Everyone assumed that the Fayetteville-Manlius girls cross country team would get a chance to go to Portland, Oregon on the first weekend of December and defend its crown at the Nike Cross Nationals. What was in question was whether the boys Hornets would go, too.
Thanks to a second-place finish in Saturday’s Nike New York-Northeast Regionals at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, F-M’s boys will advance, joining a girls Hornets side that, again led by Kaitlyn Neal, rolled to victory.
For three weeks, the F-M boys had waited to compete again after its four-point defeat to Liverpool in the Nov. 7 Section III Class A meet at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill.
The stakes at Bowdoin Park were quite simple. Only the top two teams would gain automatic berths in the Nike Nationals, with other finishers waiting to see if they would get at-large bids. And F-M was without its one of its top runners, Peter Ryan, adding to the obstacles it faced.
Of course, Liverpool, who claimed the state Class A title Nov. 14 at Monroe-Woodbury, was in the regional field, and led by Ben Petrella, who won the race in 15 minutes, 31.4 seconds, the Warriors, with 77 points, took the top spot.
So attention turned to the race for second place. F-M found itself neck-and-neck with state Class C champion East Aurora, but by earning 107 points, the Hornets (competing as Manlius XC) edged the Blue Devils (competing as Aurora Runners) by two points to advance to Portland.
Bryan Geehrer led F-M, finishing fourth among team runners and sixth overall in a time of 16:04.7. Just behind him, Patrick Perry gained sixth-place team points and was eighth overall in 16:07.2.
Joe Walters, posting a time of 16:34.5, was 17th among team runners and 24th overall. Geehrer, Perry and Walters gave F-M a cushion against East Aurora, who had all five of its top runners finish within the top 35, led by Kenny Vasbinder, who was second to Petrella in the team race (and third overall) in 15:54.5.
To hang on, F-M needed good finishes from Jack Boltman and Ben Otis. Boltman was 33rd in the team race (51st overall) in 16:53.8, and when Otis got 47th-place team points in 17:07.5, the Hornets finished ahead of East Aurora, since Otis needed to finish 50th or better. F-M’s sixth runner, Max Perry finished in 18:15.4.
None of this tension was found in the girls race, where F-M again outclassed the field. Posting a total of 38 points, Manlius XC again beat out Saratoga Springs (running as Kinetic), who was second with 80 points.
Fittingly, F-M and Saratoga runners claimed the top two individual spots – but it was Neal pulling away to win the race, her time of 17:37.8 well clear of Kelsey Chmiel’s 17:50.5.
Sophomore Palmer Madsen was seventh among team runners (ninth overall) in 18:27.8, just ahead of Samantha Levy, who took eighth place in the team race (10th overall) in 18:34.8, an inch ahead of Sophie Ryan (18:34.9), who was 10th in the team standings, 12th overall.
Just behind them, Becca Walters had a time of 18:42.4 for 14th place overall, 12th among team runners. Jenna Farrell got a 16th-place team finish (20th overall) in 19:05.3, with eighth-grader Claire Walters, the individual state Class A champion, posting 19:14.4 to place 26th in the race and 19th on the team side.
A season full of wins and accomplishments amassed by East Syracuse Minoa runners Matt Young and Natalie Marra culminated in each of them recording top-40 finishes in the Nov. 21 New York State Federation championship race at Bowdoin Park a week before F-M got there.
Young, in the boys race, stayed right with the top contenders. In a time of 16 minutes, 38.4 seconds, Young claimed 29th place, just 7.1 seconds out of the top 20 finishers in a field comprised of 255 individuals.
Saratoga Springs’ Aidan Tooker won the individual race in 15:42.8, just beating out Carthage’s Noah Affolder, who was second in 15:46.3. Noah’s brother, Sam Affolder, got eighth place (16:12.3) as St. Anthony’s (89 points) edged Xavier (91 points) for the team title.
As for Marra, she needed exactly 19 minutes, 18 seconds to cover the Bowdoin Park course and finish 37th out of 255 runners. Corning’s Jessica Lawson won in 17:46.8, avenging her second-place finish to Claire Walters in the Nov. 14 state Class A meet at Monroe-Woodbury, as Tully seventh-grader Brooke Rauber posted a ninth-place finish in 18:35.6, best among Section III individuals. West Genesee’s Carly Benson finished 18th in 18:56.2.
