A mere six days separated the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon and the first indoor track and field meet of the Section III season.
Yet Fayetteville-Manlius had its top distance runners in both events, with the girls Hornets going to Utica College Friday night and prevailing in the Mohawk Valley Team Relays.
The Hornets had 66.5 points to fend off runner-up South Jefferson (58 points) and Canastota (56.5) amid a large field of more than 20 teams. East Syracuse Minoa tied for eighth place with 25.5 points.
Four of those F-M runners from the Nike Nationals – Claire Walters, Phoebe White, Grace Kaercher and Hannah Kaercher – combined to earn four of the top six individual spots in the 1,500-meter run, with Walters prevailing in four minutes, 34.91 seconds and White second in 4:43.72.
Others from that team in Portland were in the 4×800 relay, where Lejla Borcillo, Emily Cook and Chloe Bullough paired with Libbie Kirkpatrick to win in 10:17.12, more than 17 seconds ahead of the field.
This also happened in the boys mile relay, where Nolan Chiles, Geoff Howles and Sam Otis, who were at the Nike Nationals, joined Jack Altimond and the Hornets won that event in 18:35.52.
In the girls 4×200 relay, the Hornets’ Fiona Mejico, Maya McKenzie, Samantha Pynn and Arianna Caron were victorious in 1:57.93, with ESM seventh in 2:03.48.
Mejico, Susan Bansbach, Fiona Mejico, Maddy Duggleby and Claire Snyder were second in the 4×400 relay in 4:19.30 as the Spartans were sixth. Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth Bansbach, Julia Egnaczyk and Amelia Amack were third in the 1,600 sprint medley relay in 4:52.37.
Isabel Zuber, paired with Elina Cabrera, got second place in the long jump with combined leaps of 29 feet 6 3/4 inches. Pynn had a triple jump of 32’6 3/4″, second among individuals as she and Harper Stoppacher were third (59′ 10 1/2″)on the team side.
Lucy Fowler took fifth place in the shot put with a throw of 28’7 3/4″. F-M and ESM tied for fifth in the pole vault, both of them clearing 13 feet.
ESM freshman Rhiannon Butchko won the high jump, clearing 4’9″ as F-M’s Ana Maender cleared 4’6″ with Butchko and Jennah Ferrari victorious on the team side with a total height of 9’3″ to the Hornets’ 8’9″ that got fourth place. Jessica Stevens and Kaleigh Maloof were third in the 55-meter hurdles in 22.09 seconds.
In the boys Mohawk Valley Team Relays, ESM rose to fifth place with 35.83 points and F-M finished eighth with 24 points as Rome Free Academy (81.5 points) claimed the top spot.
The Spartans had Myles Riggins win the 55 hurdles in 8.28 seconds as he and Rocky El (third in 8.64) got the team victory in 16.92 seconds. Riggins and Terren Richardson tied for third in the 55 sprint in 14.23 seconds.
Bennett Ferrari, Jordan Sanson, Conner Hillman and Branden Warner were third in the 4×400 in 4:03.75. F-M had Ryan Serp, John Egnaczyk, Jack Shanley and John Meskos take third in the sprint medley in 3:59.82 as Ferrari and Michael Parks were second n the pole vault, going 17’6″ between them.
Elijah Buck and Kobe Green were third in the shot put with combined throws of 70’10 3/4″ as F-M’s Dan Sokolovic and Arthur Devasto (68’6 3/4″) were fourth. The Hornets’ Ryan Serp cleared 5’3″ in the high jump to tie for eighth.
