Without question, the Fayetteville-Manlius cross country team felt some disappointment in seeing its boys side fall short in its quest to unseat defending champion Liverpool during Saturday’s Section III Class A meet at Chittenango High School.
Still, three Hornets runners – Patrick Perry, Ben Otis and Joe Walters – are going to the state meet this weekend at Chenango Valley State Park, joined by a girls side that executed the first part of its four-step quest to win another national title with near-perfect precision.
Not only did F-M notch a perfect score of 15 in the girls sectional Class A race, its top four runner all broke the Chittenango course record, led by freshman Claire Walters, who pulled away to win the race in 17 minutes, 59 seconds.
Fellow ninth-grader Phoebe White was second in 18:35.6, more than half a minute behind Walters, but just ahead of junior Sophie Ryan, who was third in 18:36.3. Two more juniors, Palmer Madsen and Rebecca Walters, rounded out the top-five sweep as Madsen was fourth in 18:40.9 and Walters finished fifth in 18:46.9.
Elsewhere for F-M’s girls, senior Reilly Madsen made her way to 13th place in 20:05.8. Junior Alex Villalba was 16th in 20:21.6, while senior Christy Berge’ was 19th in 20:39.3 and senior Keita Peden was 27th in 21:14.3.
When the boys Class A sectional race was run an hour later, F-M knew that, to topple Liverpool, it would need all of its depth. Yet it still wasn’t quite enough as the Hornets’ total of 48 points trailed the Warriors’ 37 points.
Liverpool went 1-2-3 atop the individual standings, Stevie Schulz prevailing in 15:49.7 as Ty Brownlow finished second in 15:57.9 and Josh Hickmott was third in 15:58.4.
F-M’s comeback attempt began with Patrick Perry finishing in 16 minutes, 20.2 seconds, but that left him in fifth place because Rome Free Academy’s Davone Hernandez got fourth place in 16:01.6.
It also didn’t help the Hornets to have West Genesee’s David Leff finish sixth in 16:26.2 before Ben Otis claimed seventh place in 16:37.3 and Joe Walters got eighth place in 16:40.9.
Another key to the outcome was Liverpool’s Emil Videman rising to 10th place in 16:57.8 to beat out F-M’s Jack Boltman, who was 11th in 17:07.3. And though Max Perry was 15th in 17:12.9 and Matt Tripp was 17th in 17:18.8, Liverpool clinched it when Cullen McLaughlin finished 19th in a clocking of 17:25.8, five spots ahead of the Hornets’ Eli Capri (17:39.3) in 24th place.
Despite finishing second, Otis, Walters and Patrick Perry will be on the Section III All-Star team with Hernandez and Leff, competing for individuals while the F-M girls are favored to nab yet another state title at Chenango Valley.
