Owners of eight national championships in the last nine years, and with most of its top lineup back for 2015, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls cross country team did not exactly need much help as the pursuit of a ninth national title got underway – but it did.
Kaitlyn Neal, long a standout at Skaneateles, joined the Hornets’ squad in time for the fall, and she didn’t waste any time getting to the winners’ circle in her F-M debut.
During Saturday’s Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Invitational on the same course where the Section III championships will take place in early November, Neal posted the fastest time in any of the four races as the Hornets easily prevailed in girls varsity Race 2.
In 18 minutes, 44.2 seconds, Neal beat runner-up Samantha Levy (19.13.2) by nearly half a minute, part of a barrage where the Hornets had 11 of the top 14 finishers.
Freshman Claire Walters was third, in 19:23.1, exactly one second ahead of Sophia Ryan (19:24.1) in fifth place as Palmer Madsen finished sixth in 19:25.2.
Leading the next pack, Jenna Farrell earned eighth place in 20:03.6, with Rebecca Walters ninth in 20:10.9 and Megan Menz (20:16.7) in 10th place. Phoebe White was 12th in 20:21.4, beating out Christy Berge’ (20:35.0) and Reilly Madsen (20:47.2) in the next two spots.
When the boys Race 2 took place a couple of hours later, F-M, coming off its first-ever Nike Nationals crown but without stars like Bryce Millar, Kyle Barber, Adam Hunt, Riley Hughes and Jon Abbott that got the Hornets there, still dominated with 20 points, leaving runner-up Adirondack (114 points) and the other 15 teams far back.
Anchoring a top-four sweep, senior Bryan Geehrer finished in 16 minutes, 19.5 seconds, beating out Joe Walters, who was second in 16:27.8. Patrick Perry got to third place, in 16:35.8, while Ben Otis made his way to fourth place in 17:04.7.
Also for the Hornets, Eli Capri made it to 10th place in 18:06.9, with Max Perry getting 11th place in 18:14.8. Ken Kaiser got 15th place in 18:23.3 as Sean Donlon (18:36.5) and Brendon Pearl (18:38.8) also had top-20 efforts.
East Syracuse Minoa, also in Race 2, finished fourth on the team side, led by Matt Young, who finished eighth in 17:26.9. Nick Berg (18:39.8) and Jared Henry (18:44.4) were 21st and 22nd, respectively.
The girls Spartans finished fifth amid all of the F-M runners in Race 2, led by Sarah Tingley, who made her way to 34th place in 23:59.7. Just behind her, Marina Lopez (24:03.1), Megan Vanderwarker (24:04.9) and Yamila Wunsch (24:16.1) all had top-50 finishes, with Madison Carr (25:10.8), Makaila White (25:31.9) and Paige Raullie (25:36.0) behind them.
Meanwhile, Jamesville-DeWitt got off to a solid start, finishing third in Race 1 on the girls side with 84 points, trailing only Tully (67 points) and Liverpool (71 points).
The Red Rams’Megan Brown finished sixth, in 21:11.1, while Amelia Gilbert made her way to 13th place in 21:49.7. Alexandra Street was 19th in 22:23.6, two spots ahead of teammate Casey Keane (22:31.9) as Alisa Salbert (23:02.3), Abby Palin (23:08.7), Kim Walsh (23:17.1) and Emily Shapiro (23:35.8) all had top-40 efforts.
In boys Race 1, J-D was seventh and CBA eighth, with the Brothers’ Dominic Morganti rising to fourth place in 17:06.7 and Brendan Keeney 14th in 18:44.9. No one on the Red Rams got close to that, but Tyler Glowaki, in 38th place (19:36.6), finished just in front of James Pieri (19:41.3), Matt Salbert (19:47.9) and Nick Mannion (19:50.5).
