VERONA – When Nolan McGinn and Izzy Sullivan return to Vernon-Verona-Sherrill this Saturday for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class A championships, they will expect to beat everyone.
This follows on the heels of the Fayetteville-Manlius pair winning their races on this same VVS course in last Saturday’s Section III championships, each with the fastest times of the day.
McGinn was particularly dazzling. In 15 minutes, 39.8 seconds, McGinn set a new VVS course record and, in Class A, was more than 40 seconds ahead of the 16:21.2 from Auburn’s Ryan Maher in second place.
The girls Class A race was far closer at the top, but Sullivan, the 2021 individual state Class A champion, still won it, her 19:11.3 beating out the challenge of Baldwinsville’s Kamryn Barton (19:21.8) in second place.
F-M also brought home another girls sectional Class A title, earning 41 points to pull away from runner-up Liverpool’s total of 85 points.
Camille Ryan led the other pack of Hornets, making her way to seventh place in 19:48.4, with Maria Khalifeh earning ninth place in 20:03.7.
Then Ava Beecher (20:27.6), Jordan Giannetti (20:42.8) and Claire McDonald (20:46.6) all finished within the top 15 as East Syracuse Minoa, who finished eighth, had Rachael Burt get 19th place in 20:54.3 and Jaelyn Jordan (22:01.6) finish 33rd.
F-M’s boys only managed a seventh-place finish among 13 Class A sides, with Will Ditre running to 27th place in 18:05.2 and Kyler Patrick (18:53.8) the only other top-50 individual finisher. ESM took ninth place with Brandon Cerlanek in 29th place in 18:06.6 and Joe Podroso-Garcia (18:31.8) close behind.
Jamesville-DeWitt ran in Class B and finished fourth in the boys and girls races, with Ryan Carter grabbing a spot in the state meet when he finished seventh among individuals and fifth outside of the winning team from Whitesboro in 18:45 flat.
Paul Fischi gave the Red Rams a 15th-place time of 19:06.8, with Peter Drew 19th in 19:20.1. Will Hoagland (20:07.6) and Joseph Lore (20:33.3) rounded out J-D’s scoring column.
The girls Red Rams were led by Meghana Reddy, who was 21st in 23:21.4. Neve Gordon was 27th in 23:55.7, with Rebecca Mendez Squier 30th in 24:03.6 and Devan Miller 33rd in 24:33.5.
Christian Brothers Academy and Bishop Grimes also had runners earn spots in the state meet. CBA’s boys saw Joe McMahon finish fifth in Class C in 17:19.1, McMahon advancing as Kyle Gaffney was 10th in 17:43.6, James Cass 28th in 18:39.6 and the Brothers ultimately taking fourth in the 19-team Class C field. Adele Sommer was 26th in the girls Class C race in 22:33.4
As for Grimes, Edy Livingston made her way to fifth place in the girls Class D event, her time of 20:32.6 enough to join the sectional Class D all-stars for the state meet as Manlius Pebble Hill had Jacob Temes take 28th in the boys Class D race in 19:07.0.
