Verona NY - If you know anything about National Cross Country competition, the name Fayetteville-Manlius sticks out above the rest. As Coach Bill Aris told MileSplit NY, "We're a known entity." Ranked #1 nationally on the girls' side, they have been on a winning streak that includes a Nike Cross Nationals' title every year since 2006, some of the fastest runners in the state annually, and have achieved a perfect score of 15 at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championships on more than one occasion. On the boys' side, FM is currently ranked #3, spearheaded by the states' top performer, junior Nick Ryan. Coming into the season, it would be hard to argue that FM wasn't in position to repeat their success from last year. They were returning a very fast top 3, with notable recruits coming from the soccer team. On the boys side, in the wake of a notable injury to Shaker's Christian Delago, arguably the states' top returner, the position of top male runner was up for grabs, and NIck Ryan was in good position to take it. Most early season predictions claimed that any team would be hard pressed to come close to either side of FM at states, but any runner knows that if every prediction and speed rating average were correct, there would be no point in running the race, and that is never the case. Anything can happen, and anything did.
The boys ran first, and as expected, Nick Ryan took off ahead of the pack. 1500 meters in, Ryan was setting his own pace, with rookie senior Matt Deyo in 2nd, bringing up the rest of the pack about 50 meters back.
"I really don't mind running alone," Ryan said. "You don't have the stress of wondering what the other guy is gonna do. You can just go out there and run your own race, run as fast as you can over the distance."
While it may seem like Ryan ran alone, there was another competitor who fought back as much as Ryan put in. The course had experienced heavy rainfall the night before, soaking the ground with a thick layer of mud that runners would sink into further the harder they ran.
"When I ran, the course wasn't as bad as you would see it later in the day," Ryan said. " I just looked for the spots where it was fairly dry, and manuevered myself toward them. Luckily, the course wasn't torn up yet, so I just aimed for those dry spots, and got through it as best I could."
Coming across the finish line, Nick Ryan clocked a 16:28.4, the fastest time of the day by a margin of 26 seconds. Behind Ryan, Deyo had been caught by a strong MJ Erb of Victor, an unexpected feat considering Erb ran a season best by well over 30 seconds. But as the runners kept coming, spectators began to notice that FM was not putting the runners where they needed to be to guarentee a win over a strong Rush-Henrietta Sperry, who was one of the only real threats to the FM legacy. After the dust settled, and the race concluded, spectators waited in anticipation for the final results.
"My back half was not as strong as they usually are," Coach Aris said at the finish line. "I'm not sure who won."
When the score was announced, it was closer than anyone expected: Fayetteville Manlius 63, Rush-Henrietta Sperry 64. The FM boys streak was able to live on for another year, but not without a good challenge.
On the girls side, there were unexpected difficulties as well. Coming into the race, they were missing two notable runners who both were a part of FM's top 5. Senior Christie Rutledge would be sidelined due to a nagging back ailment, and senior Heather Martin would also not be competing due to broken foot bone from stepping on a stone at the wrong angle. Both girls would be out for the rest of the season. Junior Jillian Fanning, FM's fastest runner of the day in 18:53.8, spoke of what it was like to run without two of their senior members,
"We used it as motivation," Fanning said. "we kept saying that God has given us these challenges that we have to overcome. We are a very powerful team, with strong synergy, so we work together and came together when we needed to. We have a purpose, we know what we are running for, we are running for our team, and all the other people who couldn't be running with us for one reason or another."
That synergy would work in their favor as Fayetteville-Manlius again scored a perfect 15 to capture the title. They placed five girls in the top ten in the merge results, and proved their depth in doing so without two notable runners competing.
Speaking with FM senior Katie Sischo, who recently signed for a full scholarship running under Ray Tracey at Providence next fall, we asked what this cross country season has meant to her,
"The biggest thing for me is that it isn't over yet,' Sischo said. "I mean, there are still races left, there is still time left. I know that nothing will ever compare to this. It will be different, it will be new, but nothing will ever be the same. I am trying to embrace every last minute that I have and get the most out of it that I can."
The most important thing to note, as a coach as well as a fan of the sport, is the stark contrast both FM teams present in and out of competition. While racing, Fayetteville-Manlius runners are strong in their race tactics, and loud in their performances, much like Coach Aris, whom can be seen along the course, putting as much effort into coaching as the athletes do in running. Outside of racing, both athletes and coach show a quiet modesty in their success. They know what they have is due to the hard work and dedication each parties put in. They know that at any time, they are indeed vulnerable. They concentrate on the today rather than the future; its understood nothing is guaranteed. Because on race day, anything can happen.
Bronxville Overcomes Greenwich by Three Points for the Second Year in a Row
It is a well known fact that there are two powerhouses in Class C girls cross country. Bronxville of section 1 and Greenwich of section 2 have been competing against each other for years. Coming into the 2011 New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championships, the predictions were the same as the Championships of 2010. Greenwich was slated to win by a margin of 5 points, as dictated by TullyRunners Speed Ratings. In 2010, Bronxville was seeded 2nd as well, but eventually overcame the Class C powerhouse by 3 points. Both teams had a strong top two. Greenwich was lead by NYS #25 Vicky Houser and NYS #43 Madeline Montague. For Bronxville, sophmore standout NYS #4 Mary Cain was supplemented by NYS #37 Meredith Rizzo. In the Class C race, both pairs would essentially cancel eachother out, putting the race on the shoulders of the 3rd-5th girls on the team. It would be Bronxville who would push for the win, again overcoming the favorites by a margin of 3 points. We spoke with Bronxville coach Jim Mitchell about how he felt his team ran, how the rivalry has developed, and where he plans to take the team from here.
The Rivalry
"If you go back over the last few years, everyone of these have been by such a small margin," Mitchell said. "We had one walkover when it was at SUNY Plattsburg, and Greenwich was then in a different division. But that's how the state meet works."
The Race
"What makes it difficult as a coach, is trying to pick out who is who with these uniforms," Mitchell said. "I thought we were good because my fifth girl was way ahead of their fifth girl, and you just hope that is enough, and it turned out it was. It's always a stressful day for me. If you go back over the last 30 years, I think we've lost 2 by 1 point, 3 by 2 points, and 3 by 3 points, but it is always fun to grab a win."
The Team's Next Move
"We are going to Federations next," Mitchell said. "Mary will definitely be running as an individual at Nike New York, and maybe (Meredith) Rizzo as well. Her knee has been giving her a little trouble, so based around how she feels after states today.
Opinions on the Predictions
"I kinda felt going into the race, that we were better than people expected because we really hadn't had that much competition this far in the year," Mitchell said. "I didn't want to overdo it early in the season because I knew Mary (Cain) would be going late into the season. We stayed out of the Eastern States at Manhattan, which we will be competing in next year. Our back up group was very secure, our best quality is that we didn't panic when we saw the competition, saw the course, we just focused on our goal."
