For a long time, the Liverpool boys cross country team has aimed at reaching the high pedestal that Fayetteville-Manlius has occupied and controlled.
Those two sides got together Saturday in the featured Varsity AAA race of the McQuaid Invitational at Genesee Valley Park near Rochester, and quickly separated themselves from the rest of the 18-team field.
The state Class A no. 3-ranked Warriors finished with 66 points, just behind the top-ranked Hornets, who won with 62 points, and giving everyone something to look forward to when they clash again Nov. 2 in the Section III meet at Jamesville Beach Park.
Liverpool was forced to catch up after F-M teammates Bryce Millar (14:45.1) and Andrew Berge’(14:55.2) finished second and third, respectively. Ben Petrella led the Warriors with a sixth-place time of 15 minutes, 2.6 seconds as Dan Muldoon finished ninth in 15:14.1.
As it turned out, the top-10 finishes of Millar, Berge’ and Adam Hunt (who was 10th in 15:17 flat) gave F-M enough of a cushion against Liverpool’s deep roster. Connor Buck finished 13th, in 15:20.7, with Alex Christensen 16th in 15:29.8 and Nick LeClair (15:41.5) in 22nd place to round out the scoring column. Behind them, Dylan McCarthy was 28th, in 15:52.6, and Sean Brais (16:14.3) was 48th.
Liverpool’s girls cross country team, no. 12 in the state Class A rankings, finished eighth in its Varsity AAA race at McQuaid with 227 points, while F-M, the reigning seven-time national champions, suffered a rare defeat, second (79 points) to Unionville (45 points), from Pennsylvania.
Morgan Mahoney led the Warriors’ efforts, finishing 32nd in a time of 18:54.7, with Juliana Basla 37th in 18:59.8 and Maia Henry (19:04.7) taking 39th place. Abby McNamara was 53rd (19:27.2) and Morgan Chewning-Kulick 66th (19:48.0) as Kristina Moore (20:43.8) and Jillian Stagnitta (20:48.6) finished further back.
While all this was going on, Cicero-North Syracuse went to Proctor Park in Utica for the 71st annual E.J. Herrmann Invitational, where it won both the varsity and JV boys races.
C-NS, with 73 points, beat out Niskayuna (112 points) and Nanuet (114 points) in Varsity Race 2, which featured Class A and B schools, led by a trio of runners. Andrew Bearkland finished eighth, in 17:18.4, with Chris Hannan ninth in 17:23.9 and Colin Greenseich (17:25.2) in 10th place.
Paul DeGennaro finished 22nd, in 17:52.9, just ahead of Eric Bowen, whose time of 17:58.2 closed out the Northstars’ scoring column. Jared George (18:19.4), Joe Tricarico (18:24.9) and Brian Traub (18:50.8) all had top-50 finishes.
In the JV race, Jake Dehm won in a time of 18:59.1, which would have put him in the top 50 on the varsity side, as Ryan Assisi (19:20.5), Andrew Salmons (19:36.0), Jeff Eymer (19:42.3) and Zach Wagner (19:44.0) all had top-10 efforts.
Meanwhile, the C-NS girls team also picked up 73 points, but that left them in third place, trailing Nanuet, who won with 52 points, and Niskayuna, who was second with 63 points.
In fact, Jacqlynn Halstead had a better individual finish than any of the boys, rising to third place in 20:07.6, but none of her teammates cracked the top 10, though Jilliann Norris finished 12th (21:15.9) and Taylor Parry (21:28.6) finished 14th.
Lauren Carr made her way to 24th place in 21:55 flat, with Maddy Kolakowski getting to 27th place in a clocking of 22:05.1, just ahead of Madison Gross (22:29.1) in 32nd place. Molly Camire had the Northstars’ best effort in the JV race, finishing 11th in 23:37.7.
