So it’s off again to Portland, Oregon, where for more than a decade the Fayetteville-Manlius girls cross country team has slapped back all potential challengers while ruling at the Nike Cross Nationals.
The Hornets return after another conquest of the Nike Cross New York Regional race, held last Saturday at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls – but as it turned out, the expected girls victory wasn’t the most satisfying part of the event.
F-M’s boys cross country team also appeared at the New York Regionals, hoping to get some payback for a narrow two-point defeat to Corning in the Nov. 11 state championship meet at Wayne High School – and it did so in complete and dominant fashion.
Led by junior Garrett Brennan, the Hornets, with 50 points, pulled far away from Corning (98 points) and the other 22 teams in the field, with Brennan running a superb race and, in 15 minutes, 54.3 seconds, beating out Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake’s Tyler Berg (16:00.1) for the individual title.
But Brennan wasn’t alone in putting up a superior effort.
Ben Otis was seventh overall in a time of 16:11.1, with Matt Tripp getting to 11th place in 16:38 flat, inches ahead of Geoff Howles (16:38.6), who was 11th in the team standings.
Jack Duncanson clinched the victory by getting to 22nd place in the team standings and 28th overall in 16:57.8. Further back, Sam Otis finished in 18:25.1 and Peyton Geehrer had a time of 20:11.3.
In the girls race, F-M finished with 23 points, well clear of a field that included its Section III rivals from Liverpool, whose second-place finish with 84 points meant that the Warriors were going to the Nike Nationals, too.
Among individuals, Claire Walters led the Hornets with a third-place time of 18:17.3 as Sophie Ryan closely followed, posting 18:20.1 for fourth place. Phoebe White was fifth in 18:24.3 as Rebecca Walters gained sixth place in 18:30.5.
In the team standings, Ryan, White and the Walters sisters swept the top five behind North Rockland’s Katelyn Tuohy, who won in 17:01 flat, with Palmer Madsen ninth among individuals and 12th overall in 19:11.2. Grace Kaercher was 22nd in the team standings (34th overall) in 19:59.6 as Alex Villalba posted 20:39.0 to get to 40th place in the team event, 56th overall.
At that same event, an open race was held and, on the boys side, East Syracuse Minoa sophomore Nick Berg won the event, his time of 17:11.2 well clear of Canisius sophomore (Lucas Beyer (17:31.5) in the runner-up spot.
ESM had a full squad in that race, with Michael Sanders the best finisher behind Berg as he posted 19:33.6 ahead of Casey Enginieri (19:49.6), Evan Zelenz (20:30.0), Spencer Carnival (21:17.7) and Anthony Hayes (24:07.7).
A week earlier, the Christian Brothers Academy girls cross country team, fresh off its first-ever state Class C title, challenged itself against an elite field in the New York State Federation championships, also held at Bowdoin Park.
CBA finished 19th out of 27 sides with 415 points, well behind the battle at the top where Saratoga Springs (99 points) edged Shenendehowa (109 points), avenging a defeat to Shen in the Section II Class A meet earlier in the month.
While Tuohy won in a Bowdoin Park course-record 16:52.4, CBA had its best effort come from freshman Deja Jones, who was 35th among team runners, and 57th overall, with a time of 19:57.7 in a field of 253 runners.
Sophomore Olivia Morganti was also in the top half of the field, taking 80th place (53rd in the team event) in 20:17.5, with junior Cory Knox in the middle of the field as she finished in 20:42.2. Junior Bri Pucci had a time of 21:19.4 and sophomore Lea Kyle posted 22:19.7.
In the boys Federation race, Berg had a strong showing, his time of 17:16.5 putting him in 73rd place, beating more than two-thirds of the 257 other runners in the field. Saint Anthony’s Mason Gatewood won in 15:52.4.
