National champion Fayetteville-Manlius girls cross-country team returns to Syracuse

By John Mariani / The Post-Standard

December 06, 2009, 10:05PM

The Fayetteville-Manlius girls cross country team returned tonight to Syracuse after winning their fourth consecutive national championship in Oregon. They were met at Hancock Airport by relatives and friends. Left to right are teammates Jillian Fanning, Katie Sischo, Molly Malone, and Courtney Chapman.

When Fayetteville-Manlius High School’s cross country teams return from a national championship meet, tradition dictates that the parents take an earlier flight so they can meet their athletes at the airport gate.

Such was the case Sunday when the Hornet girls came home from the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Ore., with their fourth straight title, accompanied by a boys team that placed ninth.

About three dozen parents, siblings, teammates and administrators cheered, rang cowbells and waved signs as 14 runners and their coaches emerged through the security gate and into the waiting room outside the United Airlines gates at Hancock Airport.