At least in 2014, the pendulum in cross country has gone toward Liverpool, in terms of its rivalry with Cicero-North Syracuse.
When the two sides squared off in their head-to-head CNY Counties League meet last Wednesday at Oneida Shores, the Warriors won both sides of it, though Liverpool and C-NS both beat Auburn, who was the third team at the meet.
The girls meet would prove closer, as the Warriors defeated the Northstars 20-35 as each of them easily handled the Maroons by equal 15-50 margins.
Juliana Basla would pull away from the girls field, winning in a time of 19 minutes, 29 seconds, while Maia Henry made her way to second place in 19:52 to complete a 1-2 Liverpool sweep.
C-NS’s Jilliann Norris led her side, finishing third in 20:03, while Taylor Parry was fifth in 20:18. But the Warriors’ Jillian Stagnitta sneaked into fourth place (20:14), in between Norris and Parry. When Abby McNamara (20:48) and Morgan Chewning-Kulick (21:03) grabbed sixth and seventh place, respectively, Liverpool clinched the victory.
At least the Northstars showcased its depth, too. Megan Trubia, in a time of 21:12, won a close battle for eighth place, just ahead of teammates Madison Gross (21:14) and Lexi Pirro (21:19), who rounded out the top 10.
It was more lopsided in the boys meet, with Liverpool, no. 2 in the state Class A rankings, handling C-NS 17-44 while also beating Auburn 18-44, the Northstars salvaging a split by getting a 23-36 decision over the Maroons.
At the front of the pack, five runners from three schools nearly hit the line together, but it was Dan Muldoon, in 16 minutes, 22 seconds, prevailing over teammate Connor Buck (16:23) and Auburn’s Jordan Middleton (16:23.3), with Ben Petrella (16:23.8) in fourth place and C-NS’s Andrew Bearkland getting fifth place in 16:25.8.
To lock up the team win, Liverpool’s Ty Brownlow took sixth place in 16:30.9, with Ryan Comstock (16:32.1) close behind him in seventh place. The Northstars’ Chris Hannan had a ninth-place time of 16:47 flat, behind the Warriors’ Nick LeClair (16:43.1) in eighth place.
