Neighbors Jamesville-DeWitt and East Syracuse Minoa paired up Wednesday afternoon for a cross country showdown that also included Central Square.
Amid all the abundant sunshine, J-D’s boys swept ESM 23-38 and Central Square 18-43, with the Spartans falling 24-32 to the Redhawks even though Nick Berg dominated the individual race, his time of 16 minutes, 38.8 seconds more than a minute ahead of the field.
The Red Rams had Ahviere Reese finish second in 17:58.8, with Nate Rindfuss third in 18:08.1. Ashton Carona got fifth place in 18:32.6 and Luke Hobika was sixth in 18:34.4 as Colin Rivercomb posted 18:40.5 for eighth place.
Casey Engineri had a time of 18:38.4 to put ESM in seventh place. Behind him, Tom Walters posted 19:33.7 to beat out Nolan Byrd (19:35.4) as John Courcy posted 19:45.8.
The girls race had J-D hold off ESM 25-33, but lose a close 28-29 decision to Central Square, with the Spartans’ Rachael Ladd best among the local individuals as she finished second in 20:21.6 to the Redhawks’ Jillian Howe (20:00.9).
To pace the Red Rams, Madeline Foss finished fourth among individuals in 21:30 flat, nearly a minute ahead of Megan O’Malley’s 22:20.4 as Kathryn Sizing posted 22:37.6., ahead of Cora Gilbert-Sichem (23:08.1) and Miriam Zoghby (23:12.9).
On ESM’s side, Mary Roach, in 22:35.2, was more than two minutes behind Ladd, with Elena Vespi finishing in 22:58.9 as Tyalor Hoffman got 23:53.7 and Ally O’Brien finished in 24:02.9.
Fayetteville-Manlius, sitting atop both state Class A rankings, withstood a challenge from Cicero-North Syracuse last Wednesday afternoon to near a sweep of its SCAC Metro division rivals, along with a sweep of Nottingham.
The girls Hornets beat the state no. 14-ranked Northstars 16-43, with Claire Walters tearing to a time of 17:47.9 on the Oneida Shores course, more than half a minute ahead of the 18:19.8 from Phoebe White.
Hannah Kaercher, in 18:22.9, and Grace Kaercher, in 18:34.3, completed a top-four sweep ahead of C-NS’s Kate Putman (18:56.0) as Debby Lucchetti was sixth in 19:50.8.Ani Sydorowych finished in 20:18.8 and Leija Borcilo posted 20:25.1.
The F-M boys won 18-41 over C-NS, with Geoff Howles, Peyton Geehrer and Sam Otis running together at the front as Howles won in 16:04.5. James Peden was fourth in 17:01.9 as Jack Altimonda posted 17:13 flat and Daniel Patrick (17:35.9) beat out Owen Snyder (17:36.4) for placement.
Christian Brothers Academy got a sweep of its own in last Wednesday’s league opener against Westhill.
The boys Brothers won 22-33, Michael McMahon needing 17:41 to hold off the Warriors’ Jacob Fricano (17:47) for the individual title. Joel Gaffney was third in 17:48, with Zach Medicis fourth in 17:54 and Riley Nash fifth in 18:01 as Connor Groat (19:05) was ninth.
It was a bit closer on the girls side, but CBA won 23-32 over Westhill as Olivia Morganti won in 21:14, with Lea Kyle second in 22:01. Isabella Cannizzo was fifth in 23:37 as Annie Toole got sixth place in 23:45 and Mia Kirch (24:14) clinched it by finishing ninth.
CBA went on to a third-place finish out of 35 teams in the boys Small School division of Saturday’s Baldwinsville Invitational, trailing only Skaneateles and Jordan-Elbridge.
McMahon was third among individuals in 15:51.8, inches behind the runner-up, Cazenovia’s Jared Smith (18:51.6) as Skaneateles’ Caleb Bender won in 15:31.5. Gaffney was 10th in 16:28.1, with Groat 17th in 16:56.1 as Nash got 21st in the team event in 17:02.6.
Meanwhile, the CBA girls were fifth in its Small School division at B’ville, with Kyle fourth among team runners and fifth overall in 19:30.3. Cannizzo got to 10th place in the team race in 19:58.9, with Kirch 35th in 21:32.7.
Up in the Large School division at B’ville, J-D was 10th on the boys and girls sides, with Reese 26th in the boys race in a clocking of 16:46 flat and Rindfuss (17:17.9) just out of the top 50. Foss was 27th in the girls race in 20:14.6, with O’Malley (20:39.8) nine spots behind in the team standings.
