Though its foundation is familiar, it’s the variety of skill that allowed the Fayetteville-Manlius track and field teams to shine above all others during last Wednesday’s Section III Class AA championship meet at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium.
The boys Hornets finished with 143 points to fight off host C-NS (116.16 points) for the top spot, while the F-M girls, with 122 points, prevailed over runner-up Rome Free Academy (103 points) and the rest of the AA field.
Kyle Barber put up a pair of wins on the boys side, starting with a time of 49.23 seconds to hold off Auburn’s Leon Atkins (49.57) in the 400-meter dash before he took the 800-meter run in 1:58.02 to hold off Bryce Millar (1:58.99) and Jon Abbott (2:00.69) in fifth place.
But Millar also won twice, taking the mile in 4:24.65, edging Liverpool’s Ben Petrella (4:25.93) as Abbott finished fifth (4:31.60) and Patrick Perry sixth (4:32.05). Then, in the 3,200-meter run, Millar, in 9:28.84, again beat Petrella (9:30.66) as Adam Hunt was third in 9:37.29 and Joe Walters was sixth.
F-M swept the steeplechase events. In the boys 3,000, Riley Hughes won in 10:01.84, with Perry third (10:18.72) and Brian Geehrer fourth (10:20.13). Then seventh-grader Phoebe White dominated the girls 2,000 steeplechase, winning in 7:31.88 as West Genesee’s Elise Dunshee (7:48.12) was far back in second place.
Millar and Barber joined Abbott and Hamza El Habbal to go 8:03.59 and beat Liverpool (8:10.04) in the boys 4×800 relay. Later, in the 4×400 relay, Barber, Abbott, Ed Cheatham and Jules Ngadula paired up and, in 3:48.08, nosed out Liverpool (3:48.28) by inches to win again.
Ngadula, Cheatham, Parker Noble and Christian Bagabo were second in the 4×100 relay in 44.24 seconds to RFA’s 43.57 seconds. Cheatham also was third in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:02.16 and was sixth in the 110 high hurdles in 17.48 seconds, with Sean Donlon fifth (1:03.58) in the 400 hurdles. Bagabo took fourth place in the 200-meter dash in 23.42 seconds.
Chibu Ezidiegwu cleared 5 feet 8 inches in the high jump, settling into third place, and also took third in the triple jump by going 40’4 ½”, while Noble was fourth in the triple jump (40’1”) and fifth (19’4 ½”)in the long jump, where Connor Florczyk was seventh (18’6”). Nick Sischo got eighth place in the discus with a heave of 98’11”.
In a 1-2 finish in the girls 100-meter hurdles, Christabel Ezidiegwu won in 16.86 seconds, edging out Gwenn Shepardson (16.95 seconds) for that title, as Shepardson went on to finish fifth (1:09.48) in the 400 hurdles and Nancy Bansbach (1:12.47) was seventh.
Moving to field events, Ezidegwu grabbed another title in the triple jump, going 37’2 ½” to hold off Utica Proctor’s Illegha Graham (36’4 ¼”) and the field. Ezidegwu also was seventh in the high jump and eighth in the long jump.
The Hornets’ quartet of Samantha Levy, Jessica Howe, Olivia Ryan and Sophia Ryan pulled away from C-NS, 9:41.83 to the Northstars’ 9:53.10, and won the 4×800. In the 3,000-meter run, F-M swept the top three spots as Levy pulled away to win in 10:20.24, with Reilly Madsen (11:14.80) and Palmer Madsen (11:20.90) leading the chase pack.
Olivia Ryan was victorious in the 800 in 2:15.94, more than six seconds ahead of the field. Levy was second (4:50.45) to West Genesee’s Carly Benson (4:42.44) in the 1,500-meter run, with Phoebe White (4:53.93) edging Sophia Ryan (4:54.02) for third place.
Shauna Cheatham, Anna Perrotti, Sarah Olick-Sutphen and Cady Barns were third in the 4×100 in 51.04 seconds, with Olick-Sutphen getting fourth place in the 400 sprint in 1:00.84. In the 4×400, Perrotti, Cheatham, Olick-Sutphen and Olivia Ryan were third in 4:05.56.
Savannah Pidkaminy topped 8’6” in the pole vault and earned fifth place and was sixth (89’10”) in the discus, with Brittany Travis sixth in the shot put thanks to a toss of 31’6 ½” after finishing ninth in the discus behind Pidkaminy.
Mo Qubaisy took fourth place in the boys pentathlon, earning 1,891 points, with Molly Quinlan sixth in the girls pentathlon thanks to a total of 1,840 points as Sydney O’Dell finished eighth.
