When is a defeat the best possible outcome? The answer can depend on how the ones who suffer that defeat respond to adversity.
The Fayetteville-Manlius girls golf team can offer a clear example of this paradox in the wake of its lopsided victory at Tuesday’s Section III championships at Kanon Valley Country Club in Oneida.
Exactly one week earlier, on May 16, the undefeated Hornets went to Liverpool – and lost, 177-181. Denied a perfect season and outright CNY Counties League title, F-M had two choices – either get discouraged, or get angry and channel that anger into better performance.
Clearly, the Hornets took the latter option, heading to Kanon Valley and posting a team score of 341 to claim Division I sectional honors and easily outdistance Liverpool, who with 392 edged Cicero-North Syracuse (396) for second place.
Two veterans, Maggie Bonomo and Madison Kingsley, led F-M’s winning effort. Bonomo shot steady nine-hole scores of 39 and 40 to post a second-place score of 79 on a course saturated enough by rains the previous two days that golfers were allowed to lift, clean and place from the fairways.
Kingsley nearly matched those totals, her nines of 41 and 42 leading to an 83 that put her alone in fourth place, with Liverpool’s Natalya Avotins between them as she shot 81 for third place and sister Mia Avotins posted 85 for fifth place.
They all trailed Auburn’s three-time individual state champion, Lindsay May, who managed to shoot a stunning 68 to claim medalist honors by 11 shots over Bonomo. It was eight strokes below May’s previous best 76 on the Kanon Valley layout.
F-M began the runaway thanks to freshman Bailey Wallace, whose 86 (with twin nines of 43) put her in solo sixth place and made her the third Hornets golfer, aside from Bonomo and Kingsley, to qualify for the June 3-4 state tournament at Bethpage State Park’s Yellow Course on Long Island.
In all, nine golfers advanced to the state tournament, with Olivia Evans (Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, 88), Mary Colella (Marcellus, 89) and Nessa McKie (C-NS, 91) joining May, the Avotins sisters and the F-M trio.
Just behind them, another Hornets golfer, Justine Burness, tied for 12th by shooting a 93, while Liz Truman met her goal of breaking 100, finishing with a 99. Grace Perry shot a 114.
Fresh off winning the Onondaga High School League tournament at Woodcrest a week earlier, Christian Brothers Academy golfer Meghan McKeen shot a 93 to share 12th place with Burness. McKeen’s teammate, Mackenzie Griffith, finished at 120.
With East Syracuse Minoa finishing at 473, the big story was Audrey Rivers tying for 10th place, one shot out of the qualifying scores, as she finished with a 92. Sarah Moran shot 111 as Hannah Johnson posted a 120 Kaleigh Graves had a 150.
Jamesville-DeWitt had a team score of 411, with Lena Jones leading the Red Rams by posting a 100, two shots ahead of Lizzie Redmore’s 102, while Alex Catanzarite had a 107. Kelli Palumbo had a 132, while Tracey Edson posted 144.
