Every point, and every placement, mattered plenty when the Fayetteville-Manlius girls track and field team had its regular-season CNY Counties League championship showdown with Liverpool last Wednesday at LHS Stadium.
When all was done, the Hornets had pulled it out, 71-70, over the Warriors, needing to lean on its deep pool of distance runners to offset Liverpool’s advantage in field events.
Gwen Shepardson got two important victories, going 16.16 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles and then winning the 400-meter hurdles in 1:08.52, while Palmer Madsen claimed the 400-meter dash in 59.11 seconds.
Starting in the 1,500-meter run, F-M swept the distance events. Sophia Ryan covered the 1,500 in 4:53 flat, with Phoebe White needing 2:20 to prevail at 800 meters and Claire Walters getting to first place in the 3,000-meter run in 10:14.
As that went on, F-M’s boys track team lost, 82-58, to Liverpool, though Romello Mitchell prevailed twice, going 18’10” in the long jump and clearing 5’4” to win the high jump. Joe Walters ran 3,200 meters in 9:40.0 as Armando Adrian took the 200-meter dash in 23.81 seconds.
Competing last Tuesday afternoon, Christian Brothers Academy got swept by Solvay. The girls meet saw the Brothers take a 90-38 defeat despite a string of race wins that started with Skylar Decker taking the 100 hurdles in 16.5 seconds.
Claire Bargabos took the 800 in 2:31.9 as Deja Jones won the 1,500 in 5:07.3 and Olivia Morganti claimed the 3,000 in 11:25.1. Cory Knox ran the 100 sprint in 13.3 seconds as Morganti, Bargabos, Decker and Marni Rathbun claimed the 4×100 in 55.6 seconds.
In the boys meet, where Solvay prevailed, 98-39, Joel Gaffney won the mile in 5:02 flat over Dan Melvin (5:03.1) and Medicis (5:04.9), and Gaffney also took the 800 in 2:15.4.
Melvin, in 11:06 flat, edged Riley Nash (11:07.6) to win the 3,200 as Medicis again finished third. CBA’s lone win in a field event came in the long jump, where Jaiden Buckingham went 18’2”. It also claimed the 4×800 relay, where Dominic Morganti ran a leg and the Brothers finished in 10:04 flat.
Bishop Grimes met Port Byron in last Monday’s chilly conditions. In the boys Cobras’ 80-27 defeat to the Panthers, though Nigel Dufus did throw the shot put 108’6” and Nathan Gay cleared 5’9” for first place in the high jump.
The Grimes girls lost, 109-14, only claiming one event, the discus, where Ensonti Wigginson threw it 56’7”. Port Byron’s Nadia Edley (100 hurdles, long jump) and Olivia Chutley (high jump, 200) won two events apiece.
Then Grimes met Weedsport on Wednesday, with the boys taking an 88-21 loss and the girls falling to the Warriors 114-18. Dufus again won the boys shot put, throwing it 41’8”, and then tossed the discus 102’11” as Ethan Fritz was second in the mile and third in the 800 in 2:36.7. John Kane was third in the 200 in 26.8 seconds.
Manlius-Pebble Hill won its girls meet over Onondaga 55-52.Olivia Markwood prevailed in the 100 hurdles and then went 13’11” to win the long jump. Taylor Germain matched Markwood in the high jump, each of them clearing 4’4” as Maggie Sexton-Dwyer went 30’2” to win the triple jump. Anna Videto won the 800 in 2:50 flat.
In the boys meet, MPH lost, 75-50, to the Tigers, though Ronaldo Chen was second in the 200 in 25.3 seconds and Aiden Meyers was second in the 800 in 2:30.1. William Kovarik needed 57.4 seconds to get a runner-up finish in the 400 sprint.
