No matter how many times it takes place, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls cross country team’s annual conquest of the Nike Cross Nationals race remains a wondrous feat.
And now the Hornets have stretched that dominance over the course of a full decade, winning its ninth championship in 10 years by easily turning back 21 challengers Saturday at Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland, Oregon.
All season long, F-M had carried the mantle of heavy favorites, and it didn’t weigh them down at all. Easy victories in the Section III and state Class A championship meets were followed by a one-sided win in the New York-Northeast Regionals at Bowdoin Park on Nov. 28.
Less than a week later, the Hornets returned to Oregon, cast as the team to beat despite the strength of the Nike Nationals field. It turns out that F-M was underestimated, if that was even possible.
Again running as Manlius XC, F-M found itself quite comfortable with the rain-soaked Glendoveer layout in Portland, took the lead early in the race and just kept pulling away.
By the time all the scores were added up, the Hornets had 55 points. Davis (California) was a distant second, with 144 points, while another California foe, Great Oak (Temecula XC), was third with 171 points. Saratoga Springs (Kinetic XC) was fourth with 207 points.
Senior Kaitlyn Neal, who won at both the sectional and NY/NE Regional meets, would lead F-M’s charge. She finished fourth among team runners, and 15th overall, in a time of 17 minutes, 25.8 seconds as Southwest’s Katie Rainsberger won in 16:56.8.
Eighth-grader Claire Walters, the state Class A individual champion, finished 22nd overall, and eighth among team runners, in 17:40.9, while sophomore Palmer Madsen got to 11th place in the team race (37th overall) in 17:59 flat.
When senior Samantha Levy finished 14th among team runners (48th overall) in 18:11.1, the Hornets were closer to the prize, and sophomore Sophia Ryan clinched it when she crossed the line in 18:14.4 for 53rd place overall, 18th on the team side.
Jenna Farrell, a senior stalwart on so many national championship teams for F-M, wasn’t far behind, either, needing 18:19.1 to finish 22nd in the team race and 58th overall, while sophomore Rebecca Walters posted a time of 18:57.9.
F-M’s boys cross country team also took part in the Nike Nationals, but could not defend its 2014 title, finishing 21st with 425 points as Great Oak won the boys team title with 114 points.
Peter Ryan could not overcome the nagging injuries that kept him out of late-season meets. Instead, it was Bryan Geehrer leading the Hornets as he finished in 16:04.3 to take 81st place overall, 43rd among team runners.
Patrick Perry finished 58th in the team race in 16:15.6, exactly three seconds ahead of Joe Walters (16:18.6) in 67th place. Ben Otis (16:51.0), Jack Boltman (17:12.3) and Max Perry (17:51.6) were further back.
So ended an historic season for the entire F-M program, which included, in October, head coach Bill Aris getting inducted into the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame. Now, Aris has one more national championship to add to that resume.