Perfect competitive conditions – sunshine, comfortable temperatures, a fall breeze – greeted the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool cross country teams for their annual head-to-head meet Wednesday afternoon at Longbranch Park.
And in this case, it was the Northstars prevailing on both fronts, by a narrow margin of 26-29 on the boys side, by a more comfortable 23-33 margin on the girls side.
Given that CNS held state Class A rankings on both sides (something that Liverpool didn’t have), the results weren’t a surprise, but the Warriors did make it quite interesting on the boys end.
Every one of the top finishers were within close sight of each other, but CNS got valuable points from going 1-2 as Anthony Lupia won in 16 minutes, 52 seconds, just one second better than teammate Neil Gill.
Anthony Ostuni followed, leading Liverpool’s push as he got third place in 17:05. Drew Henry followed, in fourth place in 17:10, and the Warriors’ Travis Chewning-Kulick put himself in fifth place in 17:13, winning a tight race for that spot.
Inches behind Chewning-Kulick, CNS’s Brian Traub edged Liverpool’s Kevin Abel for that important sixth slot, both finishing in 17:14. This retained the Northstars’ lead, and when Matt Crough (17:20) and Colin Greenseich (17:28) crossed the finish line ahead of the Warriors’ Connor Buck (17:30) in ninth place, CNS had the meet win.
They ran in groups during the girls race, but CNS created an insurmountable lead through a sweep of the top three spots.
Nicole Watterud led that effort, winning in 19 minutes, 15 seconds, with Jackie Halstead settling into second place in 19:27 and Taylor Parry impressive with a third-place time of 19:47.
A quartet of Liverpool runners followed, led by Kaitlyn McNamara, who was fourth in 20:04. Caroline Dieffenderfer claimed fifth place in 20:11, with Morgan Mahoney sixth in 20:27 and Abby McNamara seventh in 20:31.
CNS settled matters by having Marissa Colburn take eighth place with a clocking of 20:36 and Katie Laris (20:39) take ninth place. Maria LaMontagne, still recovering from an injury that sidelined her in September, was 10th in 20:59.
Of course, the week’s work was far from done. CNS and Liverpool both went to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx for Sunday’s Manhattan Invitational, run in summer-like warmth and sunshine.
In the Girls Varsity F race, Watterud led the Northstars, posting a sixth-place time of 15:39.5, while Halstead was eighth in 15:56.3. Parry was 18th in 16:17.7 and Laris was 24th (16:36.3) as Colburn worked her way to 38th place (17:07.4) and LaMontagne (18:15.6) was six spots ahead of Maddy Kolakowski (18:27.2).
As for the Warriors, who were in the Varsity C race, Kaitlyn McNamara rose to ninth place in 16:35.7, just ahead of Dieffenderfer (16:43.5) in 11th place. Mahoney finished 25th, in 17:09 flat, while Abby McNamara was 33rd (17:22.8) and Jessica Turner was 36th in 17:24.8.
Liverpool got placed in the boys Varsity D race, where Ostuni led his side by running to 20th place in 13:54.34. Henry got 30th place in 14:11.04, while Chewning-Kulick was 36th (14:20.61) and Abel was 43rd in 14:27.46. Adam Zinger (14:32.28) fit into 48th place, ahead of Buck (14:42.18) and Anthony Romano (15:03.80).
CNS was slotted into the Varsity E race, where Lupia got to seventh place in 13:26.51 and Gill finished 16th in 13:42.60. Ken Ryan claimed 34th place (14:03.67) as Paul DeGennaro was 52nd in 14:19.76. Greenseich was 60th (14:27.75) and Crough was 72nd in 14:37.71.
