Cross country teams from Jamesville-DeWitt and East Syracuse Minoa would race against each other last Thursday afternoon in a meet that also featured powerful Cicero-North Syracuse.
Neither the Red Rams nor Spartans could keep up with the Northstars’ top runners, but head-to-head it was closer, especially the girls race where ESM pulled out a 28-29 decision.
At the top, J-D’s Madeline Foss claimed individual honors in 21 minutes, 53 seconds, but the Spartans would claim the next three spots, led by Rachael Ladd, who posted 22:33.
Elena Vespi got third place in 22:42, with Mary Roach fourth in 23:12 as Ainsley McKenna finished in 24:13.
All this was enough to fend off J-D’s deeper lineup, with Megan O’Malley fifth for the Rams in 23:34 and Jillian Kordas sixth in 23:56. Anna Smith, in 24:38, was one second ahead of Norah Kirch in 24:39.
They all chased a C-NS trio that all broke the J-D course record, led by Kate Putman, who tore to a time of 18:34 faster than all but one of the boys runners, while Marissa Navarra was second in 19:50 and Allison Newton (20:09) was third.
J-D claimed a 15-50 sweep over ESM in the boys race, sweeping the top six spots as Nate Rindfuss led the way for the Rams, crossing the finish line in 17:57.
Nearly a minute behind, Connor Clarkson was second in 18:53, with Ashton Corona (19:38) edging James Hillers (19:40) and Sam Smith (19:44) for third place and Jacob Cottet sixth in 19:47.
To lead ESM’s efforts, Spencer Carnival posted a time of 20:04, with John Courcy finishing in 20:20 and Aiden O’Brien running to 20:54.
Only after this had taken place would Fayetteville-Manlius get underway, its usual sectional, state and national title hopes cast away in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic that wiped out everything up to the Nike Cross Nationals.
So the Hornets would have to settle for a series of Saturday meets against its Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division rivals, starting last Saturday when it pulled off a sweep at Baldwinsville.
Once again, the F-M girls were dominant, its 15-50 decision featuring Grace Kaercher, who pulled away from her teammates as she prevailed in 19:05.0.
Grace Kaercher got second place in 19:47.6, edging Ani Sydorowich, who was third in 20:02.5. Amelia Amack was fourth (20:21.5) and Lejla Borcilo fifth (20:59.7) as Izzy Sullivan (21:15.9), Ava Beecher (21:28.5), Catherine Walters (22:09.8), Maria Khalifeh (22:09.9) and Emma Levy (22:42.5), rounded out a top-10 Hornets sweep.
Though the boys race was closer, F-M still topped B’ville 22-33 and got a remarkable effort from Peyton Geehrer, who tore to a time of 15:43.8, more than a minute ahead of the Bees’ Colin Delaney (16:58.9) in second place.
Daniel Patrick finished third in 17:11.3, edging the Bees’ Solmon Holden-Betts (17:15.2), with Trevor Kurkin fifth (17:32.4) Anthony Otis sixth (17:42.6) and Jackson Matthews (17:43.8) in the next two spots to help the Hornets fend off B’ville’s challenge.