery joined Anna Perrotti and the Ryan sisters for a second-place finish (4:13.65) behind Rush-Henrietta (4:06.60) in the 4×400 relay.
Savannah Pidkaminy took third in the discus with a heave of 86’3” and added a sixth in the pole vault, clearing 7’6”, while Brittany Travis was third (30’3”) in the shot put. Christy Berge’ (1:05.50) and Jessica Howe (1:06.04) were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 400-meter dash.
Ed Cheathem went 1:03.67 in the 400 hurdles, making his way to fifth place. Vincent Perry topped 10 feet in the pole vault and was fourth. Noble was fifth in the triple jump with a leap of 38’9”, adding a seventh in the long jump. Chibu Ezidegwu cleared 5’6” in the high jump for a fifth-place effort.
Prior to that, F-M roared through last Wednesday’s meet with Corcoran, sweeping the Comets 120-20 on the boys side and 121-20 on the girls side.
Christabel Ezidegwu won four times in the girls meet. After going 16.1 seconds to win the 100 hurdles, Ezidiegwu had a top long jump of exactly 16 feet, cleared 4’8” in the high jump and also claimed the triple jump, going 36’11 ½”, a season-best effort.
Olivia Ryan ran 1,500 meters in 4:55.0 and added an 800-meter title in 2:26.3, with Sophia Ryan claiming the 400 sprint in 1:02.4. White ran 3,000 meters in 10:51.0 and Shepardson won the 400 hurdles in 1:12.9. Calista Lloyd topped 6 feet in the pole vault and Brittany Travis had a first-place shot put toss of 27’4”.
F-M also swept the 4×800 (10:56.0), 4×400 (4:21.0) and 4×100 (53.0 seconds) relays, with White, Shepardson, Avery, Olick-Sutphen, Levy, Barns, Olivia Ryan and Sophie Ryan taking part.
The boys Hornets handled Corcoran with Barber relaxing in the 400 hurdles (1:04.0) but going 53.8 seconds in the 400 sprint. Chibu Ezidiegwu also won twice, clearing 5’6” in the high jump and going 38’4” in the triple jump.
Elsewhere, Perry topped 9 feet in the pole vault, with Nick Sischo throwing the discus 83’9”. Back on the oval, Noble ran the 200 in 23.9 seconds, with Ed Cheatham going 17.9 seconds in the 110 high hurdles and Christian Bagabo winning the 100 in 11.7 seconds.
Barber, Cheatham, Jules Ngadula and Hamza ElHabbal won the 4×400 relay in 3:48.7, with F-M also taking the 4×100 (45.6 seconds) and 4×800 relays. Bryan Geehrer took the mile in 4:50.6, while Jon Abbott ran the 800 in 2:12.1.
