All the pieces are back for another run at the NXN title

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Two hundred and sixty-five days ago, the girls from Fayetteville-Manlius took their customary spot on the awards podium at Nike Cross Nationals. POST-RACE INTERVIEW

It was the Hornets’ 10th victory in 11 years. No other school has won the girls cross country national championship trophy more than once. 

So, it goes without saying, that with six of the seven championship squad members returning, F-M will open the 2017 cross country season as the top-ranked team in the country. 

The current members driving the team, a core of seniors Sophie Ryan, Rebecca Walters and Palmer Madsen, and sophomores Claire Walters and Phoebe White, have already embodied coach Bill Aris’ team-first ideals. 

“I just wanted to do the best that I could for my team,” Claire Walters said Dec. 3 after she and her teammates scored 41 points in a field with the 22 best teams in the country.

Words like those are music to Aris’ ears. 

The Hornets have never been an outfit defined by the individual pursuits of track season and spring PRs. But in the current group, Madsen ran 58.54 in the 400, White ran 2:11.39 in the 800, Ryan led the team in the 1,500 (4:35.28) and the 3,000 (9:48.91), and Claire Walters placed fifth at the New York state meet in the 2,000 steeplechase in 6:58.0.

All of those things point to talent. But in order to be great at F-M, there is a floating scale that Aris uses to weigh teams that maximize potential. 

And the makeup of this team appears strong.

“I think that they have it within them to be among the great teams (at F-M),” Aris said. “Will they or not depends on how they embrace that. They are cognizant of it and I think for the most part they would like that. But it’s an arbitrary standard.”

In the summertime, Aris runs voluntary workouts six days a week, which last a couple of hours each. It’s these days in July and August when the coach shapes his team and the upcoming season. And he enjoys the fact that voluntary workouts reveal a runner’s commitment.

“We do it all July and August up to the start of official practice,” Aris said. “You can come once a week or six days a week. The kids on the podium come five to six times a week. Some kids I would prefer to come more. Some come all the time.”

F-M runners don’t often attend summer running camps. They simply don’t need to shell out the money when Aris and his training plan are available for free. Occasionally runners from other schools join in, and are welcomed, but “99 percent” are F-M students.

Periodic time trials of varying distances give Aris the data points he needs to assemble workout groups and also gauge the need for tweaks to the training regimen. 

With just 15-20 girls on the squad, he can’t afford to push too hard, but Aris reported that it’s been a good summer.  

“With our top five back, they seem to be rock solid,” he said. “We’re kind of developing them in two phases. We have the veterans and we’ve got a few freshmen that show some promise and potential. Hopefully one of them will step in and give us some six-person interchangeability.”

In other words, it’s full speed ahead for Fayetteville-Manlius.