Rarely in the last 15 years has both of the Fayetteville-Manlius cross country teams entered a season with reasons to be hungry.Yet 2019 offers that opportunity.
The girls Hornets are bent on regaining the state Class A championship after Saratoga Springs denied it to them by a single point in 2018 and the boys, who are reigning state champions, looking for more after last December’s fifth-place showing at the Nike Cross Nationals.
Each of the F-M sides return most of their top runners, and with SCAC Metro division schedules moved up, they both would have a busy first week of September.
First, the Hornets hosted West Genesee last Wednesday, sweeping both sides of that league meet as the girls swept the top six positions, Grace Kaercher winning in 18 minutes, 19.7 seconds to edge Claire Walters (18:20.4) for individual honors.
Phoebe White finished third in 18:39.1, comfortably ahead of Ani Sydorowych, who impressed with a fourth-place 19:09.1. Amelia Amack was fifth in 19:17.7 as Lejla Borcilo was sixth in 19:41.6, ahead of Debbie Lucchetti (19:50.9) and Fiona Mejico (20:01.7).
The F-M boys got a bit more of a test, especially in the individual race, where Peyton Geehrer had to go 15:02.5 to hold off West Genesee’s Matt Bartolotta (15:07.7) and take the individual race.
Sam Otis roared to third place in 15:19.3, with Geoff Howles fourth in 15:57.9. James Peden, finishing seventh in 16:16.7, led a group that included Jack Altimonda (16:41.2), Trevor Krukin (16:46.2), Daniel Patrick (16:50.5), Ben Perry (17:00.7), Owen Snyder (17:11.8) and William Seamans (17:15.7).
Now they all went to Saturday’s Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Invitational, on the same course where the Section III championships are run in November. As expected, F-M claimed both Varsity 1 division titles.
Going first, the girls Hornets had Walters blaze to a time of 18:30.1, setting a new VVS course record, though Tully’s Brooke Rauber would go 18:11.6 in a race later in the morning.
Walters was half a minute ahead of the 19:00.7 from Hannah Kaercher. White, in 19:03 flat, was third and Grace Kaercher (19:22.8) completed a top-four sweep as Sydorowych was seventh in 20:04.2. Amack finished 14th in 20:59.6.
When the F-M boys ran, it had a top-three sweep, led by Geehrer, who in 16:15.7 was exactly five seconds ahead of the 16:20.7 from Otis as Howles got third place in 16:22.7. Peden roared to seventh place in 17:30.9, with Patrick (18:07.0) edging Altimonda (18:08.9) for ninth place.
East Syracuse Minoa, who is hosting its own invitational meet next weekend, was also in the Varsity 1 race and the Spartans’ Nick Berg recorded one of the best boys times outside of F-M, roaring to fifth place in 17:24.8. The ESM boys finished fifth overall as Casey Engineri was 26th in the team standings in 19:10.7.
The girls Spartans finished seventh, led by Rachael Ladd, whose time of 21:32.5 left her 17th among team runners, four spots ahead of Mary Roach (22:22.6) in 21st place.
Competing in Varsity 2, Christian Brothers Academy had Mike McMahon make his way to fifth place in 17:40.6, with Riley Nash 10th in 18:05.6. The CBA girls was seventh in a 12-team field, though Isabella Cannizzo finished in 21:51.4 and Lea Kyle (22:36.5) was 21st.
Jamesville-DeWitt ran in the Varsity 4 division and finished fourth in the boys event, the Red Rams led by Nate Rindfuss, who finished 19th in 18:38.7 as Ahviere Reese was 21st in 18:48.1. Luke Hobika had a 25th-place time of 18:58.9 as Ashton Corona was 29th (19:09.9) and Tyler Aitken finished in 19:32.6.
Up in the girls Varsity 4 race, J-D was fifth, freshman Megan O’Malley posting 22:50.9 for 25th place in the team standings (27th overall). O’Malley was one spot ahead of Madeline Foss (22:52.5) as Kathryn Sizing finished in 23:07.3, ahead of Cora Gilbert-Sicherm (24:13.0) and Miriam Zoghby (24:27.3).
