A solid amount of depth on both of its rosters nearly gave the Liverpool cross country teams a sweep of Wednesday’s key CNY Counties League National division meet at Baldwinsville.
Instead, the Warriors had to split with the rival Bees, prevailing 25-30 on the girls side, but taking a 23-33 defeat in the boys race. Both sides raced on the same course as they did in the Baldwinsville Invitational four days earlier.
Liverpool watched, in the girls race, as B’ville teammates Rachael Miller and Annie Peterson went 1-2 among individuals, Miller winning in 19:27.49 and Peterson second in 19:30.24.
Jessica Turner began the Warriors’ turnaround, her third-place time of 19:48.93 pacing a quintet of Liverpool stars. Kaitlyn McNamara was fourth, in 20:01.24, while Caroline Dieffenderfer was fourth in 20:17.93.
Morgan Mahoney was sixth, in 20:18.49, while Abby McNamara clinched the victory when she took seventh place in 20:25.05. B’ville occupied the rest of the top 10, but it was too late.
The boys meet featured the Bees in the top three spots, led by Alec Peinkofer, who won in 16:03.14, putting Liverpool in an impossible position despite its superior depth.
Anthony Ostuni, in fourth place in 16:28.05, was the top Warrior runner, ahead of Drew Henry (16:36.37). Starting with Anthony Romano in seventh place (16:46.59), Liverpool monopolized the rest of the top 10, thanks to Kevin Abel (16:50.84), Adam Zinger (16:55.22) and Travis Chewning-Kulick, who finished in 16:59.74.
As this went on, Cicero-North Syracuse swept its meet against Syracuse West, the Northstars winning 15-48 on the girls side and 21-38 on the boys side.
This marked the return of Maria LaMontagne from an injury that sidelined her for the first few weeks of the season. The sophomore covered the Corcoran course in 22:05, staying cautious until more important races down the road.
Nicole Watterud won in 21:24, one second better than Jackie Halstead, while Katie Laris (21:46) and Taylor Parry (21:52) also finished ahead of LaMontagne. Jamie Leone had a time of 23:28, ahead of Savannah Stevens (23:35), Alexis Polimino (23:52) and Marissa Colburn (23:53).
In the boys race, Anthony Lupia prevailed in 17:10.3, leading a sweep of the top three spots. Neil Gill was second, in 17:12, and Bryan Junod was third in 17:16. Colin Greenseich, in 18:09, was seventh, ahead of Ken Ryan (18:22), Paul DeGennaro (18:26) and Kevin Cialfi (18:39).
