When the Fayetteville-Manlius indoor track and field teams traveled to Staten Island for last Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships, the intention was to bring home plenty of medals.
And that’s what the Hornets did, not just in its usual places like distance runs, but also in events like the girls high jump, where Harper Stoppacher recorded a third-place finish.
Having cleared 5 feet 4 inches during the season, Stoppacher matched that effort, which ultimately got her on the medal podium just ahead of Liverpool’s Amina Sinclair, who was seventh with 5’3” as Half Hollow Hills East’s Soledad Jean won by topping 5’8”.
There was also a runner-up finish for the girls Hornets in the 4×800 relay, where Claire Walters, Grace Kaercher, Hannah Kaercher and Maddy Duggleby went nine minutes, 12.81 seconds, beating everyone except Shenendehowa, who took the state title in 9:05.27.
In the boys 3,200-meter run, F-M’s Peyton Geehrer nearly made it to the top. With his time of 9:16.02, Geehrer improved by more than five seconds over his previous-best 9:21.63 and was only topped by the 9:13.20 from Warwick Valley’s Behailu Bekele-Arcuri.
Joining Geehrer in the 3,200, Sam Otis made his way to seventh place in 9:24.13, while Geoff Howles claimed eighth place in 9:25.01, less than a second behind Otis.
Walters also finished fourth in the girls 3,000-meter run in 9:45.08, while Phoebe White, who was 17th in the 1,000-meter run, paired with Grace Kaercher, Fiona Mejico and Adrianna Caron to finish seventh in the 4×400 relay in 4:07.91 after qualifying for the finals with a season-best 4:02.50.
Dan Sokolovic threw the shot put 46’4 1/2” and took 19th place, while Ian Brown, Corey Gallagher, Ben Hutz and Owen Snyder finished 18th in the 4×400 relay in 3:34.13.
Jamesville-DeWitt had Joe Staples take part in the boys 55-meter dash, his time of 6.76 seconds not enough to reach the finals, where South Shore’s Brandon Smith tore to victory in 6.27 seconds
Meanwhile, Christian Brothers Academy’s Joel Gaffney took part in the 600-meter run, looking to improve upon 1:25.03 – which he did, getting 11th place overall in 1:23.29 as Springfield Gardens’ Reheem Hayles won in 1:18.48.
