Two weeks after it fell just short of dethroning eventual state champion Fayetteville-Manlius in the Section III Class A meet, the Liverpool boys cross country team gained a valuable prize of its own.
Without the Hornets to worry about, the Warriors pulled away from 25 challengers and won team honors at Saturday’s New York State Federation Championships at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls.
No doubt, it helped Liverpool that F-M chose not to participate in the Federation meet and instead concentrate on the Nike National New York-New England Regionals at that same Bowdoin Park course on Nov. 30 and the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Ore., a week later.
Still, the Warriors were up against a large field – and dominated them. Finishing with 75 points, Liverpool was well clear of Chaminade, who was a distant second with 160 points, just ahead of St. Anthony’s (166 points) for that runner-up spot.
Junior Dan Muldoon led the Warriors’ efforts. Posting a time of 16 minutes, 5.3 seconds at Bowdoin Park, Muldoon finished seventh overall and fifth among Federation team competitors as Pearl River’s Brian Cook won the overall race in 15:45.2.
Connor Buck led the next push as the junior gained ninth place in the team event and 14th overall in 16:20.1. Sophomore Ben Petrella followed, his time of 16:27.7 putting him 12th among team runners and 17th in the overall standings.
Yet another Liverpool junior, Dylan McCarthy, made his way to the finish line in 16:35.7, which put him 19th in the team event and 30th overall. And when senior Alex Christensen got to 30th place (47th overall) in 16:47.9, the Federation title was locked up.
Right behind them, junior Nick LeClair posted a time of 17:37.1, putting him 87th in the team standings, with sophomore Ryan Comstock rounding out the Warriors’ slate as he finished in 17:54.2.
In the girls Federation race, Liverpool junior Abby McNamara had an impressive showing, making her way to 30th place in 19 minutes, 35.9 seconds, beating more than 200 other runners in the process. Corning’s Jessica Lawson won the Federation title in a clocking of 18:16.2.
