Fresh off its big win at the McQuaid Invitational in Rochester, the Liverpool boys cross country accomplished another big feat much closer to home.
Going to rival Baldwinsville last Wednesday afternoon, the boys Warriors mostly relied on its depth and conditioning to beat the Bees 23-33 to take over sole possession of first place in the CNY Counties League National division.
B’ville was no. 2 in the state AA rankings (behind only Fayetteville-Manlius), while Liverpool sat at no. 4. But it was clear that, even on B’ville’s course, the Warriors had the deeper roster.
Thwarting attempts to wear them out, Colin Savage and Alex Wilke went to the front and held on for a 1-2 finish, as Savage won in 15 minutes, 34 seconds. Wilke was second, three seconds back of Savage and just ahead of B’ville teammates Nate McCabe (15:39) and Shaun Thompson, who was fourth in 15:47.
The real kick came from Liverpool’s other stars. Nick Hull finished fifth, in 16:01, while Anthony Brais took sixth place in 16:06. That set up an insurmountable margin, with Chris Clemons rounding out the scoring in ninth place (16:25) and Brandon Rudd 10th, in 16:42.
Meanwhile, the girls race proved more lopsided as Liverpool, further building its CNYCL National lead, handled B’ville 16-39.
Individually, Lesley Bowers dominated the event, as she finished in 18 minutes, 39 seconds, leading a sweep of the top four spots.
Chelsea Attaway won the close race for second, in 19:56, six seconds clear of Rachel Putman (20:02) as Melissa Riehl finished fourth in 20:09. Caroline Deffenenderfer earned sixth place in 20:22 after B’ville’s Kristina Sprague (20:13) crossed the line.
