It wasn’t just the fact that the Liverpool boys and girls cross country claimed victory in both sides of the CNY Counties League National division championship meet.
What made it sweeter for the Warriors was that it won at Baldwinsville against the sides that took both regular-season championships – and also held off its other main rival, Cicero-North Syracuse.
The boys meet last Wednesday afternoon turned into a two-team battle. Liverpool, displaying a bit more depth, finished with 30 points, while B’ville, with 32 points, had to settle for the runner-up spot.
Leading that push, sophomore Dan Muldoon and freshman Ben Petrella claimed the second and third spots, respectively. Muldoon posted a time of 15 minutes, 41.8 seconds, bettered only by the Bees’ Alec Peinkofer (15:39.0), while Petrella rose to third place in 15:42 flat, just a few steps behind Muldoon.
B’ville’s trio of Jack Martin, Andy Fleming and Josh Perez claimed the next three spots, but Liverpool retaliated with five other runners all reaching the top 15 ahead of the Bees’ next finisher, Casey McAllister, who was 16th.
Drew Henry worked his way to seventh place in 16:03.9. Alex Christensen, in 16:06.2, claimed eighth place, while Connor Buck earned 10th place (16:13.6) to round out the scoring column. Then Nick LeClair finished 12th in 16:18.2 as Dylan McCarthy got to 14th place in 16:26.8. Travis Chewning-Kulick (16:39.6) and Sean Brais (16:51.5) were close behind.
As for C-NS, who finished in third place, Anthony Lupia ran his way to ninth place in 16:13.2. Colin Greenseich earned 11th place, in 16:15.7, while Matt Crough (16:29.7) and Paul DeGennaro (16:44.3) also reached the top 20. Chris Hannan (16:55.3) and Jared George (16:59.3) also ran well.
Moving to the girls CNYCL National race, Liverpool had C-NS to directly worry about, and with 29 points, the Warriors defeated the Northstars, who got 41 points. Host B’ville was third with 52 points.
Among individuals, Liverpool’s duo of sophomore Abby McNamara and junior Morgan Mahoney went 1-2, as McNamara won the race in 18:18.7 and Mahoney, in 18:21.2, earned the runner-up spot.
Then C-NS got on the board as Amanda Shuman finished third, in 18:29.4, and Jacqlynn Halstead (18:30.9) closely followed in fourth place. The trade continued as Liverpool’s Emily Butler finished fifth, in 18:33.8, and C-NS’s Nicole Watterud was seventh in 18:47.7.
The Warriors clinched the title when Juliana Basla made her way to 10th place in 18:55.3 and Morgan Chewning-Kulick finished 11th in 19:09.6. Not far behind them, Jillian Stagnitta made her way to 15th place in 19:26.3 and Jessica Turner, in 19:30.6, got to 16th place.
In between them, C-NS’s Taylor Parry needed 19:13.7 to move to 13th place, edging out teammate Jillian Norris, who was 14th in 19:23.9. Madison Kolakowski (19:41.5) earned 20th place and Emily Dolan was 22nd, in 20:13 flat.
All of this leads to the Nov. 3 Section III Class A championship races, which will take place at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, the site of last year’s state meet.
