CENTRAL NEW YORK – When the Cicero-North Syracuse girls cross country team made its way to the Saratoga Invitational last Saturday, it managed to get a 1-2 finish from Kate Putman and Gabby Putman.
Covering the Saratoga course in 17 minutes, 14.72 seconds, Kate Putman finished well clear of her sister, with Gabby Putman getting second plcae in 17:55.68.
Team-wise, the Northstars took second place behind Shenendehowa as Marissa Navarra got fifth place in 18:49.28, but no other C-NS runner cracked the top 15 as Kate Capone was 17th in 20:15.65 and Ava Fisher (20:22.61) was 20th.
Meanwhile, the C-NS boys team took part a night earlier in the Chittenango Bears Twilight Invitational, finishing second in Varsity Race 1 behind Fayetteville-Manlius.
The Northstars claimed five straight spots starting with Nate Connors getting 14th place in 18:45.2. Gavin McAllister, in 18:50.3, beat out Kyler Patrick (18:50.6) as Evan Nobles posted 18:56.5 and James McConnell (19:01.1) was just ahead of Justin Asch’s 19:22 flat.
A key part of the autumn ritual for the Liverpool cross country teams in years past was traveling to New York City in October for the Manhattan Invitational.
Back at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx after COVID-19 wiped out the 2020 edition, few Section III sides joined the boys Warriors, who were the only local side taking part in the featured Eastern States Classic.
Finishing 13th out of 19 teams, Liverpool saw Ryan Hagan finish 13th among team runners and 16th overall in 12:56.5. Gavin Kenna, in 13:51.8, just beat out Jack Sherlock’s 13:54.7/
Before this, Liverpool welcomed F-M to Long Branch Park last Wednesday and could not keep up with the Hornets, who won 22-35 on the boys side and 18-45 on the girls side.
And this happened despite Hagan’s victory in the boys race. Tearing through his home course in 16:30.7, Hagan was more than half a minute ahead of the 17:08.7 from F-M’s Anthony Otis.
Two more Hornets, Nolan McGinn (17:13.2) and Daniel Patrick (17:16.1), were ahead of Kenna’s fifth-place time of 17:17.6. Sherlock was eighth in 17:53.4 and Jacob Makhlouf posted 18:04.7. J.T. Goss finished in 19:13.9.
Over in the girls race, F-M’s star duo of Hannah Kaercher (19:06.1) and Izzy Sullivan (19:06.4) led a top-five Hornets sweep.
Addyson Graham finished sixth in 20:36.8, which F-M’s Camille Ryan matched. Then Kaleigh Buck took eighth place in 20:43.6 as Meghan Moyer was ninth in 20:55.8. Taylor Page was 11th in 21:22 flat and Eva Woodworth (21:50.9) got to 13th place.
