ONONDAGA COUNTY – Sunshine and dry condtions meant that a fast course greeted the large fields that arrived last Saturday at East Syracuse Minoa for the Spartans’ annual invitational meet.
Running around the grounds near Pine Grove Middle School, it was Fayetteville-Manlius winning both the boys and girls team titles and also sweeping the individual honors.
The boys race went first, and the Hornets’ Will Ditre, in 16 minutes, 25.9 seconds, got away from the 16:38.1 posted by Nottingham’s Henry Zhe-Heimerman.
Kevin Heller was fourth among team runners and fifth overall in 17:22 flat, with Sam Beeman ninth in the team race (13th overall) in 18:18.1 as Jacob Vaccaro’s 19:06 flat beat out Alex Domaszczynski (19:07.1) for 19th place overall.
Further down the standings, ESM beat out Jamesville-DeWitt for fifth place, the Spartans getting its best time from Brandon Cerlanek, who finished 16th in 18:47.3 one spot ahead of teammate Elijah Evelyn’s 18:53.2. Both were just ahead of Peter Drew, who led the Rams in 21st place in 19:09.7.
Right after, the girls race would again push F-M in front, but here ESM would snare a second-place finish with 69 points well clear of third-place Cicero-North Syracuse’s 118.
Izzy Sullivan and Jordan Giannetti went 1-2 for the Hornets, Sullivan winning her third race in eight days in 18:51.2 as Giannetti got second in 19:30.8. Claire McDonald finished fourth in 20:17 flat, with Evie Pinkerton sixth (20:42.0) and Ashlynn Yonge getting to ninth place in 21:10.8.
Rachael Burt led the Spartans, her eighth-place time of 20:59.6 just ahead of Yonge as Abigail Burt finished 10th in 21:37.5. Jaelyn Jordan ran to 13th in the team standings (14th ovearll) in 22:02.1 beating Laila Thomas (23:01.7) as, in between them, J-D’s Rebecca Mendez Squier (22:24.8) had a top-20 finish and Christian Brothers Academy had Charlotte Wilson 25th in 23:34 flat.
ESM had gone head-to-head with Auburn back on Wednesday, falling 19-43 to the reigning sectional Class A champions in the boys race.
Evelyn finished fourth in 18:41 behind the Maroons’ trio of Owen Gaspar, Ryan Mahar and Sean Ringwood who ran together, Gaspar winning in 17:55. Brandon Cerlanek, in 19:27, was ahead of Bryce Oviedo’s 19:41.
The girls meet unfolded in similar fashion, Auburn proving too much for ESM 19-36 even as Rachael Burt made her way to third place in 21:23 behind Abby Ringwood (19:54) and Kyleen Brady (20:45). Jordan was sixth in 22:15, with Abigail Burt (23:04) ahead of Thomas (23:42) and Danika Besig (24:31).
That same Wednesday afternoon, F-M and J-D each opened their respective league schedules, and won for the most part.
The girls Hornets, led again by Sullivan, beat host West Genesee and Baldwinsville as Sullivan won individual honors in a time of 19:02.3, well clear of Giannetti’s second-place 19:56.5.
Camille Ryan finished fourth in 20:27.4 just behind B’ville’s Kamryn Barton (20:23.3), while McDonald ran well, getting seventh place in 21:12.5 ahead of Pinkerton (21:27.50 in ninth place.
F-M’s boys, meanwhile, got a split, beating West Genesee 25-30 but lost 23-38 to B’ville, who occupied seven of the top 10 individual spots even as Ditre pulled away.
Ditre’s time of 16:56.2 was nearly a full minute ahead of the 17:51.6 from the Bees’ Jacob Guelli, while Heller got fourth place in 18:09.9. Beeman, in 18:58.6, earned 11th place, while Joe Beecher’s 19:30.6 beat out the 19:43.9 from Domaszczynski.
This happened as J-D’s boys got a tough 28-31 win over Nottingham. The Bulldogs had the top two spots before Ryan Carter got third place in 18:13 and Joseph Lore was fourth in 20:22. Zach Lapidus, in 20:51, finished fifth, while Will Hougland gained sixth place in 21:22.
Far easier was the girls Red Rams’ 15-50 win over Nottingham, where the Bulldogs’ Delilah Pandori-Howell won in 19:06 but Mendez Squier, in 22:36, led a J-D group which included Emma Rukavena (22:42), Rachel Pettiford (25:56), Emmerson Ridzi and Lucia Brown.
