One immediate reward for the Liverpool boys cross country team from its narrow victory over East Aurora in the Oct. 3 McQuaid Invitational in Rochester was an honor it had rarely achieved before.
When the state Class A rankings were released a few days later, the Warriors had supplanted Fayetteville-Manlius at the no. 1 spot, but the timing of it was odd because these two sides were about to have a pair of big showdowns.
First, there was the head-to-head CNY Counties League meet last Wednesday, where the Hornets regained the upper hand by a 24-31 margin, though the Warriors did salvage a split of the three-way competition by beating the West Genesee Wildcats 18-45.
It came down to the fact that the Hornets, after Liverpool’s Ben Petrella crossed the finish line in a winning time of 15 minutes, 34 seconds, swept the remaining spots in the top five, and got a bit of help, too. Peter Ryan grabbed second place in 15:51, edging out Patrick Perry, who was third in 15:52. Bryan Geehrer finished fourth in 16:01.
Then Ben Otis sealed F-M’s victory when in a time of 16:13, he held off Liverpool’s second runner, Ty Brownlow (16:15) for fifth place. Also, West Genesee’s David Leff had a seventh-place time of 16:16 that cost the Warriors a few key points before Terrell Coleman and Stephen Schulz finished in 16:23 and Ryan Comstock posted 16:35.
Yet when the rematch between Liverpool and F-M took place Saturday during the Eastern States Championship portion of the Manhattan Invitational, Liverpool got the best of F-M, with 209 points to the Hornets’ 228 as they finished fourth and fifth, respectively, and Downingtown West (177 points) won a close team competition.
Petrella, in a time of 12:23.8, finished fifth among individuals, not far from the winning time of 12:14.3 posted by Carthage’s Ben Affolder and 15 spots ahead of Ryan, who led F-M by finishing 20th in 12:40.1.
Brownlow nabbed 23rd place in 12:44 flat, with Coleman getting 34th place in 12:57.9. Schulz made a difference, as his 43rd-place finish in 13:06.6 was 21 spots ahead of F-M’s fourth runner, Joe Walters, who was 64th. Comstock, in a time of 13:37.4, finished ahead of Collin Gwilt (13:43.4) and Gabe Albert (14:04.4).
Back on Wednesday, Liverpool also was facing F-M and West Genesee in the girls meet, and split that one, too, squeaking past the Wildcats by a single point, 27-28, though it was unable to keep up with the nine-time national champion Hornets in another 18-45 decision.
Only Juliana Basla was able to finish within the top 10 for the girls Warriors. Basla’s time of 18;44 was just behind third-place Reilly Madsen (18:43) from F-M as the Hornets’ Rebecca Walters (18:26) held off the Wildcats’ Carly Benson (18:36) for the top spot.
During the Manhattan Invitational, Liverpool was in the Varsity C division, where Basla, posting a time of 15:35.8, took eighth place and Morgan Chewning-Kulick also reached the top 20, getting to 17th place in 15:58.6.
Vanessa Eberhard gave the Warriors a 35th-place finish in 16:28.3, with Natalie Kurz 53rd in 16:51.7. Windsor Ardner got to 68th place in 17:18.4, five spots ahead of Jillian Stagnitta (17:32.0), while Mallory Woytowitz finished in 18:16.8.
Cicero-North Syracuse’s girls team swept a three-way meet against Baldwinsville and Auburn, and also prevailed, 15-48, in the boys meet against the Maroons,
Even without Jilliann Norris present, C-NS (no. 18 in the state Class A rankings) defeated B’ville 23-33 while handling Auburn 20-41, and Annina Marullo led the way, getting a time of 19:52 to hld off the Bees’ Justus Holden-Betts (19:57) by five seconds for individual honors.
It took Emily Dembrowski finishing third in 20:07 and Sarah Davis taking fifth place (20:29) for the Northstars to pull away from B’ville, with Molly Camire offering extra insurance thanks to her eighth-place finish in 21:30.
C-NS, like Liverpool, would be part of the Manhattan Invitational, where in the boys Varsity F race Andrew Bearkland finished seventh, in 13:05.2. Sam Barber was 36th with a time of 13:51.9, four spots ahead of Joe Tricarico, who was 40th in 13:57 flat. Nate Poirier was 54th (14:04.6). with Eric Bowen (14:16.5) getting 68th place, four spots in front of Brandon Martin (14:18.6).
Up in the girls Varsity A race, Dembrowski had the best showing, getting to 28th place in 16:08.8, with Marullo (16:15.1) close behind in 30th place. Davis finished 59th in 16:58.9 as Julia Rupp (17:30.1), Molly Camire (17:55.1), Jilliann Norris (18:01.4) and Hailee Kolakowski (18:44.2) followed.
