A cross country season at Fayetteville-Manlius does not feel fulfilled unless it is competing on the first weekend of December with the best teams in the United States in Portland, Oregon at the Nike Cross Nationals.
The Hornets are going back there again after its sweep of the boys and girls titles in the featured races at Saturday’s Nike New York and Northeast Regional championships at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls.
Just as was the case at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class A championships two weeks earlier, F-M’s girls had to fight off a severe challenge from its Section II rivals at Saratoga Springs, while the boys Hornets had a more convincing victory.
Running as Manlius XC, the F-M boys, led by Peyton Geehrer’s individual victory, picked up 74 points, tops among 26 teams from across the Northeast. Deluge XC (Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) was second with 106 points and Outliers (Shenendehowa) was third with 145 points.
Geehrer, Sam Otis and Geoff Howles each ran outstanding races to give F-M a big early lead. In 15 minutes, 47.1 seconds, Geehrer covered the 3.1-mile Bowdoin Park course and beat out Pittsford Mendon’s Sam Lawler (15:55.4) for the top spot.
Otis was right behind them, making his way to third place in 16:02.3. After Beaver River’s Colton Kempney grabbed the fourth spot in 16:06.1, Howles rounded out the top five when he finished in 16:08.4.
James Peden finished 25th among team runners, and 34th overall, in 17:01.7, while Jack Altimonda clinched the Hornets’ team title by gaining 50th place overall, and 40th among team runners, in 17:12.7. Daniel Patrick ran to a time of 17:41.5 and Ben Perry finished in 17:51.2.
The girls New York Championship came down to Manlius XC and Kinetic XC (Saratoga), with every placement important.
Claire Walters, finishing in 17:27.1, led a quartet of Section III runners behind North Rockland’s Katelyn Tuohy, who won in 17:06.6. Hannah Kaercher made her way to fourth place in 18:14.7, behind Liverpool’s Jenna Schulz (18:01.7), but beating out Tully’s four-time state Class D champion, Brooke Rauber, who was fifth in 18:26.8.
Saratoga had all five of its top runners (Ella Kurto, McKinley Wheeler, Sheridan Wheeler, Mackenzie Hart and Emily Bush) finish within the top 15 of the team standings, meaning that F-M had to be equal to those efforts.
Phoebe White was 11th among team runners, and 16th overall, in 19:07.3. Grace Kaercher, with her 23rd-place time of 19:25.2, got 14th place in the team portion and Debbie Lucchetti secured the victory when she got to 16th place in the team race (28th overall) in 19:31.7.
Amelia Amack finished in 20:35.6 and Maddy Duggleby earned a time of 21:11.2, and F-M could now look ahead to another cross-country trip to face the nation’s top teams and individuals over the familiar terrain of the Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland.
