Even though it has the no. 3-ranked team in the state, the Liverpool boys cross country team is not going to Queensbury High School this weekend for the state Class A championship race – at least not as a whole unit, anyway.
True, the Warriors managed to qualify four runners – sophomore Ben Petrella, juniors Dan Muldoon and Connor Buck, and senior Alex Christensen – for the state meet as part of the Section III All-Star squad, and Dylan McCarthy is the first alternate.
But what Liverpool really wanted out of last Saturday’s Section III Class A meet at Jamesville Beach Park was a long-elusive victory over Fayetteville-Manlius, the state’s top-ranked team and the dynasty so few have come close to toppling.
What made the difference was that the Hornets, who finished with 24 points to the Warriors’ 37, sent its three best runners – Bryce Millar, Andrew Berge and Peter Ryan – to the front, and none of Liverpool’s stars were able to catch them, putting the Warriors at a point deficit it could not overcome.
Petrella finished in 15 minutes, 46.7 seconds, just behind Ryan (15:41.5) for the third spot as Millar (15:37.8) edged Berge (15:38.1) for the individual title in the fastest race of the day.
Muldoon, in a time of 15:58.5, got into sixth place behind Utica Proctor’s Zakaria Adam (15:54.4). Buck finished eighth, in 16:13.2, while Christensen, in 16:15.3, managed to keep McCarthy (16:15.8) from qualifying for the state meet by just half a second.
Elsewhere for the Warriors, Ryan Comstock finished 17th, in 16:53.2, while Nick LeClair got to 25th place in 17:12.2. Jacob Rowell was 31st, in 17:32.7, just ahead of Sean Brais (17:36.0) and Ty Brownlow (17:36.8), who were 33rd and 34th, respectively.
Cicero-North Syracuse took fourth in the team standings with 125 points, but qualified none of its runners for the state meet.
Colin Greenseich led the Northstars, finishing 18th in 16:55.5, two spots ahead of Andrew Bearkland (16:59.4), while Paul DeGennaro (17:22.0), Chris Hannan (17:28.4) and Eric Bowen (17:31.3) occupied the 28th through 30th spots. Jake Dehm (17:56.2) and Jared George (18:12.5) were further back.
In the girls Section III Class A meet at Jamesville Beach, Liverpool and C-NS both managed to qualify runners for the state meet, and the Warriors again finished second, with 56 points, though seven-time defending national champion F-M, with 17 points, had a more lopsided win here.
Amid the Hornets’ usual blizzard of top runners, Liverpool senior Morgan Mahoney made her way to sixth place in a clocking of 19 minutes, 26 seconds to earn a state meet berth, and junior teammate Abby McNamara did the same by finishing eighth in 19:35 flat.
C-NS senior Jacqlynn Halstead, by finishing 10th in 19:42, took fourth place among the individuals outside of F-M, so she joins the Section III All-Star side heading to Queensbury that includes Mahoney, McNamara, West Genesee’s Laura Leff and Baldwinsville’s Marissa Lathrop.
To make sure that Liverpool finished second on the team side, eighth-grader Maia Henry made her way to 14th place in 20:12.3 and earned first-alternate status for the state meet, ahead of Juliana Basla in 16th place (20:23.1) and Morgan Chewning-Kulick, who was 17th in 20:25.6. Jillian Stagnitta finished 28th, in 21:00.2, with another eighth-grader, Kristina Moore, getting 34th place in 21:32.4.
Behind Halstead, C-NS saw sophomore Jilliann Norris earn 25th place in 20:54.6, two spots ahead of Amamda Shuman, who was 27th in 20:57.6. Maddy Kolakowski earned 30th place in 21:16 flat as Madison Gross (21:25.4), Taylor Parry (21:40.1) and Emily Dolan (21:41.8) all finished within the top 40.
The Class A state boys race at Queensbury starts at 9:40 a.m., while the girls state Class A championship starts two hours later, at 11:40 a.m.
