Eleven different times, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls cross country team ventured out to Portland, Oregon, early in December and returned to Central New York with the prime hardware at the Nike Cross Nationals.
That didn’t happen in 2019, but even as the girls Hornets took a seventh-place finish against the country’s best teams on Saturday afternoon, Claire Walters concluded her high school cross country career by rising to a fourth-place finish.
The North Carolina State University-bound senior sped to the front of the pack from the outset and, for a time, sat in second place behind two-time defending champion Katelyn Tuohy on a Glendoveer Golf Course saturated by rain.
Tuohy would eventually earned her third straight Nike Cross Nationals victory in a time of 17:18.4, edging Beavercreek (Ohio) runner Taylor Ewert (17:19.1) by less than a second, and Walters remained close in sight, eventually taking fourth in 17:28.4.
Walters also led a strong local contingent as Tully’s four-time state Class D champion, Brooke Rauber, finished seventh in 17:38.6, while Liverpool’s Jenna Schulz, who will join Walters at N.C. State, got to 13th place in 17:56.5.
F-M’s girls team contended for team honors for a while, but ultimately fell back as Saratoga Springs, the team the Hornets beat for both the state Class A and New York/Northeast regional titles, zoomed to the front with 78 points as Summit (Oregon) was second with 160 points.
Of the Hornets’ runners following Walters, Phoebe White had the best showing as she took 52nd place in 18:47 flat, while Hannah Kaercher made her way to 66th place in 18:55.0.
Debbie Lucchetti finished in 19:26.3, ahead of Grace Kaercher, who posted 20:01.2. Amelia Amack, in a time of 20:33.6, was four spots ahead of Maddy Duggleby, who got 20:47.7.
All of this followed the boys edition of the Nike Cross Nationals, where F-M finished 11th out of 22 teams, its total of 274 points far from the winning total of 128 points posted by Newbury Park (California) as it edged another California school, Temecula, by four points for the team crown.
Sam Otis had an impressive race on the individual side, getting to 30th place in 15 minutes, 38.2 seconds, beating out New York/Northeast Regional champion Peyton Geehrer, who earned 42nd place in 15:45.6 as Geoff Howles got 73rd place in 16:03.1.
James Peden did best among the rest of the F-M runners, his time of 16:46.4 just ahead of the 16:52.2 from Daniel Patrick. Jack Altimonda had a time of 17:08.3 and Ben Perry finished in 17:57.9.
