Is someone in the Section III Class A girls cross country ranks closing the gap on Fayetteville-Manlius?
True, the Hornets are still the state and national no. 1-ranked teams, but it didn’t completely lap the field in Saturday’s Wayne Invitational, held on the same Wayne High School course where, on Nov. 11, the state championships will get decided.
F-M finished with 44 points, on top of the 25-team standings in the Division I race for the top squads at Wayne, but Liverpool showed that its state top 10 ranking was far from a fluke, rising to second place with 85 points.
Among individuals, Sophie Ryan claimed second place in 18 minutes, 26 seconds, trailing only Niskayuna seventh-grade sensation Abigail Spiers, who won in 17:07. Phoebe White was fourth, in 18:57, while Claire Walters got eighth place in 19:27.
Freshman Grace Kaercher had a solid showing, getting to 14th place in 19:58 as Palmer Madsen, in 18th place (20:29), rounded out the scoring column. Rebecca Walters was 27th in 20:32 as another ninth-grader, Izzy Crovella made her way to 37th place in 21:01.
Meanwhile, the F-M boys cross country team also claimed Division I honors at Wayne, picking up 65 points to fend off Niskayuna (85 points) for that top spot as Ben Otis, among individuals, finished third in a clocking of 16:14. Saratoga Springs’ Shea Weilbaker won in 15:57.
Geoff Howles finished sixth in 16:23, with Jack Duncanson making his way to 11th place in 16:38. Sam Otis had a 15th-place time of 16:44 as Matt Tripp clinched the victory, finishing 30th in 17:11 ahead of Peyton Geehrer in 48th place (17:35) and Max Perry, who was 71st in 17:59.
East Syracuse Minoa hosted its own invitational meet that same day, and Christian Brothers Academy won it on the girls side, picking up 64 points to hold off runner-up West Genesee (76 points) and 19 other teams, including Jamesville-DeWitt (133 points) in fifth place as host ESM was 14th.
CBA’s Olivia Morganti won the individual race, her time of 18:52.4 well clear of WG’s Emily Young, who was second in 19:06 flat. Deja Jones was ninth, in 19:56.4, while Lea Kyle got 11th place in 20:38.2 and Claire Bargabos was 16th in 20:50.1. Bri Pucci finished 27th in 21:09.7.
On J-D’s side, Madeline Foss made her way to eighth place in 19:44 flat, just ahead of Jones, while Abby Palin was 12th in 20:39.7. No other Red Rams runner reached the top 35 as Abby Leavitt (21:32.6), Ayla Erwin (21:35.0) and Amelia Gilbert (21:35.4) were just below that mark. Emma Biel was ESM’s top runner, finishing 51st in 22:01.4.
Moving to the boys side of the ESM meet, J-D finished fourth in the team standings behind Ithaca, Cicero-North Syracuse and West Genesee, while the host Spartans made its way to 11th place in a 26-team field, led by Nick Berg, who was seventh among individuals in 16:59.8 as Ithaca’s Silas Derfel won in 16:37.7.
The Red Rams had Kaleel Boykins make his way to 15th place in 17:26 flat, while Sam Glisson was 25th in 17:40.5. Nick Mannion took 34th place (17:55.0), just ahead of Alan Gao (18:05.7) and Nate Rindfuss (18:14.5) as Fidel Martinez posted 18:21.9.
Aside from Berg, ESM’s best run came from David Rivers, who finished 28th in 17:44.7. Nolan Byrd was 51st in 18:35.1 as CBA, who didn’t have a team score, still featured Riley Nash taking 40th place in 18;12 flat as Zach Medicis was 46th in 18:20.7.
