What’s turned into an annual trip for the Fayetteville-Manlius cross country teams to the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon had a different twist on this occasion.
Here, it was the boys Hornets going to Portland as one of the favorites thanks to its dominant performances in the state Class A and New York/Northeast Regional races. And it was the F-M girls arriving as an at-large entry after narrow defeats to Saratoga Springs in those same two previous races.
Yet here, at the very end of its season, it was the girls who would finish fourth in its national championship race and the boys taking fifth place when all the runners had crossed the line.
The F-M girls got the greatest satisfaction by finally getting the best of Saratoga. Running as Manlius XC, the Hornets, with 212 points, were two spots ahead of the sixth-place Blue Streaks, who had 228 points. Summit High School, compteting in its home state of Oregon, won the title with 120 points.
Completing her junior season, F-M’s Claire Walters finished fifth out of 202 runners with a time of 17 minutes, 13.3 seconds. New York State runners went 1-2 as North Rockland’s Katelyn Tuohy repeated her 2017 title, winning in 16:37.8 as Saratoga’s Kelsey Chmiel was second in 16:54.8.
Phoebe White was 63rd with a time of 18:15 flat. Grace Kaercher was 93rd in 18:40.6 as Hannah Kaercher posted 18:51.6, with Chloe Bullough, in 19:09.7, finishing ahead of Leijla Borcilo (19:31.1) and Emily Cook (19:36.3).
Then the boys Nike Nationals took place. F-M, despite some struggles from its top runners, still got to fifth place with 209 points, just behind fourth-place Bishop Hendricken (Rhode Island), who had 205 points. Loudoun Valley, Virginia took top honors with 77 points.
Garrett Brennan needed 15 minutes, 24.9 seconds to finish 24th among individuals. Sam Otis, in a time of 15:50.9, finished 61st, one spot ahead of Matt Tripp (15:51.3) in 62nd place.
Peyton Geehrer gained 95th place in 16:11.1, with Yakob Kelley posting 16:33.4. Nolan Chiles finished in 17:03.8, two seconds ahead of Geoff Howles, who was expected to run near the front of the pack. California runner Liam Anderson was victorious in 14:57.6.
