Onondaga — Just as it has done so many times before, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls indoor track and field team played to its overwhelming strengths – and the result was a championship.
The Hornets claimed the Section III Class AA title Wednesday night at SRC Arena by earning 108.5 points, fending off the challenges of Cicero-North Syracuse 83 points), West Genesee (66 points) and Liverpool (60 points for top honors.
Twenty-four points came from F-M’s effort in the 3,000-meter run. Samantha Levy pulled away to win in 10 minutes, 13.32 seconds, with Claire Walters second in 10:31.09 as Jenna Farrell finished fourth (10:35.14) and Palmer Madsen (10:48.96) claimed fifth place.
Then the Hornets gained 22 points from the 1,500-meter run, won by Kaitlyn Neal in a blistering 4:37.90 as Rebecca Walters finished third in 4:51.27, Levy was fourth in 4:53.40 and Farrell (5:01.22) got sixth place.
In the 600-meter run, Sophie Ryan won in 1:37.91, with Phoebe White claiming fourth place in 1:41.47. Ryan was second (2:58.54) to West Genesee’s Carly Benson (2:55.23) in the 1,000-meter run, with Neal fourth in 3:00.86.
Neal ran with White, Ryan and Rebecca Walters in the 4×800 relay, where the Hornets roared to a time of 9:30.83, leaving second-place West Genseee (10:04.58) more than half a minute behind.
Meaghan Howe rose up to take third in the 55-meter dash in 7.64 seconds and was eighth in the 300-meter dash, while Sydney O’Dell was sixth in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.72 seconds and seventh in the high jump.
F-M also got points from the other relays, too. Phoebe Lindabury, Cady Barns, Susan Bansbach and Christy Berge’ were fourth in the 4×400 in 4:13.91, with Bansbach, Barns, Howe and O’Dell going 1:52.29 for fourth place in the 4×200.
In field events, Barns, with a long jump of 16 feet 2 3/4 inches, finished second to Baldwinsville’s Hailey Couchman (17’2 1/4″). Febe Oley tied for fifth in the pole vault, clearing 7 feet, while Sophie Jones put up a fifth-place shot put toss of 27’5 1/4″.
continued — Meanwhile, in the boys sectional Class AA meet, F-M earned 52 points, but that only meant fourth place as Liverpool won with 107 points over C-NS (94 points) and Baldwinsville (61 points), and each of them finished ahead of the Hornets.
Chibu Ezidegwu gave the Hornets its lone boys title, in the high jump, where his top clearance of 5 feet 10 inches topped C-NS’s Zach Kennedy and Baldwinsville’s Nate Jaquint by two inches.
Bryan Geehrer contended in the 1,000, only to settle for second place in 2:36.51, just behind Liverpool’s Terrell Coleman (2:36.25), who also won the 600. Moving to the mile, Geehrer posted 4:24.87, but Warriors star Ben Petrella (4:23.22) prevailed, again making Geehrer a runner-up.
Patrick Perry was fourth in the 3,200-meter run in 9:42.26, where Petrella also won, and ran a leg in the 4×800 with Geehrer, Michael Young and Jack Boltman as F-M claimed third place in 8:37.04, not far from Liverpool’s winning 8:34.41.
Vincent Perry topped 11 feet in the pole vault to finish second to Central Square’s Joe Weaver (12’6″), and he also joined Boltman, Young and Brendan Pearl when the Hornets finished fourth in the 4×400 in 3:46.72. Conner Florczyk was fourth in the triple jump, going 39’4 3/4″ as Jack Grifo (37’7 1/2″) got seventh place.
