BALDWINSVILLE – As they have done all season, Fayetteville-Manlius cross country runners Izzy Sullivan and Nolan McGinn outclassed their respective fields during Wednesday’s Salt City Athletic Conference championships at Baldwinsville.
With Sullivan at the forefront, the girls Hornets easily claimed both the SCAC Metro and overall team titles, while McGinn continued his win streak as the individual boys champion.
On the Durgee Junior High School course, Sullivan finished in 17 minutes, 48.9 seconds, the only time under 18 minutes and well clear o the 18:29.5 from Auburn’s Mary Alice Pineau.
Then, in the boys race, McGinn needed exactly 15:26 to fight off a strong group of Auburn runners led by Ryan Maher’s second-place 15:44.5 as the Maroons swept both the overall and SCAC Empire division races.
No one caught F-M on the girls side, though. With six of the top 12 individual finishers, the Hornets pulled away from SCAC Metro runner-up Cicero-North Syracuse, 29 points to 73 overall and 29-69 within the league.
Maria Khalifeh made her way to fifth place in 18:42.9, with Camille Ryan close behind taking sixth place in 18:48.9. Ava Beecher ran to eighth place, posting 19:08.3 to beat out Jordan Giannetti’s ninth-place 19:09.4 as Claire McDonald finished 12th in 19:15 flat.
F-M’s boys finished fifth overall and in the league race with Will Ditre finishing 12th in the league race (14th overall) in 16:42.8. Kyler Patrick posted a time of 18:29.5, ahead of Ben Prendergast’s 18:46.9 and Dawit Alfaro Plaza’s 19:18 flat.
In the SCAC Empire meet, the East Syracuse Minoa girls tied Central Square with 39 points, but because the Redhawks’ sixth runner finished ahead of the Spartans’ sixth, ESM settled for second in the team event.
Still, Rachael Burt had the best time of any SCAC Empire runner, going 19:39.4 for 17th overall. Jaelyn Jordan was 26th in 20:29.2 behind two Central Square runners, with Danika Besig (22:02.7), Ainsley McKenna (22:06.0) and Emily Clonan (22:09.7) close together, but Alana Tuberville’s 23:21.8 behind the Redhawks’s Rachel Scharf (22:52.3), who won it for her side.
Jamesville-DeWitt was third in the Empire division, led by Meghana Reddy, who was seventh among league runners and 41st overall in 21:25.4. Neve Gordon, in 21:57.2, was one spot ahead of Rebecca Mendez Squier (21:57.6) as Norah Kirch finished in 22:52.7 and Abi Adams posted 23:10.8.
As for the SCAC Empire boys race, ESM, with 64 points, edged J-D (65 points) for second place behind Oswego’s winning total of 54 points.
Leading the Spartans, Joe Pedroso-Garcia finished 28th overall in 17:33 flat, with Brandon Cerlanek 34th in 17:44.5. Bryce Oviedo finished in 18:22.2 as Austin Gott (18:59.5) was two spots ahead of Elijah Evelyn’s 19:04.8.
J-D had Ryan Carter finish 30th among team runners (32nd overall) in 17:38.5, three runners ahead of Hudson Groat’s 17:46 flat. Paul Fischi had a clocking of 18:27.6 ahead of Peter Drew (18:33.8) and Joe Lore (19:07.5).
Finishing up its regular-season slate, Christian Brothers Academy took on Westhill, the boys team losing 22-37 as Kyle Gaffney was second in 16:30 to the 16-minute run by the Warriors’ Edward Popp. James Cass finished fourth in 17:02.
CBA’s girls also fell to Westhill in a 22-37, with Ava LaValle third in 20:16 behind Eileen Mullen (19:45) and Stella Napolitano (19:52), while Adelle Sommer (20:51) beat out Sophia Sheehan (20:58) for fifth place, but the Warriors swept the rest of the top 10.
