To go from not even prevailing in its own section to getting a shot at a national championship, the Fayetteville-Manlius boys cross country team made a remarkable turnaround.
Inspired to compete for one of its runners who was sidelined 48 hours before the race, the Hornets, running as Manlius XC, prevailed Saturday over Liverpool in the Nike New York/Northeast Regional Championships at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls.
F-M finished with 114 points. Liverpool, who beat the Hornets in the Section III Class A meet at Chittenango three weeks earlier, settled for second place with 145 points as Corning, the newly-crowned state Class A champions, finished third with 174 points.
And all of this came on top of the F-M girls dominating the girls Nike New York/Northeast Regional, assuring that both Hornets sides will make their way to Portland, Oregon next Saturday for yet another appearance in the Nike Cross Nationals.
Even before coming to Bowdoin Park, the F-M boys dealt with a change in the lineup.
On Thursday, Max Perry fell ill and went to the hospital, where he was found to have a staph infection that started in his chest and spread to his knee. Surgery was required to treat the matter, but Perry waited until the race was over Saturday before having the operation, and all the F-M runners were motivated to win for him.
Sophomore Eli Capri replaced Perry, and would finish 55th among team runners in 17 minutes, 23.3 seconds, not far behind fellow sophomore Matt Tripp, whose time of 17:19.1 put him 48th in the team standings (71st overall) and clinched the team title.
As expected, the Hornets’ top runners could not keep up with Liverpool’s top senior duo as Ty Brownlow won the regional race in 15:42.2 and Stevie Schulz gained third place in 15:46.9, second in the team standings.
F-M began to counter when Patrick Perry finished in 16:06.3, seventh in the team race and eighth overall, as Joe Walters, in 16:17.3, got ninth-place team points behind Liverpool’s Josh Hickmott (16:14.7).
Where the Hornets won it was with its third and fourth runners, as Ben Otis was 21st in the team standings in 16:59.6 and Jack Boltman was 29th in 16:59.6. Liverpool only had one other top-40 finisher, Emil Videman, who was 35th in 17:04.7, while Tripp and Capri were both well clear of the Warriors’ fifth and sixth runners.
When it came to the girls edition of the New York/Northeast Regionals, F-M didn’t require any sort of payback, just another opportunity to pull away from and outclass a field of 15 challengers.
With 40 points, the Hornets pulled well clear of Shenendehowa, who finished second with 110 points. Like the F-M boys, Shen did not win its own sectional title, but still advanced to the Nike Nationals.
Claire Walters made a bid for the individual title, finishing in 17 minutes, 58.8 seconds, just 14 seconds behind Katherine Lee, who won in 17:48.8. Not far behind Walters, Phoebe White made her way to sixth place in 18:17.5, while Palmer Madsen finished seventh in 18:19.5.
Rebecca Walters was 11th among team runners, and 13th overall, in 18:48.7, while Sophie Ryan clinched the team title with her time of 18:52.5 that placed her 13th in the team standings and 15th overall.
Reilly Madsen was 31st in the team standings (41st overall) in 19:52.6 and Alex Villalba finished in 37th in the team race (51st overall) in 20:03.7.
Once again, the Hornets’ season will end in the Nike Nationals, with the girls trying to win its 10th national title in 11 years and the boys looking to prevail for the second time.
